[7] Although the cost of the stadium itself is privately funded, New York City will miss out on a projected $516 million in lost property tax revenue, as the site land has been leased to the club rather than sold.

One location, publicly considered by MLS in 2011, was the 14.5 acre Pier 40 at the west end of Houston Street adjacent to Hudson River Park in the borough of Manhattan.

[19] In March 2015, New York property lawyer Martin Edelman, a member of Manchester City's board of directors, said that NYCFC had abandoned the Bronx plan and were looking at locations in Queens and Brooklyn to build a new stadium.

[20] In April 2015, NYCFC was reported to be interested in building a new stadium in Columbia University's Baker Athletics Complex in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan.

[23] In April 2018, new plans for the Harlem River Yards development in the South Bronx were revealed, for the land north of the Willis Avenue Bridge; the area would be anchored by the new 26,000-seat stadium, which would be designed by Rafael Viñoly.

[28] Willets Point, Queens, nicknamed the "Iron Triangle," was an industrial neighborhood best known for its collection of auto-repair establishments, chop shops, and junkyards which sat along deteriorated streets.

[31][32] The redevelopment project was revived under the de Blasio administration, which created an advisory task force in 2018 that included then-Queens borough president Melinda Katz, and local City Council member Francisco Moya.

[37] That November, the government of New York City and NYCFC came to an agreement to build a 25,000 seat stadium in Willets Point with a new targeted completion date of 2027, and the project was officially announced at a public event in the Queens Museum.

[43] The project received the recommendation of Queens borough president Donovan Richards in January 2024, dependent upon the club's written commitment to hire local vendors and make improvements to nearby parks, among other pledges.

[44] After passing through a City Planning Commission vote, the next phase of the ULURP process, with unanimous support, the club released new renders of the proposed stadium development.

[47][48] Mayor Adams attended a pre-game event before the club's April 20, 2024 match against D.C. United to celebrate the project's full approval with Councilmember Moya and other team officials.

[51] The PDC conditionally approved HOK's design for Etihad Park, pending a heat island effect study, and clarifications or changes to the stadium's construction material choices, its public-access spaces, and art installations.

[53] Construction began with a groundbreaking ceremony on December 4, 2024,[54][55] attended by MLS commissioner Don Garber, along with key members of the club's front office and political figures including Mayor Adams, Borough President Richards, and Councilmember Moya.

[3][60][61] Designed by HOK, Etihad Park is made to fit in a narrow, jagged footprint within the larger Willets Point Project site.

Sustainability efforts include an array of solar panels on the roof, locally-sourced construction materials (thereby reducing transportation emissions), and a water harvesting system below the playing surface to capture rainwater for irrigation.

[64] In May 2023, reporting emerged that according to the term sheet for the Willets Point Phase 1B project, Etihad Airways had been "pre-approved as the primary Stadium naming rights partner."

[66][6] Anticipating the naming rights deal, supporters of the club began exploring possible nicknames they would use for the stadium, such as "The Valley of Ashes," a reference to the dumping ground from F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby.

[68] However, an agreement providing the club with 4,000 game-day parking spots in Citi Field lots was approved by the NYC Industrial Development Agency, a division of NYCEDC, in March 2024.