The landscape of the Major League Soccer stadium saga in Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Image source: Major League Soccer So Major League Soccer wants to move into New York City. They’ve had their eye on NYC proper (the NY Red Bulls play in New Jersey) since 2011, when they put a team together to look into over 20 potential locations for a stadium within the city limits. Flushing Meadows Corona…
Image source: Major League Soccer
So Major League Soccer wants to move into New York City. They’ve had their eye on NYC proper (the NY Red Bulls play in New Jersey) since 2011, when they put a team together to look into over 20 potential locations for a stadium within the city limits. Flushing Meadows Corona Park eventually became their location of choice, appealing because the location is near public transportation (subway, LIRR) and because Queens is “home of soccer in New York City right now,” according to MLS President Mark Abbott. This stadium would be the home to the 20th team in the League and would start playing 2016.
There are a lot of passionate opinions about the stadium, both pro and con; not many people are undecided when it comes to development on parkland. Whether you are for or against, it’s interesting to know what’s going on these days when it comes to this capital project.
The Architects and the Mayor
Capital New York reported last week that “Major League Soccer has asked SHoP Architects, the firm that designed the new Nets stadium in downtown Brooklyn, to prepare initial designs for a Major League Soccer stadium in Queens.” More specifically, SHoP is working on the initial schematic designs for this 25,000-seat stadium (expandable to 35,000 seats).
Mayor Bloomberg is in favor of the stadium. He said to the NY Post over the summer, “There’s enormous support for a soccer stadium from what we can tell from elected officials and from local officials in the area. In Queens, in particular, soccer is a very big game. My understanding is there’s a lot of sentiment in Albany that they would be willing to do it.”
The Money
Capital New York has some more details about the economics of the project:
According to a presentation given to city officials in June, the stadium will create 2,000 construction-related jobs, and 300 full-time and 900 part-time jobs. It will also need 4,500 parking spots for fans—who would park in the Mets parking lots—and 375 parking spots for players and VIPs.
According to Major League Soccer, those numbers have since changed. Now, the league anticipates creating more construction-related jobs—between 2,100 and 2,300 construction-related jobs, and fewer full-time and part-time jobs, 160 and 750, respectively.
Additionally, the stadium would be funded 100% from private sources – basically, the owner of this new club/team would pay for it (the price tag is expected to be about $300 million). Also, there would not be any kind of tax on people in the local community in order to pay for it.
The Neighbors and Community Groups
Image source: New York Daily News
There have been a number of meetings among community groups in the neighborhoods of Corona, Elmhurst, Flushing and Jackson Heights, who oppose building a stadium in this park. They use the park as their main source of open space and are loath to see any of it taken away.
The league is also currently in the midst of its own grassroots effort to “explain the project and respond to detractors who feel that the stadium will be taking up precious park space.”
Back in August, MLS also offered to renovate the soccer fields that surround the Industry Pond – these fields are in bad shape, so renovating them could be a real benefit to those that like to use these fields. This is seen as a positive gesture by MLS toward the local community.
The USTA and Parking
There were rumblings over the summer about building parking garages in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, as per the demands of the US Tennis Association. 500 additional parking spaces would be added if these garages get built. It also came to light earlier this week that the USTA folks are wary of the stadium being built in the park. From City Room:
Tennis officials view a soccer stadium with concern. Unlike Citi Field and the National Tennis Center, a soccer stadium in the middle of the park would sit a substantial distance from subways and trains. And it most likely would require more roads and parking, crossing close to the tennis center.
And soccer officials have spoken of using the stadium for concerts, all of which would make it a cacophonous neighbor for the tennis complex.
“It raises a lot of concerns for us,” said Gordon Smith, executive director of the association. “We ought to be considered in a very different light, because we raise almost none of those complications.”
The MLS folks expect they’ll need 4,100 parking spots for fans, and 300 spots for players and VIPs.
The Location – Fountain of the Planets/Industry Pond
As for its location, the plan is for the soccer stadium to be built on the location of Fountain of the Planets (what’s left is the Industry Pond), a relic from the 1964-65 NY World’s Fair. The NY Times described it as so:
Created for the 1963-64 World’s Fair, and ”a relic to the grandiosity of the time,” according to Parks Commissioner Henry J. Stern, the fountain is 625 feet high when spraying at full height, only 50 feet shorter than Shea Stadium. It was one of the vast and vastly expensive projects that Robert Moses, the powerful Parks commissioner, created as a monument to himself and his achievements.
Image source: Alameda Info
Here’s a short video of the current Industry Pond:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWQwDAoO-pw]
The Replacement Park Land
If the stadium does indeed get built in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, there is a requirement that the amount of land that will be used for this project must be replaced in the same amount elsewhere. So, this means new parkland in Queens. But where?
Apparently there are a number of sites being considered – some city-owned land near the Rego Park Crescent at 16.6-acres; 12 acres of land bordering the western side of Flushing Creek (the MTA owns some of it); a .04 acre plot at Roosevelt Avenue and 90th Street; a .03 acre plot at Xenia Street, Westside Ave, and the LIE; and a .02 acre site at 108th Street and Van Cleef. These are the sites available at this point.
A total of 13 acres of land needs to be found to replace what would be taken at Flushing Meadows Corona Park. According to MLS, only one acre is actual green space that would be eliminated.
We are very much interested in seeing how all this plays out, and will be keeping an eye on this story as it progresses.
MLS officials discuss NYC expansion plans, eye on 2016 [MLS]
Major League Soccer enlists the Barclays Center team for its Queens stadium project [Capital New York]
Major League Soccer, in pursuit of a Queens stadium, searches for new parkland [Capital New York]
For Protectors of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, an Unlikely Ally [NYT]
‘Toxic’ Site Eyed as Replacement Parkland in MLS Soccer Stadium Proposal [DNAinfo]
Parking garages may come to Flushing Meadows Corona Park [QNYC]
Soccer stadium a big kick: Mike [NY Post]
Back-of-the-Park Treatment For Fountain of the Planets [NYT]
I am not against the concept of the stadium, even though I’m not for building in the parks. My objection is with the placement. Building a stadium where the Fountain of the Planets is seems short-sighted and uninformed.
Firstly, there’s the concept of wanting to build a stadium in a swamp. Once you move past that, there’s the proximity of the fountain to College Point Blvd., and the neighborhood just across the street. The neighborhood from which I originated. It is my opinion that the proposed site poses too many problems. There is an alternative, however.
Back in 1965 everyone was responsible for taking down their own pavilions, which they did, except for New York. In the ensuing four and a half decades, the New York State Pavilion has sat neglected, falling into such a state of disrepair that employees of the Queens Theatre in the Park box office have been known to leave during storms for fear of the towers crashing down on the theatre, and people have to be paid to scale the towers to replace the beacon lights on top, when needed, because it’s the only safe way left to get up there. The wonderful map of New York within was cracked and overgrown with weeds 30 years ago! If there is to be building within the park, why not replace the dangerous ruin that was once the Pavilion? If necessary, the Towers could be rebuilt as part of the new stadium. That area of the park is central, interior, and already a part of the park accustomed to handling a fair amount of people, due to the theatre, but I believe the parking situation could be easier solved over there. It’s even closer to the Corona side of the park, making it more convenient.
Look, I was sad to see the Aquacade go, but knew full well, having ventured within it in my youth, why it was necessary to tear it down. No comparable structure has replaced the Aquacade, but there exists an opportunity to replace the Pavilion (it could even be called “Pavilion Stadium”) with something that people seem to want, and won’t come crashing down any time soon. It’s just a question of knowing the park, and no one empirically knows the parks in Queens better than myself.
In short, though I’m never thrilled with the idea of building within the parks, I think the Pavilion would be an overall better location.
Two things – I don’t think Pavilion site is big enough for the stadium, first of all.
And the Pavilion is literally in the middle the park, and in order to get there from the subway and LIRR, people have to literally walk through the bulk of the park that people spend time in (including the area surrounding the Unisphere and the USTA) to get there. From Corona they have to go through the area with the zoo and the That’s a huge no-no and would only serve to fuel the critics’ criticisms.
The current site is located adjacent to parking underneath the Van Wyck. Its a more direct and less disruptive path from the train lines to this location. The area surrounding the Industry Pond is also currently underutilized (except for the soccer fields which would be moved) so overall it is a much better choice.