Building a soccer stadium in New York has proven to be a difficult task, but it appears the pursuit could be getting some assistance from a pair of local officials charged with developing a massive plot of land.
Queens Borough President Melinda Katz and City Councilman Francisco Moya are set to chair a committee that will come up with recommendations for a 17-acre plot of city-owned land in Willets Point. Thus far, six acres are set to be used to develop affordable housing, retail, a school and green space. The taskforce, headed by Katz and Moya, includes many local members of the community, but the two leaders have shown that they back the idea of a soccer stadium.
“I have not made it a secret that I support a stadium there,” Katz said, according to Crains New York. “I think it would be a great thing for the constituents of the borough of Queens.”
“I think this is a bold step in terms of economic development planning,” Moya said in his 2017 State of the Borough speech. “Soccer would be the economic engine.”
Moya was previously in the state Assembly when he supported a plan by MLS to build a proposed NYCFC stadium in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.