City Council Approves $160M Stadium

The stadium, which will cost an estimated $160 million to build, faces one more hurdle--the Hudson County board of freeholders must still approve it, a vote that's considered a formality. Barring the unforeseen, ground is expected to be broken by early November and the stadium is scheduled to be ready for the 2006 season, which begins that April. Final architectural plans are expected to be ready by early September.

"We've been down a long, bumpy road on this, but it's very gratifying," says Nick Sakiewicz, president and general manager of the MetroStars. "It's also gratifying to get so much support from the people of the community."

The 110-acre stadium site is part of a larger, 275-acre redevelopment project along this city's waterfront. The location is directly across the Passaic River from Downtown Newark.

The redevelopment project, which is being done by the Bedminster, NJ-based Advance Realty Group, is significant. Besides the stadium, it will include more than 600 rental and for-sale residential units and some 300,000 sf of retail and office space, all with a price tag in the vicinity of $300 million. The project will rise around Harrison's light rail PATH station. No timeline for the residential and commercial build-out has been released yet.

Under the terms of the agreement on the stadium, the City of Harrison will own it and lease it to the Anschutz Entertainment Group, owner of the MetroStars franchise. AEG will operate the facility, which will also be marketed for a variety of other sporting and entertainment events, and will pocket the subsequent revenues.

AEG itself will kick in a total of $30 million toward the cost of building the stadium. The rest of the funding will come from a bond issue floated by the Harrison Redevelopment Agency, and Advance Realty Group will help repay the bonds through a payment in lieu of taxes, according to local officials.