Nashville MLS stadium project wins final Metro Council approval

Nashville's Major League Soccer expansion team is getting a home — and the city's fairgrounds is now in for a major and controversial overhaul.

After the Metro Council voted late Tuesday to give the project its final stamp of approval, the city’s focus will shift to the work needed to construct a new 30,500-seat stadium in time to open in 2021.

And all eyes will be on a landmark agreement between the MLS team’s ownership and a union-backed community group that outlines a $15.50-per-hour minimum wage for stadium workers, and spells out affordable housing requirements at a mixed-use development near the stadium and safeguards for construction workers.

Approval of the much-debated $275 million stadium project at the Fairgrounds Nashville — including the 10-acre mixed-use development with housing, retail, restaurants and a hotel — marks a win for Mayor David Briley, who put his political capital on the line to push the project.

Read more: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2018/09/04/nashville-mls-stadium-soccer-council-vote/1162074002/