New stadium for soccer’s NYCFC to be built next to Mets home, the Bronx
The Mets’ first two stadiums have been built at the corner of 4th and 8th streets and will be demolished in order to build the new soccer stadium at the corner of Yankee and 3rd streets, next to where the two stadiums once stood. (Peter Beaton/AP)
The Mets are moving one step closer to constructing a new stadium for the New York City Football Club, and while the new stadium will be built next to their existing stadium, it will be in the Bronx.
The new soccer stadium for the New York City FC will be built next to the existing stadium used by the Brooklyn Cyclones, whose team played in the Mets’ home park for the bulk of the 1970s to the 1990s.
The Mets and New York City FC agreed to a $750 million naming rights deal in July, and the new soccer stadium will be called Citi Field.
The $30 million project is slated to begin next year on the corner of 1st and East 161st streets, and the Mets announced Wednesday they’re moving forward with the project.
Construction of the first phase of a multiyear plan to build the new stadium, including a hotel, high-end retail, office space and a park, is scheduled to begin on the corner of 1st and East 161st streets in Queens next year.
That project, which is being built by a joint venture, has been under construction since December of last year.
The Mets have been working with the New York City FC for the last two years on the new stadium, which will be the first new one constructed at Citi Field since 1977.
In a statement Wednesday, the Mets said the “initial phase of construction on the new stadium will begin next year,” and it said that construction “is anticipated to be complete in 2019.”
The Mets also said there’s been a “long-standing commitment by New York City FC to build a new, multi-purpose stadium on the Citi Field site,” which also runs parallel to the existing Mets ballpark, in the heart of the Bronx.
The Mets said the two sides “have reached an agreement to share the costs of this project. The New York City FC will receive