The New York City Council voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to approve construction of a 25,000-seat, privately financed soccer stadium at Willets Point in Queens, to house the New York City Football Club.
The vote pushed the project a step closer to fruition than any of the previous proposals over the last decade, adding a measure of real hope among supporters that it might actually get done this time.
The proposed stadium would be built across Seaver Way from Citi Field, where the New York Mets play. In the first phase of redevelopment, the site would include approximately 1,400 units of “permanently affordable housing,” a hotel and 80,000 square feet of retail space, according to the legislation approved Thursday. It would also include 2.8 acres of publicly accessible open space.
Under the proposal, the city would retain the land, which has for decades been known as the “Iron Triangle” for its ramshackle collection of automobile repair facilities, and lease it to the club, similar to agreements with other stadiums in New York.
The lease would be for 49 years and the club would have an option to extend it another 25. Initial plans estimated that the stadium would cost $780 million and would open in 2027.
The city will help finance nearby infrastructure, but construction for the project itself would be financed by N.Y.C.F.C.’s majority owner, City Football Group, an investment firm led by Sheik Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, a member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi who also controls the English soccer powerhouse Manchester City.
“Today is a massive day of celebration for us,” Marty Edelman, a member of the board of City Football Group, said at a celebration at City Hall after the vote.
The New York Yankees own 20 percent of N.Y.C.F.C., and the club has played most of its home games at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx since its debut in 2015, with select games held at other locations, including Citi Field.
But baseball stadiums have proved to be an awkward fit for soccer — the sightlines are poor and the field tends to be narrow — leaving loyal N.Y.C.F.C. fans frustrated as the club sought space and approval for a soccer-specific stadium in New York, much like Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., the home of the New York Red Bulls.
This would be the first professional soccer stadium in New York City and the city’s first new major sports venue since the Barclays Center opened in Brooklyn in 2012. It will not be ready for the World Cup in 2026, but would have been too small to host any of those games, anyway.
Previous proposals have envisioned an N.Y.C.F.C. stadium in the Bronx, in Upper Manhattan, at Belmont Park, on the West Side of Manhattan or in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, but all were eventually abandoned. None reached a City Council vote.
Mayor Eric Adams, who championed the project, planned a celebration after Thursday’s vote, with jubilant fans of the club arriving at City Hall before the vote was cast.
“Housing is the goal,” Mayor Adams said in a statement, “and with today’s City Council vote, I’m proud to say that we just scored the goal of the decade.”
One last hurdle is a final environmental review, which could take a few months.
In an emotional speech in council chambers before the vote, Councilman Francisco Moya, a recreational soccer player who represents the Queens district that includes Willets Point, praised the project for promising to transform an underused area — the inspiration for the “valley of ashes” in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Great Gatsby” — into a bustling, 23-acre entertainment and residential hub. Mr. Moya has been advocating the project for a decade, and several council members congratulated him as they voted.
“Councilman Moya is smiling from ear to ear,” Mr. Adams said. “He wanted this soccer stadium so bad.”
The lone dissenting vote came from Shekar Krishnan, who represents a district next to the proposed project site. He called the plan a “bad deal,” saying it gave away public land while providing little in return for residents.
“We are not facing a stadium crisis in this city,” he said in an interview Thursday. “We are facing a housing crisis, an inequality crisis and a climate crisis. Now we’re looking at a proposal that gives away public land worth hundreds of millions of dollars in public financing for a commercial soccer stadium. What is the benefit for the people of New York City?”
A study conducted last year by the city’s Independent Budget Office concluded that the real public cost will be at least $516 million over the course of the 49-year term of the lease. Its analysis was based on potential lost revenue had the city sold the land and collected property taxes over that period instead.
The Mets granted approval for parking use at Citi Field during events at the proposed new stadium. The Mets’ owner, Steve Cohen, is also trying to gain one of three licenses for a casino at the site.
