Faced with land-acquisition issues in developing a new stadium in the Bronx, attention has shifted to a NYCFC Queens stadium site.
The owners of NYCFC, Manchester City Football Club owner Sheik Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan and the New York Yankees, have been working on a new-stadium plan on a site near Yankee Stadium, where the team will begin play next season. But problems with acquiring a building on the proposed stadium site have caused them to look elsewhere for land — and with land available at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, priorities apparently are shifting. It’s a homecoming of sorts for the project: the original proposed site for the NYC stadium was in Queens. From Capital New York:
The city abandoned its original plan to build in the middle of Queens’ largest park after the Bloomberg administration came up with a more attractive deal, which would build on a 10-acre site in the South Bronx, encompassing three of Yankee Stadium’s parking lots and the building controlled by Seifred’s elevator company.
The de Blasio administration has offered little detail on the project, telling Capital in August that the administration was working with the City Council to “identify a state of the art soccer facility.”
“The administration is committed to working with the City Council and the NYCFB club to identify an appropriate site in New York City to host a world class soccer stadium and facility,” said Phil Walzak, a spokesman for the administration.
Though Yankee Stadium isn’t seen as a long-term home for New York City FC, it’s a good enough temporary site where team owners can take a little time to find the best possible site and not rush into a deal.
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