It would replace the 250,000-square-foot former Southwest Detroit Hospital, long vacant, which is expected to be torn down starting in July after contractors begin pumping out large amounts of standing water accumulating in the property’s basement, Mann said. That should take a few weeks, with demolition and site clearance to be wrapped up by the fall.

The goal is to complete the new stadium in time for the teams to play their 2027 seasons there, although that may be ambitious given that large-scale construction projects typically take at least 18 months to complete.

Mann said a construction budget for the project was still being finalized, and the organization is in the process of finalizing its capital stack. The team has said in public U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings that it was trying to raise $10 million in equity. 

Over the course of the last year-plus, the team and affiliated entities have spent more than $15 million on properties around the Michigan Avenue and 20th Street area, kicking off its buying spree in March 2024 with the $6.5 million purchase of the former hospital from Dennis Kefallinos. When that property is torn down, it will create a nearly 5.57-acre site on which the new stadium would be built.

It has also purchased other properties in the vicinity, including a swath along 20th Street that Mann said on Thursday morning the team is in conversations with others about turning into residential and retail space.

Those uses would “tie in from Michigan to Vernor, to complement the stadium and complement Mexicantown and Corktown in a way where it’s 365 activation, not just on our match days,” Mann said.

Earlier this year, the team received approval to be reimbursed by about $5.92 million for demolition of the hospital through brownfield tax-increment financing; that 21-year public subsidy requires one more approval before being finalized.  

Staff in the Detroit office of Grand Rapids-based Progressive Companies is working on predevelopment schematics. The Detroit-based architecture and engineering firm SmithGroup is working on the site plan, while Detroit-based Ideal Group is performing construction.

The new stadium is anticipated to generate new revenue streams for the team, including things like jersey sponsorships and stadium naming rights, among others.

Le Rouge — the team’s nickname — began playing at Keyworth in 2016 under a 10-year, $1 per year lease with Hamtramck Public Schools. A team spokesperson said in mid-May 2024 that a lease extension is in place that allows DCFC to continue using Keyworth until the new stadium is built.

When it started using Keyworth, DCFC raised more than $700,000 to invest in improvements, including lighting, bleachers, locker rooms and restrooms. Prior to the 2016 season, DCFC played at Cass Technical High School’s 2,500-seat stadium for four seasons.

DCFC plays in the Tampa, Fla.-based USL Championship league, the professional soccer league ranked under Major League Soccer by the United States Soccer Federation, the sport’s governing body in the U.S. The team began playing in that league in 2022.