Mark Lungariello

mlungariel@lohud.com

MOUNT VERNON – Crumbling, contaminated Memorial Field could be converted into a 15,000-seat stadium with a retractable roof that may one day host a professional sports team, in a $120 million plan pitched by the mayor.

The multi-phased construction would include an underground parking garage and see construction of retail, restaurants and a movie theater that Mayor Rich Thomas says would turn the area into an economic driver for the city.

Financing is envisioned through private-sector partnerships, sponsorships, and a combination of funding from the city, Westchester County and New York state, Thomas said.

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“The rebirth of Memorial Field is on two tracks,” Thomas said. “One is to reclaim it by cleaning it up and the second track is to revitalize it by daring to do a big project.”

But, is a project with a price tag 10 times larger than the original renovation plan just “pie in the sky?” Millions have already been spent on the stalled construction there, and it’ll likely take millions more to cart out contaminated soil and reopen the field.

“We could spend those same millions, with partners, to make it magnificent,” he said. “So it’s not pie in the sky, it’s our choice to dare to pursue our dreams.”

Thomas believes if there is buy-in for the vision, Mount Vernon can make a pitch to become the home field of NYCFC, the Major League Soccer team that has been seeking a permanent home while playing its home games at Yankee Stadium.

The mayor said when considering Barclays Center in Brooklyn seats 18,000, he feels a 15,000 seat stadium would be appropriate for a professional sports club.

The field once hosted local sports games, and the Jackson 5 and James Brown performed there. It was also the setting of the famous “Mean Joe” Greene Coca-Cola commercial.

With rubble piled up, the grandstand crumbling and overgrown weeds and unfinished mounds of dirt, the field went from local-legend status to being in a perpetual state of disrepair over the last decade.

The city and Westchester County had agreed to a $12.7 million renovation that would’ve razed the old brick stadium and built a new facility with turf fields and an eight-lane running track. That plan was derailed when former Mayor Ernie Davis returned to office in 2012 and changed the construction plan to renovate rather than knock down the iconic stadium.

Tennis courts have been completed, now under private management, but work stalled and the county withheld $6 million of the $9.7 million it committed to the project due to the change, which was decided on without Westchester’s input.

In 2015, the state Department of Environmental Conservation inspected the site and found debris, including asphalt, which was brought in without a necessary solid-waste-management permit. Tests confirmed the presence of coal, ash and slag in the debris.

The county agreed earlier this year to pay a $40,000 fine and has committed to a remediation timeline with the state. Depending on the level of contamination, the cleanup could cost upwards of $1 million.

Thomas’ plan would spare the shell of the stadium, specifically its entry arches. It would also build a pool, he said. The project would coincide with a rethinking of the area that has been set in motion by a citywide parking study currently being conducted in partnership with the City University of New York, combined with a traffic study and upcoming environmental study, the mayor said.

County Legislator Lyndon Williams, a Mount Vernon resident who helped broker the joint project years ago, is holding a community forum Saturday at Westchester Community College’s Mount Vernon campus.

He said his priority is building consensus to get the field cleaned up , but the city should consider future plans with “money in the bank” for funding, so any new project doesn’t stall. He said he hopes the fractious nature of city government can be mended to get the field open again.

“The meeting I’m having is trying to get the city to work together and come to a solution and then we can talk about what it is that they want to do,” he said. “The taxpayers of Mount Vernon have spent a lot of money, and they have very little to show for it.”

Twitter: @marklungariello