Gleaming new stadium for NYC Football Club could transform Queens neighborhood of Willets Point, next to Citi Field
New renderings show what a gleaming new soccer stadium would look like in the redevelopment of Willets Point, Queens — the latest iteration of efforts to transform an industrial area just a baseball’s throw from Citi Field.
The sleek renderings show the proposed new home of the New York City Football Club, which the team will entirely fund to the tune of $780 million. The images were presented to Queens Community Board 7 last week, an early step in the city’s land use approval process.
The proposed stadium is a big part of the latest effort to revitalize Willets Point, a waterfront neighborhood known as the “Iron Triangle” that’s currently home to about a dozen autobody shops and little else — its last resident died in 2016.
Willets Point was the inspiration for the “valley of ashes” passage in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” which described a place “where ashes take the form of houses and chimneys.” The nickname stuck.
Mayor Eric Adams first unveiled the new mixed-use vision for the area in November.
Besides the 25,000-seat stadium, the plan includes 2,500 new affordable homes, over 40,000 square feet of public open space, retail shops, a hotel and a 650-seat public school.
The plan is a joint effort between the New York City Football Club, the city, the city Economic Development Corporation and the Queens Development Group, which consists of real estate developers Related Companies and Sterling Equities.
It is expected to generate $6.1 billion for the city’s economy and create more than 16,000 jobs over the next three decades.
“The integration of the residential buildings with the open space and stadium is a true model for how neighborhoods should be built, and is a critical step for how this vision will come to life,” said City Councilman Francisco Moya (D-Queens), a backer of the plan who represents the area.
In a separate move, Mets owner Steve Cohen recently put forward a proposal for a casino nearby at Citi Field, one of several proposals for a coveted state-issued casino license in the city. That process remains in its early stages.
Countless revitalization schemes for Willets Point have collapsed since World War II.
A plan by Donald Trump to build a football stadium in Willets Point in the 1980s went nowhere. Modern iterations of the Iron Triangle’s redevelopment plan date to ex-mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration.
Related and Sterling were also behind a plan that included a controversial one-million-square foot mall just west of Citi Field, which fell through during former mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration after a lengthy court battle.
If the current plan passes the land use hurdles, the new stadium is expected to be built in time for the 2027 soccer season.
