A legal battle between the City of Albuquerque and a landowner is posing complications for one of the city's top choices for a New Mexico United soccer stadium, according to a KRQE report.

The lawsuit involves a triangular piece of land located at the intersection of 1st and 2nd streets.

Renderings for a proposed site at 2nd Street and Iron encompass the triangular lot, which is owned by Rail Yards Land, LLC; the proposed site has long been a top choice for the New Mexico United soccer team.

“For me, it’s where can I have the biggest impact? Where can it be a positive impact in a community, be a catalyst for change, and show so much more than you know, brick and mortar?” Peter Trevisani, the owner of New Mexico United, said at a July press conference. "I think some of the downtown locations, those two preferred sites, really do that and help activate the railyard."

The city has attempted to purchase the property since 2019, recently stating that it requires "eminent domain" ⁠— or a government's power to take private property for public use ⁠— of the land in order to construct a traffic circle. However, in court documents, the attorney for Rail Yards Land, LLC., argues the city actually wants the land for a stadium, which wouldn’t meet eminent domain standards.

The city responded that it had no intention of building on the contested site, claiming that doing so would require them to relocate a PNM substation along 1st Street, which would cost millions.