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Bronx residents up in arms overproposed soccer stadium--DailyNews

1/16/2013

Tensions hit a fever pitch.

Residents traded barbs Wednesday over the possibilitythat the Yankees and their wealthy Middle Easternpartner will build a soccer stadium to house a new MajorLeague Soccer franchise in the Bronx.

The New York City Football Club is looking for a home,and scores of Bronx residents, community leaders and

officials piled into a community meeting organized by the161st Business Improvement District to debate whetherthe project was in-bounds.

Outraged protestors balked at giving tax dollars towealthy organizations while their neighborhood stillcopes with scarce funding.

This discussion is not about soccer, said MychalJohnson, a co-founder of South Bronx Unite, a coalitionof community residents and organizations that hasvigorously opposed a plan to award more than $100million in city and state subsidies to Fresh Direct, to lurethe online grocer to Port Morris.
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it to billionaires? There is no justification for that.

Supporters of the project also turned out, and said thestadium would be a perfect addition for the boroughs

international community.

American baseball is apple pie, but there are so manynew immigrants in the Bronx, said Carol Boykins, 59,who has lived on Jerome Ave. in the shadow of YankeeStadium for decades. Around the world, (the popularsport) is soccer.

Officials have been hesitant to endorse the stadium untilmore of the project details emerge. A deal to commit$300 million in tax free bonds and demolish of one of thebankrupt Yankee Stadium parking garages was notfinished before former Mayor Bloomberg left office,leaving the de Blasio administration to start from scratch.

Our office has not yet made any decisions as to whether

or not we would support this project, said John DeSio,communications director for Bronx Borough PresidentRuben Diaz Jr.

Major League Soccer was in talks with the city over $340million, 25,000 seat stadium on parkland in FlushingMeadows-Corona Park in Queens.

Strident local opposition stalled the project, and Diazcourted the league in an effort to bring the stadium to theBronx.


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Bronx Residents Debate Plan ForMajor League Soccer Stadium--CBSNY1/16/2013

A town hall meeting on a planned soccer stadium near Yankee Stadium

in the Bronx. (Credit: Holli Haerr/1010 WINS)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork)A proposal for a newsoccer venue adjacent to Yankee Stadium drew strongwords on both sides of the issue at a town hall meeting inthe Bronx Wednesday night.

The Yankees and Sheik Mansour Bin Zayed al Nahyan owner of the Manchester City Football Club want to

have a parking garage demolished and replaced with a$350 million Major League Soccer team New York CityFootball Club, according to multiple reports.

Community opposition kicked any soccer stadium plansfor Flushing Meadows Corona Park, so the new plan wasissued to put it in the Bronx, on River Avenue nearYankee Stadium.

The city-owned parking garage would be torn down andG.A.L Manufacturing Corp, an elevator parts company on153rd Street, would also have to move to make room forthe facility.
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The proposed stadium would occupy land from 153rd to157th streets . Importantly, it would also do away withthe entrance ramp to the northbound Major DeeganExpressway.

The soccer team was announced as the 20th MajorLeague Soccer franchise last year, and is seeking to beginoperation in 2015.

As 1010 WINS Holli Haerr reported, some area residentssaid the idea would benefit the Bronx financially andculturally, particularly given the popularity of soccer

worldwide.

American baseball, apple pie, but we are generations ofimmigrants, and so many immigrants coming, andaround the world, its soccer which is called football, onewoman said.

We love baseball, but I think soccer is something that is

valuable, and lots of people enjoy; its the number onesport in the world, a man said.

But another woman said the stadium would be vacantmost of the time and would actually be detrimental to thearea.

The traffic problems are horrible. Its not good for local

businesses. After the construction, there wont be anynew jobs . The site will be unused more than 300 days ayear, she said.

Another took aim at the sheik and his personal fortune.


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Sheik Mansours personal wealth is listed asapproximately $12 billion. Why does the South Bronxhave to build him in a stadium? How many jobs would astadium create annually for only 35 games?

Cary Goodman, executive director of the 161st StreetBusiness Improvement District, said the town hallmeeting was held to give residents an opportunity tospeak before any plan it finalized.

The last few timesthere have been development projectsaround here, the community has not been involved.

Things went forward, and then the community caught uplater or never caught up at all. This is a chance to giveeverybody, right from the start, a blank slate, he said.There is no deal. What do you think?

Haerr reported the town hall meeting was packed, withsome people waiting outside to get in. Overall, theopinion was slightly in favor of the stadium, Haerr

reported.

The meeting was civil with one exception, as a man begancursing and was escorted out, Haerr reported.


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Deal for Bronx Soccer Stadium inWorks as Clock Ticks--NY Times

12/11/2013

The owners of New Yorks new professional soccer teamand theBloomberg administrationare nearing a tentativeagreement to build the citys first soccer-only venue: a$350 million, 28,000-seat stadium near Yankee Stadiumin the Bronx.

But it is far from a done deal.

Mayor-electBill de Blasio,who was not briefed on thedeal until Wednesday, did not immediately embrace theproposal, in part, because the Bloomberg plan entails taxbreaks, the sale or lease of public land and publicfinancing.

Lis Smith, a de Blasio spokeswoman, said, We have realconcerns about investing scarce public resources andforgoing revenue to support the creation of an arena for ateam co-owned by one of the worlds wealthiestindividuals, and will review any plan with that in mind.

The team, now starting to take shape and known as theNew York City Football Club,is a partnership betweenthe Manchester City Football Club of England, which isowned by the billionaire Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed AlNahyan, and the Yankees.

The stadium is on a long list of projects that Mayor
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Michael R. Bloomberg has been eager to nail down beforehe leaves office at the end of the month. His initial planto put the stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Parkran into widespread criticism from local groups and parkadvocates.

For the past six months, the teams owners have focusedon the Bronx and a spot south of Yankee Stadium.

The Bloomberg administrations signing of even anonbinding agreement would present a challenge for Mr.de Blasio, who has vowed to negotiate better deals for

taxpayers than his predecessor has.

The accord would almost certainly reignite a debateabout providing public subsidies for lucrative sportsfranchises. In the past, Mr. de Blasio was critical of whathe described as the overly generous subsidies theBloomberg administration provided to the Mets,enabling the ball club to build Citi Field in Queens.

The soccer stadium project would still have to make itsway through the citys approval process next year. Publicfinancing would need the approval of the citys IndustrialDevelopment Agency, which may be reorganized underthe new mayor.

However, the nonbinding agreement as currently

envisioned includes a clause that would put pressure onthe de Blasio administration to act quickly: The teamowners and the city would have until the end of March tosign a predevelopment agreement and lease, according toone official briefed on the terms. A spokeswoman for theBloomberg administration said that talks were


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continuing and that nothing was final.

Richard Brodsky, a former state assemblyman fromWestchester County who has been a critic of public funds

for professional teams, said, This is the Yankees and thethird-richest man in the world asking for hundreds ofmillions of dollars in taxpayer money.

Ruben Diaz Jr., the Bronx borough president, who saidhe had not made up his mind about the deal, haspromised local community groups that they will have arole in shaping the deal for the stadium.

Randy Levine, the Yankees president and the soccerteam executive who has led the negotiations with the city,declined to comment.

In order to build the stadium on a 10-acre site south ofYankee Stadium, the soccer franchise would have to buythe land now occupied by GAL Manufacturing, a family-

owned business that employs about 400 people, andbuild a new factory nearby.

The team would also have to come to terms with theBronx Parking Development Company, which controls agarage on the site that would have to be demolished. Theparking company is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy,a move that could leave the city liable for its $240 million

debt. Mr. Levine has offered the company about $25million.

But the team also needs to buy or lease adjacent parkinglots from the city and gain control of a section of East153rd Street.


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At the same time, the team wants the city to issue $250million to $300 million in tax-exempt bonds. The teamwould be responsible for paying off the debt, but thebonds would save the team millions of dollars in federaland state taxes over 38 years. In addition, the deal wouldinclude sales tax and mortgage recording tax exemptionsworth an estimated $21.5 million.

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