N.Y.C.F.C. Is Close to Deal to Build Stadium in the Bronx

When N.Y.C.F.C. joined forces with the Yankees in 2013, it not only gave the soccer club an alliance with one of the most venerable institutions in the city, but it also gave the team access to Levine, a former deputy mayor familiar with the complex web of public and private bureaucracies in the city.

Levine was part of the search for the new stadium from the beginning. He said De Blasio, Patchett and community leaders in the South Bronx were instrumental in shepherding the project, and that Governor Andrew Cuomo’s transportation team has been helpful in opening up the waterfront.

“Thanks to their leadership,” Levine said, “we are moving toward concluding a transformational project in the South Bronx that will create and save thousands of jobs, provide thousands of units of much-needed affordable housing, a new school and hotel, community-based retail and a world-class soccer venue.”

Previous plans to build a soccer stadium for N.Y.C.F.C. in Queens or Manhattan drew widespread criticism from residents and community leaders concerned about the effects on their neighborhoods. This time, the developers said, they began with community outreach and sought input long before they presented any concrete proposals.

The affordable housing units, set to be built on several existing outdoor parking lots along River Avenue and atop the site of a current self-storage facility, will be built, owned and operated by Maddd Equities, which has built and owns about 3,000 units of affordable housing units in the Bronx.

At the core of the deal, though, are the parking lots, which have been a money-losing fiasco since the new Yankee Stadium opened in 2009.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/sports/soccer/nycfc-stadium-bronx-mls.html?emc=rss&partner=rss