NEW YORK | NYC FC Soccer Stadium | Willets Point

[Duck From NY]

Originally Posted by NYguy

Flushing Meadows park planners find a soccer stadium idea not 'necessarily' terrible

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Wow, what a ringing endorsement.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Duck From NY

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Wow, what a ringing endorsement.

LOL. Well, in fairness to them, it wasn't part of the plan. It's a new element that's being thrown in, one that replaces their own idea...


From the article...
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/articl...ea-not-necessa

The 2008 strategic framework was designed to transform Flushing Meadows Corona Park from a fragmented, confusing, flat, uninspired, pavement-ridden open space into a grade-A greensward.

First, like Major League Soccer, the plan called for demolishing the Pool of Industry. But instead of a stadium, Hawkinson and Quennell's plan would create "festival grounds" where people could gather.

Also, the authors called for unearthing the Flushing River, which now runs through an underground culvert into the Pool of Industry, and reroute it along the park's east side so as "to create a continuous ribbon of water" that would ultimately connect to Meadow and Willow lakes, both of which would be restored.

"By demolishing the eyesore of a fountain, which is out of scale with current uses and is not operational, we could route the river east of its original course, skirting the eastern edge of the Park close to the fountain’s present location," the plan reads. "This will allow for the creation of a vital new festival grounds space almost twice as large as the Great Lawn in Central Park."

[Duck From NY]

Originally Posted by NYguy

LOL. Well, in fairness to them, it wasn't part of the plan. It's a new element that's being thrown in, one that replaces their own idea...

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Oh I know, and I hear ya, but there's tons of parkland in the area. As long as the tenant cleans up the messes from the crowds, this should be a "win-win". Any renders of the original idea they had before this came along?

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Duck From NY

Any renders of the original idea they had before this came along?

I haven't looked into it, there may be some. But I agree with the idea that Flushing Meadows should be more than it is. Of the City's great parks,
this one is supposed ro represent Queens the most. As home to two world's fairs, it should be one of the great symbols of the City. They'll have to
find a way to connect the idea of a great park with a great sports stadium complex.



Ron Cogswell





NYC-Man





Kristin&Joe





wallyg













Viridia









This is a dated photo, but the soccer stadium would go where the pond/pool is....

Payton Chung




Another shot...

Vidiot





A before and after showing the river before the park was built...

hyperakt

[NYguy]

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.1199696

Queens residents support proposed soccer stadium, new survey says
Survey commissioned by Major League Soccer says 71% of respondents support the stadium
and two-thirds back the plan to put the stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park

By Clare Trapasso
November 9, 2012

Queens residents are overwhelmingly in favor of a soccer stadium in the borough, according to a survey commissioned by Major League Soccer. The report, given exclusively to the Daily News, is the league’s latest attempt to demonstrate local support for the stadium, which has taken a beating from the community for proposing the facility on 13 acres of public park land.

The study claims 71% of the 650 Queens registered voters surveyed last month support the MLS stadium. Two-thirds are also behind plans to build the stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, according to the report conducted by the Global Strategy Group. “We are hearing a huge amount of enthusiasm from the community about Queens being home to a professional soccer team,” MLS spokeswoman Risa Heller said in a statement. “We can’t wait to bring a team home that Queens can be proud of.”

The backing stems from the 2,100 construction-related jobs, 160 full-time jobs and 750 part-time jobs the stadium is expected to create, according to the report. It also received strong support from local soccer fans — many of whom live near the park. The league has promised to refurbish the soccer fields in Flushing Meadows used by amateur players and replace every square inch of parkland taken for the stadium.

[manchester united]

http://www.soccerbyives.net/2012/12/...comment-627992

[NYguy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/06/sp...=nyregion&_r=0

M.L.S. Promotes Stadium at a Town Hall Meeting

By DAVID PICKER
December 5, 2012

Major League Soccer wants a professional soccer team playing in Queens by 2016. Tuesday night, the league demonstrated what a match in the borough might feel like. At the start of a town hall meeting the league hosted at Queens Theater in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, soccer fans chanted, hopped up and down, and danced to the beat of Latin music. Bring soccer to New York!” one fan shouted before the speeches began. The sound of a vuvuzela pierced the auditorium, and everyone cheered, waving the soccer-style scarves that were handed out to the standing-room-only crowd of about 400. It felt a lot like a soccer game. The biggest thing missing was, well, a stadium.

If M.L.S. has its way, a 25,000-seat stadium will gain city and state legislative approval in the coming months, and construction will begin in 2014. The town hall meeting gave the league an opportunity to present its plan to build the stadium at the eastern end of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, a site chosen over about 20 other locations around the city that had been considered, the league said.

“Our goal is to be one of the top soccer leagues in the entire world by 2022,” Garber said in a 30-minute presentation, parts of which were translated into Spanish. “This stadium will help us achieve that. You can’t be a dominant soccer league without having a dominant team in the largest and most important city in the world.”

Garber said the stadium would be financed privately and create at least 3,000 permanent and temporary jobs. He added that tens of millions of dollars would be invested in the park, which hosted the 1939 and 1964 World’s Fairs but has since been neglected. Many of the park’s soccer fields, frequently used for pickup games, are in poor condition.

Under the proposal, M.L.S. would have the right to expand the stadium to 35,000 seats in the next 30 years. But the stadium’s footprint would not increase if seats were added.

[manchester united]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/q...78b8XeaV6MvwyJ

[NYguy]

Marty wants it all...


http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/b...GqyqIbfz71sddK

Marty Markowitz fights to lure pro soccer team to Brooklyn

By RICH CALDER
December 14, 2012

He stole the Nets from New Jersey and the Islanders from Long Island — and now he’s after the new soccer franchise trying to set up shop in Queens.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz wants Major League Soccer to drop its plan to build a pro-soccer stadium in Flushing Meadows Park, and instead field a team in the “greener pastures” of his borough. The Beep says no place on earth can compete with the cachet of the Brooklyn brand — and claims the Borough of Kings is filled with more soccer-starved fans than its neighbor to the east.

“I know Queens is pushing for a stadium, but I believe pro soccer belongs here in Brooklyn,” Markowitz said following a ceremony marking the opening of three new sports fields in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

“Soccer is the Number 1 sport in the world, so why shouldn’t we have a team here in Brooklyn?”

Queens Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., called it a declaration of war.
“Brooklyn is already in the process of stealing our . . . Civic Virtue statue and moving it to Green-Wood Cemetery, so what’s next, the Mets?” he fired back. “I better go and lock up the Unisphere.”

Vallone has yet to take a position on whether Flushing Meadows is the best place in Queens for a 25,000-seat soccer stadium, saying he has concerns about the use of existing parkland. Queens Borough President Helen Marshall had similar reservations about parkland, but wants the stadium for her borough.

Asked about the league’s new suitor, MLS spokeswoman Risa Heller said it’s “100 percent focused on bringing pro soccer to Queens.”

[Inkoumori]

Marty Markowitz fights to lure pro soccer team to Brooklyn

Just in case Mrs. Heller doesn't find Queens so amenable; Marty I've got your spot!

[manchester united]

http://thisiscosmoscountry.com/?p=3794
This can be the ideal solution to have the NYCFC in MLS in this temporary stadium for 2014 and 2015 seasons !!

[Roadcruiser1]

Originally Posted by Inkoumori

Marty Markowitz fights to lure pro soccer team to Brooklyn

Just in case Mrs. Heller doesn't find Queens so amenable; Marty I've got your spot!

That's not a good location due to the fact that is the yard for the LIRR Bay Ridge Branch. It's also suppose to be the future location for a tunnel so trains can go to Staten Island and New Jersey so it won't be a good location.

[Inkoumori]

Originally Posted by Roadcruiser1

That's not a good location due to the fact that is the yard for the LIRR Bay Ridge Branch. It's also suppose to be the future location for a tunnel so trains can go to Staten Island and New Jersey so it won't be a good location.

It was tongue in cheek however....you're right, it was once an important train-to-barge port from the 1870's to the 1960's. It's now fallow and the tracks unusable. The LIRR doesn't use it and hasn't for decades. The "Cross Harbor Rail Tunnel" is a proposal so incredibly expensive, so environmentally unfriendly and (at this time) so unnecessary there is virtually no advocacy for it.

So, this could be a nice site (tongue in cheek) for the Brooklyn Witz's

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-Harbor_Rail_Tunnel

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Inkoumori

The "Cross Harbor Rail Tunnel" is a proposal so incredibly expensive, so environmentally unfriendly and (at this time) so unnecessary there is virtually no advocacy for it.

Seems like it would improve the environment/air quality/road safety by taking thousands of trucks off the roads.

Plus, a tunnel portal and a stadium are not mutually exclusive. It's pretty easy to build the stadium to allow for the future tunnel.

The bigger problem is subway access, which is kinda crappy out in Bay Ridge (long walk from the R, even longer from the N). They could set up a nice ferry service, though.

[Inkoumori]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Seems like it would improve the environment/air quality/road safety by taking thousands of trucks off the roads.

Plus, a tunnel portal and a stadium are not mutually exclusive. It's pretty easy to build the stadium to allow for the future tunnel.

The bigger problem is subway access, which is kinda crappy out in Bay Ridge (long walk from the R, even longer from the N). They could set up a nice ferry service, though.

Right- it would be easy to build a stadium if you're already building a tunnel which begins, presumably, farther inland than the length of the stadium.

But environmentally it would be a 5 mile (plus or minus) excavation of clay and rock which would take a decade and all of it has to go somewhere and be moved by something. All the machines doing the work would need fuel and thus give off plenty of exhaust into densely populated neighborhoods. All the debris would have to be trucked somewhere and we can assume that somewhere would be the already compromised wetlands of NJ. They can't just dump it into the bay which is already dredged to keep it clear for ever larger ships. So the environmental analysis is against it- the impact the rail tunnel would cause at this point > trucking goods to Long Island.

I get your subway point too (I can be lazy) but it's all pretty much moot since it ain't happening!

Fun to think about though.

[ardecila]

Don't get me started on fill removal. I live in New Orleans, where we can't find enough good soil for earthworks. Seriously, though, it's a good problem to have, especially if NY is gonna get serious about flood protection.

[sbarn]

Originally Posted by Inkoumori

Marty Markowitz fights to lure pro soccer team to Brooklyn

Just in case Mrs. Heller doesn't find Queens so amenable; Marty I've got your spot!

Funny, I'm actually quite familiar with this site. I worked on negotiating a rail deal here when I worked at the City years ago. It is actually an active rail yard, serving as the eastern terminus of the float bridge from NJ. The city would like to ramp up operations, I think partly to determine whether there is demand to support a cross harbor tunnel.

[k1052]

Why not build it on air rights over the Sunnyside Yard between Thomson and Queens Blvd? Far better transit access than the Industry Pond or Bay Ridge sites, particularly with LIRR plans to add a station at Skillman when the ESA is complete providing one stop service to Penn.

[Inkoumori]

Originally Posted by sbarn

Funny, I'm actually quite familiar with this site. I worked on negotiating a rail deal here when I worked at the City years ago. It is actually an active rail yard, serving as the eastern terminus of the float bridge from NJ. The city would like to ramp up operations, I think partly to determine whether there is demand to support a cross harbor tunnel.

Interesting, sbarn. I guess I should've only highlighted the N section (where there are no tracks). I had no idea they still used the float bridge, which makes sense now seeing there are still tracks on the S section to what appears to be two maintained barge docks. Do you know more about the site? I've always found it a curious place. I live on the R and there is a spot as you travel north where you can see down into the yards, I've never explored it though.

[Inkoumori]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Don't get me started on fill removal. I live in New Orleans, where we can't find enough good soil for earthworks. Seriously, though, it's a good problem to have, especially if NY is gonna get serious about flood protection.

I hear you. But considering Congress is having partisan problems even funding FEMA, it's going to be a long time before anything is done about flood protection in NY/NJ. The states just don't have the money, as you must be sadly aware.

In a perfect world we'd excavate the tunnel and send you all the fill you need on trains.