The long wait may finally be over as NYCFC is expected to have their plans for a Willets Point stadium approved on Thursday afternoon by the City Council. Yesterday the Council’s Committee on Land Use approved of the project paving the way for one final formal vote to see the long-awaited project announced. New York City mayor Eric Adams and Queens Borough president Donovan Richards are expected to appear together to celebrate the victory.
“We should think of it as breaking ground on brighter future for 881 families,” said Richards to the press.
The City stadium, dubbed “The Cube,” is only part of a large-scale project that will see 1,400 units of permanent affordable housing, a hotel and local retail space included. All of this seemingly across the street from the New York Mets’ Citi Field stadium where NYCFC has played games over the last few years.
The stadium will mark and end to one of the longest battles for City, one that mirrored the Red Bulls/Metrostars search for a home nearly 20 years prior. At the time, the Metrostars and later Red Bulls, played at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford until finally locking in their permanent home in Harrison, N.J. as part of their own redevelopment project.
City have called Yankee Stadium their home since their inception in 2015, constantly juggling schedule issues with Major League Baseball. This new home will put an end to that and give them the last piece of legitimacy within New York City that they have so desperately sought.
“We’re bringing the world’s sport to the world’s most diverse borough,” said Richards. “I’m rooting for NYCFC to win the championship. Queens is ready to collect its trophy.”