by blasito
HARRISON, N.J. (AP) — The MetroStars plan to build a $92.2 million stadium that would give the Major League Soccer club a home of their own, under an agreement announced Thursday by state and local officials.http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/s ... ostars.ap/
The team, now in its 10th season at Giants Stadium, expects the new 20,000-seat venue to open in June 2007.
The stadium planned for Harrison would put the team in a mile-square town of only about 14,000 people, but it lies in a densely populated, soccer-crazy swath of New Jersey that includes neighboring Kearny and Newark's Ironbound section.
Officials described the stadium as the centerpiece of a $1 billion redevelopment of the Passaic River waterfront in this Hudson County town across the river from Newark.
The team's parent company, AEG, would own the stadium, foot its $92.2 million construction bill and pay its operating costs. The company would be responsible for cost overruns, and plans to schedule concerts, international soccer games and other events at the stadium.
Harrison is to raise about $40 million to buy the land for the stadium by issuing bonds.
The MetroStars would pay $1 a year to rent the land, and make payments of $125,000 annually in lieu of taxes, officials said.
The stadium complex includes a new 1,500-space parking garage, which is to be built and owned by the county on land the county buys. Officials said revenue from PATH commuters will support the garage.
"We feel strongly that this new stadium will serve as a focal point for the redevelopment of our waterfront and that it will truly make Harrison a destination for people throughout the region," Mayor Raymond J. McDonough said.
The plan needs approvals from local officials.