Surprised it has taken this long to develop that area. I was shocked how the Mets stadium and the US Open had absolutely nothing to do around when going to a US Open match.
Well, the primary issue was ownership of the area. Where that soccer stadium is going to sit, was previously owned by a bunch of chop shops, likely with dozens and dozens of property owners and not one guy.
It's one of those things where "the dominoes just never tipped." You'd THINK that someone would be like "I'm gonna make a sports bar right across from the Mets stadium!" But the area is one where you don't really "hang out" on foot by it. It's dirty and loud and sketchy feeling.
So ONE sports bar or restaurant or coffee shop would totally fail. You'd need like 200-feet worth of storefront to switch at once to a bar, restaurant, coffee shop, apparel store... then the rest of the block would follow suit.
The number of PLANS to redevelop that area have been astronomical. I think there was a series of imminent domain court fights for decades.
Then you factor in that development rights to that land was owned by the previous Mets owner, who lost his shirt being heavily invested in BERNIE MADOFF, and that killed any plans for about 15 years.