When established as a park in 1998, Pier 40 was zoned for exclusively entertainment and retail purposes, with half of the pier required to be set aside for recreation [REF].
In 2012, reports surfaced that the then-new Major League Soccer team New York City FC, which currently play at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, were seeking to develop a new stadium at the Pier 40 site; renderings of this proposed stadium were leaked to Reddit [REF].