New Detroit City FC stadium planned in Corktown

Detroit City FC is planning on leaving its Keyworth Stadium home in Hamtramck to return to playing on a pitch in Detroit.

The popular soccer club that draws thousands of diehard fans confirmed Thursday that it plans a new stadium on the site of the former Southwest Detroit Hospital in Corktown. The long-vacant hospital property at Michigan Avenue and 20th Street was recently purchased for $6.5 million by an entity connected to former Urban Bean Co. coffee shop co-owner Edward Siegel. A news release from DCFC says the team owns the site. 

Specifics about the stadium were not revealed other than an anticipated opening in 2027, but a source briefed on the matter said it’s expected to seat about 14,000 people. Both the men’s team and women’s team would use it.

“This is a huge step for our organization to build a modern venue to serve our club and community,” Sean Mann, CEO of Detroit City FC, said in a statement. “As longtime residents of the city, with a few of us even living within walking distance of the site, the leaders and founders of the club view this project not only as an opportunity to grow our organization and sport, but as a civic endeavor to give back to the city we love. We look forward to starting a process to connect with our supporters, city residents, and community leaders, among others, to craft a community-focused, grassroots professional soccer stadium that serves the city of Detroit.”

A release says “a public engagement process” is slated to start later this year. 

Ryan Cooley, who has a small ownership stake in the soccer team and who runs Detroit-based O’Connor Realty, said the stadium is the best outcome for the dilapidated hospital property.

“I really think location wise it’s fantastic because it’s kind of on the outskirts of the neighborhood and it really doesn’t bump up against any residential,” Cooley said. “I would think with the location of it, everyone is going to be excited about it. The bar and restaurant owners I’m also assuming are going to be ecstatic about this.”

Le Rouge — DCFC’s nickname — began playing at the 7,933-seat Keyworth Stadium at 3201 Roosevelt St. in 2016 under a 10-year lease with Hamtramck Public Schools that expires Sept. 30, 2025. The lease is for $1 per year. In 2016, DCFC raised more than $700,000 to invest in improvements to Keyworth, including lighting, bleachers, locker rooms and restrooms.

A team spokesperson said a lease extension is in place that allows DCFC to continue using Keyworth until the new stadium is built. 

Repeated messages left last week and this week with the school district’s interim superintendent, Jim Larson-Shidler, have not been returned.

Keyworth was opened by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936 as the state’s first Works Progress Administration project during the Great Depression, Crain’s reported in 2015 when the lease received approval from the Hamtramck school board. 

Prior to the 2016 season, DCFC played at Cass Technical High School’s 2,500-seat stadium for four seasons, Crain’s reported in 2015.

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. It began playing in that league in 2022.

The team was founded in 2012, two years after Mann founded the Detroit City Futbol League — a co-ed recreational league — that began playing on Belle Isle in 2010. Mann then recruited four friends as co-founders of the team.

It is currently 5-2-1 in USL league play, good for third place.

Earlier this month, the team defeated Houston Dynamo of MLS, the second time it has bested an MLS team, following 2022’s defeat of the Columbus Crew.

In addition to its use of Keyworth Stadium, the team also has physical footprints in downtown Detroit, with a Capitol Park merchandise store and ticket shop, as well as in the Elmwood Park neighborhood, where it has the Detroit City Fieldhouse on Lafayette west of Mt. Elliott. 

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