Detroit City FC acquires abandoned hospital site for future soccer stadium
The Detroit City FC minor league soccer club announced Thursday that it will build a new stadium in Detroit's Corktown neighborhood on the site of the long-abandoned Southwest Detroit Hospital.
The announcement said the club hopes to complete the stadium and begin playing there in time for the 2027 season. Detroit City FC currently plays at Keyworth Stadium in Hamtramck, which it leases. Prior to 2016, the club's home field was at Cass Tech in Detroit.
The empty and derelict hospital property, 2401 20th St., had been owned by a limited liability company linked to prominent Detroit landlord Dennis Kefallinos.
Land records show the property sold in March for $6.5 million to another limited liability company. Detroit City FC's news release said the club now owns the property. Fuller details about the club's stadium plans will be released next week, a club spokesperson said, although the new stadium would be larger than Keyworth Stadium, which seats just under 7,000.
The old hospital would be torn down.
"This is a huge step for our organization to build a modern venue to serve our club and community," Sean Mann, CEO of Detroit City FC, said in the news release.
"As longtime residents of the city, with a few of us even living within walking distance of the site, the leaders and founders of the club view this project not only as an opportunity to grow our organization and sport, but as a civic endeavor to give back to the city we love," he continued.
Southwest Detroit Hospital opened in 1974 as a merger of four small neighborhood hospitals that had been mostly oriented toward the city's Black residents. It featured a unique space-age exterior with stainless steel and porthole windows on the sides.
The hospital declared bankruptcy and closed in 1991.
A private owner reopened the building in the mid-1990s with several health care-related businesses. The hospital has been completely vacant since 2007 and fell prey to vandals and graffiti artists. At one point, it featured a large "Purge Suey" graffiti tag that was visible to motorists on Interstate 75, I-96 and Michigan Avenue.
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Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on X @JCReindl.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit City FC acquires abandoned hospital for future soccer stadium
