NASCAR ON STATEN ISLAND
This 80,000-seat NAASCAR stadium was almost constructed Staten Island! The 2005 proposal for a race track and a 620,000 square-foot mall by the International Speedway Corporation and Related (developer of Hudson Yards) would have been constructed atop a 676-acre abandoned oil tank farm in Bloomfield Staten Island, south of the Goethals Bridge off the West Shore Expressway. The site – the largest vacant industrial lot in the city – was the location of a gas explosion that killed 40 workers in 1973.
The complex, which would be used for NASCAR events three times a year would have come with 8,400 parking spaces, 635 RV parking spaces, plans to widen the Goethals Bridge toll plaza, new ferry connections, and new on/off ramps for the West Shore Expressway.
Facing community opposition, the International Speedway Corp eventually abandoned the Staten Island site, but it was momentarily revived in 2012 when Staten Island proposed building the Nascar site to host the 2024 Olympics.