Venable LLP is pleased to announce that its New York Real Estate team closed on a 49-year ground lease for the development of Etihad Park, a fully electric, 500,000-square-foot, 25,000-seat, privately financed Major League Soccer stadium in Queens, New York, for New York City Football Club.
In addition to creating the city’s first soccer-specific stadium, this project will also deliver retail, food, and beverage facilities and a plaza for community uses and events. Stadium construction is anticipated to begin in the coming days and be complete by the start of the 2027 MLS season.
“This closing for Etihad Park is a milestone. Our team is very proud to help advance development of New York City’s first-ever Major League Soccer stadium and the surrounding mixed-use community,” said Suzanne St. Pierre, a partner and chair of Venable’s New York Real Estate Group. “Public private partnerships continue to be an effective framework for our clients to undertake many types of large-scale developments, in New York City and elsewhere in the US. We are honored to work with NYCEDC and the City of New York on this important project.”
Venable represented New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) in the negotiation of the development agreement, ground lease, open-space agreements, and numerous other agreements for the new stadium. The team was led by Suzanne St. Pierre and included Kevin Shepherd, Abhi Nagaraj, John Walsh, Michael Nozick, Liz Lowe, and Wes Sudduth.
This project is part of the second phase of NYCEDC’s redevelopment of the Willets Point neighbourhood, which is also anticipated to include a 250-room hotel and 1,400 units of 100 percent affordable housing. Venable is representing NYCEDC in both phases of the Willets Point redevelopment. The first phase includes the development of district infrastructure and environmental remediation and approximately 1,100 units of affordable housing, 880 units of which are currently under construction.
The closing marks a significant milestone for Willets Point and will advance the generational transformation of a long-underutilized and contaminated area into a thriving mixed-use, mixed-income community. NYCEDC has stated that upon completion of the phase 1 and phase 2 housing (2,500 units in total), Willets Point will be the largest affordable housing project to be constructed in NYC in 40 years.
Venable’s New York Real Estate team is renowned for its work representing governmental, quasi-governmental, and nonprofit clients in major real estate development projects that include some of the nation’s most strategically important infrastructure initiatives and transformational projects in New York City.
Venable LLP is an American Lawyer Global 100 law firm headquartered in Washington, DC that serves as primary counsel to a worldwide clientele of large and mid-sized organizations, nonprofits, high-net-worth entrepreneurs, and other individuals. With more than 900 professionals across the country, including in California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Virginia, and Washington, DC, the firm strategically advances its clients’ objectives in the United States and around the globe. Venable advises clients on a broad range of business and regulatory law, legislative affairs, complex litigation, and the full range of intellectual property disciplines. For more information, please visit https://www.venable.com/.
