The Associated Press

NEW YORK - A city agency voted on Wednesday to approve a plan to build a new stadium for the New York Yankees in the Bronx.

The unanimous approval by the City Planning Commission sends the plan for the privately financed $800 million project to the City Council, which must vote on final approval within two months.

“A new facility would be a benefit to both the Yankees and the city,” Commission Chair Amanda Burden said. “The commitment by the Yankees to invest $800 million to construct this new stadium immediately north of the existing stadium is representative of the new faith in a resurgent South Bronx.”

The new ballpark will be just north of the current stadium, which opened in 1923, and the Yankees have said they hope to break ground this spring.

“This project will create thousands of jobs, new and improved parklands and benefits and opportunities for the residents of the Bronx, the City of New York and visitors alike,” said Yankees President Randy Levine, who thanked the commission for its 12-0 approval.

The current Yankee Stadium is the third-oldest ballpark in the major leagues, trailing only Boston's Fenway Park (1912) and Chicago's Wrigley Field (1914).

Last summer the Yankees unveiled a model of the planned ballpark, which on the outside will be treated with limestone and resemble Yankee Stadium before its 1974-75 renovation. The ballpark will seat from 50,800 to 54,000 people; the current ballpark seats about 57,000.