As the New York City Football Club and Maddd Equities close in on a deal to build a new soccer stadium near Yankee Stadium in the South Bronx, the Urban Land Institute and the local community board have released a report on the impact of another stadium on the neighborhood and how the area could benefit from the development.
“It’s a way for us to envision connecting these pieces of land to the existing neighborhood,” said Paul Phillips, the district manager for Bronx Community Board 4, of ULI’s report. “If we were to take on another sports venue, what would that look like, and what should we think about?”
The development team behind the stadium proposal — which includes Jorge Madruga’s Maddd Equities and Eli Weiss’ Joy Construction — plans to close on six parcels in the Highbridge section of the Bronx for $54 million, the New York Times reported earlier this month. The various properties along River Avenue and the Harlem River waterfront will be redeveloped into a 25,000-seat soccer stadium, a hotel and mixed-use residential buildings. The sites include six under-utilized parking lots and garages that the city set aside as parking for the new Yankee Stadium in 2009, as well as the GAL Manufacturing elevator parts factory on East 153rd Street.
The Yankees own 20 percent of NYCFC, while Manchester City Football Club owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family, controls the rest. The professional soccer team has played its home games at Yankee Stadium since 2015 but is often displaced by Yankee games. It has struggled to find a site for its own stadium as locals have pushed back against potential sites for a soccer complex in upper Manhattan, Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens and at Belmont Park on Long Island.
The Bronx Parking Development Corporation, which operates the city-owned parking lots, has failed to turn a profit for the past decade. It has lost tens of millions of dollars each year and owes the city more than $400 million in back taxes, rent and debt payments on the $237 million in publicly subsidized bonds issued to construct the garages. All told, the Yankees are surrendering roughly 3,000 of the 9,127 parking spots that were built as part of the 2009 stadium deal. The city will continue to own the land on which the garages and parking lots were developed, and the stadium development team will buy out the remainder of the 99-year leases for the garages, according to the city’s Economic Development Corporation.
“The South Bronx deserves much more than the underutilized parking lots around Yankee Stadium,” the EDC said in a statement. “Housing and amenities that serve the community year-round are key to strengthening the neighborhood for years to come.”
Although the development team and the city have kept the details of the project under wraps, the city has admitted that the undertaking will require a large-scale rezoning of the area. The rezoning opens up the opportunity for the neighborhood to look at potential community benefits, including new public space, a better experience for pedestrians, more street-level retail, and infrastructure upgrades. There are also questions about how the soccer stadium could be integrated into the community and whether it would be open to the public during the off-season.
The report authored by the Urban Land Institute calls for a new stadium to be “a true multi-purpose asset for the community and serve functions beyond its role as the primary venue for NYCFC home games.” The stadium could be used to host soccer games for local teams, as well as wellness and community programs. The design of the building could also help establish connections with the neighborhood, by appearing open and welcoming rather than walled-off like Yankee Stadium, the report says. The developers could also create a community plaza outside the stadium, allowing space for community art installations or a farmer’s market. […]
Click here to view original web page at commercialobserver.com
