Major League Soccer (MLS) moves ahead with plans for a US$300m (231m euro, £186m) soccer stadium in Queens, New York.

Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens has been selected by MLS as the potential site for the new development.

The plans call for a 25,000-seat stadium (expandable to 35,000 seats) to be constructed on the current site of the park's Industry Pond.

Depending on when the stadium deal is finalized, league president Mark Abbott said that preliminary plans have construction starting in 2014 and the team launching in 2016.

The stadium will be entirely funded by the club's owner and is expected to generate US$60m (46.2m euro, £37.3m) annually for the local economy.

League president Mark Abbott said the league is in preliminary discussions with a number of ownership groups and indicated that a likely timeline will see the new owner identified in 2013.

MLS officials are currently engaged in efforts to explain the project to residents who feel that the stadium will be taking up precious park space.

Abbott said: "If you look at where the stadium is going, it will take up approximately one acre of any green space said. We will replace whatever parkland is taken up by the stadium with parkland somewhere else nearby."

"We're going to be having meetings with people in the community to try to further address those questions. That's going to be an important part of the process because we want the community to embrace the project."

The project has been in the works since August 2011, when the league first put a team together to investigate more than 20 different locations for a stadium site in New York City.

Earlier this year, MLS chose Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, which is close to public transportation, including both the NYC Subway and the Long Island Railroad.