DCFC wants new Southwest stadium to connect community

Detroit City Football Club wants to demolish an abandoned Southwest hospital for the site of the club's "forever home."

Driving the news: The club held an owners meeting at Supergeil in Corktown on Monday to celebrate plans for a new stadium and answer questions from part owners.

• Detroit City announced last week after Crain's broke the news that the club plans to build a soccer stadium at the site of the abandoned Southwest Detroit Hospital.

Catch up quick: The team, founded in 2012, played its matches at Cass Tech before moving to Keyworth Stadium in Hamtramck.

• Executives said bringing a new stadium to Southwest is "the ultimate way to give back to the city."
• The hospital, which opened in 1974, closed in 1991 and has been abandoned for two decades after it reopened as United Community Hospital from 1997-2006.

What they're saying: "We took a different approach to how you build a professional sports team in America and we're viewing how you build a stadium in the same light as well," CEO Sean Mann said.

• "I feel like we have found the perfect site for the future long-term home of soccer in Detroit."

Zoom in: Executives said they hope the stadium works as a bridge to connect communities. The stadium on the 7-acre site will unite activity on Michigan Avenue and in Mexicantown so that match days involve second places, they said.

Between the lines: But club officials said they have been careful not to overdeliver.

• "We're sports fans in this town and we understand that you don't talk about things until they're done right and until they're going to happen," chief commercial officer Alex Wright said. "We respect our fan base, community and partners too much to go down the realm of speculation."