DETROIT (WXYZ) — Detroit City Football Club held the first of nearly 10 community benefits meetings Thursday regarding the team's planned development near Michigan Avenue and 20th Street in Corktown.
The meetings are designed for residents and developers to discuss impacts and challenges as DCFC prepares to bring plenty of excitement to the Motor City with their new proposed stadium — AlumniFi Field.
Watch the video report below:
"They know the sports here. They know what the Lions and the Tigers and the Pistons and the Red Wings do, but we have soccer now? Come on," Sabrina Nelson said, an artist and DCFC fan who attended Thursday's meeting.
The team is planning to move from Hamtramck to Corktown in 2027. In addition to a 15,000-seat stadium, the project will feature affordable housing units, retail space and a parking structure.
"It's very a humbling moment in so many ways from where we started as a group guys in the city with a few thousands bucks being an amateur team at Cass Tech, to getting to the point where we're talking about $150 million stadium," said Sean Mann, the owner and CEO of Detroit City Football Club.
Previous coverage: Detroit City FC reveals name of new stadium, AlumniFi Field, and renderings
The community benefits meeting was meant to foster conversation between nearby residents and the developers making it happen.
"The community that comes, they elect representatives to be part of a neighborhood advisory committee and those representatives work with the development team to identify impacts of the development, opportunities of the development," said Alexa Bush, the city of Detroit planning director.
From there, a community benefits package is agreed upon.
"Some of those might be design related. They might be related to circulation, mobility, how do you get around? Where are curb cuts? Where do the cars go?" Bush said.
During the meeting, some in attendance shared what they'd like to see from the project, including accessibility.
"Are there plans to let our local non-professionals use this? AKA our kids, older adults," Joe Aasim, a southwest Detroit resident, said.
Meanwhile, some others voiced concerns with things like noise that could come from the stadium.
"If you've been downtown, stadiums are going — that's the kind of thing that happens, but we really didn't want this impact in our neighborhood. So DCFC needs to address that," Bill Cheek, a North Corktown resident, said.
Mann says these meetings will help them know exactly what the community wants.
"There's constantly things brought to our attention that didn't cross our minds or architect's minds, so this is a process to address those things," Mann said.
The community benefits meetings will continue into October. The next one is scheduled for next Thursday at 6 p.m. at Mexicantown CDC Mercado.
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