NYCFC Inches Closer To Queens Stadium As It Kicks Off Rezoning Process
Almost a year after New York City Mayor Eric Adams and local rep Francisco Moya announced plans for a soccer stadium in Queens, the proposal is one step closer to becoming reality.
Developers behind the proposal have submitted an application for the second phase of the planned 25,000-seat stadium, along with development plans for the surrounding area, to the city’s rezoning review process known as ULURP.
After months of consulting with Community Board 7, the plan to build a stadium for the New York City Football Club in Willets Point also includes 2,500 units of 100% affordable housing, 40K SF of public space, a 250-key hotel and a 650-seat public school, according to the release.
“The potential at Willets Point cannot be overstated, and I’m looking forward to continuing to work with all our partners to ensure this transcendent project delivers for everyone involved and everyone it will touch in the future,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. said in a statement.
The proposed stadium, which will be built by a joint venture between Related Cos. and Sterling Equities, has been submitted for Uniform Land Use Review Procedure consideration, a process that has tanked some proposed developments and delayed others by years.
But the NYCFC stadium may have an easier path than others facing ULURP.
City council members voting on rezonings often work on the basis of member deference, meaning that council members will vote the same way as the official elected for that neighborhood. In NYCFC’s case, Moya, the local council member, announced the deal with Sterling and Related last November, along with Adams.
"We are one step closer to finalizing a project that has it all,” Moya said in a statement regarding Monday's ULURP submission, praising the project’s housing and job production, as well as the addition of school seats. “This is a once-in-a-generation project.”
The project is expected to contribute $6.1B to NYC’s economy over the next three decades, adding 1,550 permanent jobs and 14,200 construction jobs at the formerly contaminated Queens site. Soil remediation began in the summer of 2021 for the first phase of the project, the Queens Chronicle reported at the time, readying the site for 1,100 of the affordable homes that the project plans to deliver.
“This is another important step for a transformational project that will bring the most significant development of affordable housing to New York City in decades,” Related Cos. CEO Jeff Blau and former Sterling Equities Executive Vice President Jeff Wilpon said in a joint statement. “We’re committed to creating the model neighborhood at Willets Point featuring thousands of units of affordable housing and the world’s game in the world’s borough.”
