Kick Willets Point into the future
Squint and you can almost see it: Willets Point, the chronically underutilized, infrastructure-deprived Queens neighborhood a stone’s throw from Citi Field that was once infamous as the city’s chop-shop district, is on the cusp of becoming a vibrant hub of urban living and recreation.
That’s because the City Planning Commission has now unanimously approved a plan to build a new home for New York City’s Major League Soccer team, along with 2,500 affordable apartments (built in two phases), a public school, a hotel, gobs of retail and park space to boot. The vote was 120, with the 13th vacant seat needed to be filled by Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine.
It’s early in the season yet, but the New York City Football Club set to get its first permanent home is in the cellar of the Eastern Conference. As long as Lionel Messi remains in the pink Miami jersey, there’s little chance any other team, let alone a weak squad like the NYCFC, will contend for a title.
But as American soccer-heads well understand, this is not just about the now; it’s a long game. Time and again, enthusiasts of the beautiful game were sure that it was finally time for its U.S. closeup: first with Pelé, then with the 1994 U.S. National Team, then with the Women’s National Team’s great runs in the 1990s and the last decade.
Major League Soccer was no great shakes when it started in 1996, but it’s matured remarkably since. Attendance for the 2023 regular season was upwards of 22,000 per match, and sponsorship revenue and franchise value are all growing. Messi’s the biggest reason why, but the renaissance he’s sparked is throwing off benefits across the 29-team league.
Which is why this seems like a sensible time to build a dedicated, 25,000-seat soccer stadium that of course can be used for other events — especially given that, unlike a certain stadium for a certain American football team based at the other end of New York State, the public won’t be footing a billion-dollar bill for this one.
If things go according to plan, the stadium could start as early as this year and be finished by 2027. Yep, a soccer stadium could start from scratch later than and finish before any of the four borough jails set to replace Rikers Island, the first of which isn’t now slated to be completed until 2029.
We’re grateful the City Council is poised to approve the whole shebang, mainly because the local member, in this case Councilman Francisco Moya, happens to be a supporter. Councilmember deference — what we call the local veto — should’ve died years ago, but luckily this time it cuts in favor of progress.
For all the anticipated cheering on the soccer pitch, it’s 2,500 new housing units that should provoke more sustained applause in a city with a chronic housing shortage and rents that make it all but impossible for many young professionals, families or seniors to find a lasting foothold here.
To build the apartments it desperately needs, New York needs to do two things: smartly allow more housing in already reasonably dense neighborhoods, especially near transit; and take big swings on vacant or blighted tracts of land. This helps fill out the second column, and it’s essential.