NYC’s first soccer stadium hits a snag — the Queens borough president

The Queens borough president said he will withhold a key approval for a planned $780 million soccer stadium in Willets Point unless the Adams administration reinstates a popular street vendor market in Corona Plaza.

Democrat Donovan Richards disclosed the ultimatum in remarks before the nonprofit Street Vendor Project’s gala at MoMA PS1 last week and repeated it to Gothamist. The project must undergo a lengthy land-use review, including of street maps.

“What I said to the administration is: I will not sign off on any fútbol stadium until my vendors are returned to Corona Plaza,” Richards told the gathering, to thunderous applause. “And you can tweet that.”

He added, “Those [street] maps will collect dust for the rest of the year because we will not turn our backs on the working people of our borough.”

What I said to the administration is: I will not sign off on any fútbol stadium until my vendors are returned to Corona Plaza.

Donovan Richards, Queens borough president

City Hall spokesperson Charles Lutvak said in a statement that he expects the land-use review to begin as planned “in the coming weeks” without any delays.

The ultimatum adds a new wrinkle to a long-running dispute over Corona Plaza, where the city earlier this year shutdown a popular street vendor market amid complaints about cleanliness, crime and crowding, including from owners of brick-and-mortar stores. Many of the street vendors are migrants doing business without licenses.

The 25,000-seat stadium is the future home of the New York City Football Club, set to debut in 2027.

City officials have said they are still ironing out long-term plans for a market at Corona Plaza, after sanitation police cleared out dozens of vendors in July over ongoing complaints of blocked sidewalks, unsanitary conditions and “illegal vending” too close to storefronts.

Richards has been a vocal proponent of the Willets Point project, particularly the mixed-use development also planned for the site.

City Councilmember Francisco Moya, who has gotten behind both the stadium project and business owners at odds with the street vendors, was not immediately available for comment on Richards’ ultimatum. The New York City Football Club also declined comment.

Related Companies and Sterling Equities also plan a hotel, school, ground-floor retail shops, and 2,500 units of affordable housing on the city-owned property.

Lutvak said the administration has been working to "improve quality of life" at the plaza and establish an "outdoor market concession on the plaza to better serve the space’s diverse uses and improve the experience for everyone living in, working in, or visiting the area.”

The Department of Transportation, which created Corona Plaza, was expected to release a request for proposals for an outside company or nonprofit to manage the long-term market in the plaza. Agency spokesperson Vincent Barone told Gothamist last month that officials also were exploring shorter-term solutions for vendors to return.

Richards said he’s still negotiating with the Adams administration about the number of vendors that will be allowed back at the plaza, which was once home to over 80 stalls. Richards said his “magic number” is 28 vendors, but said he’s still fending off proposals to permanently exclude vendors from the plaza.

“I'm going to use every tool in my toolbox to ensure that they're not left out of the conversation,” Richards said.

He added, “Hell, no. I'm not gonna put this stadium in drive while the vendors are in neutral.”

Department of Sanitation police told vendors without one of the city’s limited and highly coveted permits and licenses to leave during their summer sweep. Just a few long-time vendors remain, joined by a few newcomers who arrived in the wake of the clear out.

Richards pointed to what he called “hypocritical” doublespeak by the Adams administration, at once advocating for the Biden administration to expand work authorization for newly arrived migrants, while denying new licenses to long-time vendors in the city.

The number of licenses and permits to legally vend in the city have remained limited for decades. Effort to expand the supply has been mired in years-long delays.

The Corona Plaza sweep came as a surprise to many of the vendors, many of whom said they had been working with the city to address community concerns.

Many vendors said they’ve struggled to find other work and pay for everyday expenses since they’ve been barred from the plaza.

“People have now been out of work for over 75 days,” said Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez, deputy director of the Street Vendor Project. “That’s two rent cycles.”