MLS expansion club NYC FC, whose plan to build a stadium in Queens was "interrupted by community opposition, has a new site in mind: just south of Yankee Stadium in the Bronx," according to Charles Bagli of the N.Y. TIMES. If the latest proposal is successful, the club "would build a 25,000-to-30,000-seat stadium that offers connections to subways and rail lines, as well as Yankee Stadium and the Gateway Center, a large retail complex near the Harlem River." NYC FC, a partnership of EPL club Manchester City and the Yankees, is "negotiating with the owners of a nine-acre parcel between the Major Deegan Expressway and East 153rd Street." Yankees President Randy Levine said, "We’ve had preliminary discussions, but we’re a long way from any decision. We’re also considering sites in Queens and Brooklyn.” He emphasized that if a deal was "struck, it would not involve any parkland." Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said that he would "gauge the reaction of local residents in the coming weeks." Sitting on the parcel under consideration is a "parking garage for Yankee Stadium that is run by a troubled nonprofit, the Bronx Parking Development Company." The company in April defaulted on a $237M civic bond. NYC FC also would "have to acquire the land currently occupied by a highway ramp and a 100,000-square-foot factory" owned by GAL Manufacturing Corporation. A source said that the expansion club has "offered to build GAL a new factory elsewhere in the Bronx" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/30).
