Several international operators are already queuing up to take on a controversial hotel next to Newcastle United’s St James’ Park stadium — weeks before a planning application is expected to be filed.
If city planners eventually give the £47m complex adjacent to the stadium’s Gallowgate stand the green light it will bring an end to a long running wrangle between the football club and its supporters over the 1.6-acre Strawberry Place site.
Originally purchased by the club in 1998 the land was transferred to Newcastle United Holdings Ltd six years later which, in turn, leased it to the city council as a car park. That £82,400-a-year agreement ran out last September with the authority admitting it would look favourably on a retail or hotel development.
Now, MGM Grand Newcastle Ltd — the new name of Newcastle United Holdings — want Tolent Construction to press ahead with a scheme to build a 140-bedroom, four-star hotel, a 700-bed student accommodation complex and 50 one-bedroom residential apartments. The development would be spread across three glass-fronted tower blocks.
At a recent meeting with concerned fans, worried that the development of the club-owned land will “lock in the capacity” of their Premier League stadium, the scheme’s architect Charles Greenhall, of local practice ADP Architects, admitted maneuvering by hotel chains to take on site had already started. “They are all well-known hotel brands,” he said, “people will know their names … There’s no final decision on which one it will be yet, but there’s been a lot of interest.”
However, the club’s fans claim the land behind the Gallowgate stand is the only possible place the stadium could increase its capacity beyond 60,000. Newcastle United Supporters Trust (NUST) also says that a feasibility study completed before Mike Ashley — the billionaire owner of Sports Direct — bought the club showed it was viable to enlarge St James’ Park.
“Whilst other clubs in the Premier League appear to be looking towards increasing capacity, disposal of the land at Gallowgate would prevent any future development of St James’ Park,” it said in a statement.
The biggest restriction to any large scale hotel development, explained Greenhall, is the Metro railway line and station adjacent to the site. “We can only build six metres either side of the Metro tunnel at the moment,” he said. “There are lightweight building techniques, however, which mean it would be possible to build there in the future.”
The proposed 25-storey hotel tower would be smaller than the highest point of St James’ Park and although there will be windows looking onto the stadium, it will not be possible to look over to watch games.
Tolent Construction has confirmed it is ready to submit a planning application for the project, which would create 500 jobs, this spring. If passed, work on the site would get underway by the autumn.
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