Detroit soccer club's $150M stadium development to go through community benefits process

The Detroit City FC men’s and women’s soccer organization will begin its long-anticipated trek through the city’s Community Benefits Ordinance process for its new 15,000-seat stadium in Southwest Detroit.

The first public meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Aug. 21 at Mexicantown CDC Mercado at 2826 Bagley St., and the second is set for 6 p.m. Aug. 28 at the same location, according to a flier posted to the city’s website.

The meeting flier includes specific details on the project that had not yet been previously disclosed.

The flier says the development is expected to cost $150 million and include 76 units of affordable housing wrapped around a 421-space parking deck, plus 8,500 square feet of retail space.

The flier also says public funding associated with the project includes a brownfield reimbursement for demolition of the former Southwest Detroit Hospital property, which the stadium will replace, as well as unspecified “other city and state support for infrastructure and programmatic build out.” The stadium itself would be privately financed, according to the flier.

Crain’s has requested an interview with Sean Mann, the team’s co-owner and CEO.

DCFC is in the middle of raising $15 million as its final bucket of equity for the stadium project, which would bring the team to $50 million in equity after a $10 million raise in March and $25 million it previously privately secured. The organization also recently selected HOK to design the stadium.

The Community Benefits Ordinance was approved by Detroit voters in 2016 and amended in 2021, and Detroit is believed to be the only city in the country that requires large developments like this to go through it under certain conditions.

In general, projects that cost $75 million or more and either involve city land valued at $1 million or more or receive $1 million or more in property tax abatements have to participate.

It’s not clear which of those latter requirements the project meets or if DCFC is going through the process on its own accord, as the Detroit Pistons have done with their new practice facility and headquarters.

As part of the CBO process, a group of nine people who live in the project impact area — in this case, an area generally bounded by Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the north, the John C. Lodge Freeway/M-10 and Trumbull to the east, the Detroit River to the south and West Grand Boulevard to the west — are elected as a Neighborhood Advisory Council to negotiate a series of community benefits over at least five public meetings.

Those benefits can include things like jobs, local hiring, environmental protections, land use programs and local small business and resident inclusion.

The flier also says the stadium — which would be owned and operated by the team — is expected to host more than just soccer matches, with additional revenue being generated from things like concerts and other college and professional sporting events.

Detroit City FC has been assembling a large swath of land and buildings in the area of Michigan Avenue and 20th Street heading south, including most recently a $250,000 purchase of a small property at 18th Street and West Vernor Highway using an entity called Detroit City Fun Campus LLC.

Over 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 Southwest Detroit 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.

The stadium is to serve as the new home for the team that traces its origins to a purely recreational soccer league on Belle Isle more than a decade ago. Over the years, driven by a rabid fan base, the team has increased attendance as it moved to Cass Technical High School and now, the 7,200-seat Keyworth Stadium in Hamtramck.

The new stadium is expected to start vertical construction in the fourth quarter or first quarter next year, the flier says. The team anticipates playing its 2027 season in its new home.

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 Tech’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.

Its next match is Saturday at 7 p.m. at Keyworth. The team is in sixth place in the Eastern Division.