Potential New Ground

[arthurturner]

can only go on what Ive been told has been & is happening with brand new house build sales

Sarge, new house builds (which Councils want) are a world away from Football Stadia (which Councils don't want) and all the additional commercial infrastructure that would be needed to make it cost effective. Even if a site has been identified on which " genuine significant progress" is being made (whatever that means other than "I don't want to discuss this") to get to where it's built and operating will probably take longer than the time left on the Kassam Agreement. Furthermore, if we are genuinely on the cusp of pulling this off wouldn't you have thought that Zaki would have stayed on board to see it through?

 

[Brook Green Yellow]

Forgive me if this has either been mentioned before, or is implausible... but what about the area of land between the A34 and the train tracks just outside of the city centre (south west of) ?

Flood Zone 3 (high probability flooding) land and so as a matter of first principles assessment you would need to demonstrate that there is no less constrained land available to accommodate a football stadium. So, very little, if any, prospect of securing planning permission on it unfortunately. Good for a yellow submarine though.

 

[Marked Ox]

Flood Zone 3 (high probability flooding) land and so as a matter of first principles assessment you would need to demonstrate that there is no less constrained land available to accommodate a football stadium. So, very little, if any, prospect of securing planning permission on it unfortunately. Good for a yellow submarine though.

Build it on stilts with docks for fans to get there when flooded. ?

 

[southlondonyellow]

Flood Zone 3 (high probability flooding) land and so as a matter of first principles assessment you would need to demonstrate that there is no less constrained land available to accommodate a football stadium. So, very little, if any, prospect of securing planning permission on it unfortunately. Good for a yellow submarine though.

Ahh - fair enough. Come to think of it I'm pretty sure I used to see that area (or near) flooded every year when I lived in the shire. Back to the worlds biggest drawing board then!

 

[Sarge]

Sarge, new house builds (which Councils want) are a world away from Football Stadia (which Councils don't want) and all the additional commercial infrastructure that would be needed to make it cost effective. Even if a site has been identified on which " genuine significant progress" is being made (whatever that means other than "I don't want to discuss this") to get to where it's built and operating will probably take longer than the time left on the Kassam Agreement. Furthermore, if we are genuinely on the cusp of pulling this off wouldn't you have thought that Zaki would have stayed on board to see it through?

indeed there is a vast difference between private dwellings and sports stadia - though there are a few examples where the two are sort of combined

 

[Manorlounger]

News out today: Could this be the catalyst that gets us a new stadium?

Plan for 13,500 South Oxfordshire homes approved

After years of debate, South Oxfordshire District Council approves a plan to build thousands of homes.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Fred]

Hope so!

 

[Fred]

There must be some bats that already have homes there though?

 

[brassmonkey]

30000 potential new supporters. We need a 4th stand.

 

[Essexyellows]

Get in and buy it now whilst the evil landlord is thinking of retirement and a legacy for the kids.

£15 million would be cheap when it`s surrounded by customers.....

 

[Foley]

Get in and buy it now whilst the evil landlord is thinking of retirement and a legacy for the kids.

£15 million would be cheap when it`s surrounded by customers.....

Cheap? Really?
Plus what another £5m + to build 4th stand and get ig up to shape?

 

[Wallop]

Cheap? Really?
Plus what another £5m + to build 4th stand and get ig up to shape?

Try £10m to build a 4th stand and repair 20 years of make do and mend.

 

[Essexyellows]

Cheap? Really?
Plus what another £5m + to build 4th stand and get ig up to shape?

Yep still cheap in proportion.
As long as we own it and the land it is on.
Even with repairs & building works the value is in the footprint.

 

[Manorlounger]

Yep still cheap in proportion.
As long as we own it and the land it is on.
Even with repairs & building works the value is in the footprint.

Grenoble Road is an absolute money pit. Anyone taking that on as a project would be mad. You could build a state of the art complex for what it would cost to renovate, upgrade and complete the existing structure, let alone what it would cost to buy. That land is now officially worth a small fortune to FK.

 

[Oxymoron]

In the short-term, the rubber stamping of 1,700+ houses on Grenoble Road has probably devalued the Minchery Farm site - no developer in his right mind will want to undertake the redevelopment of a brownfield site when he has a greenfield option and an invite to build...

 

[Essexyellows]

Grenoble Road is an absolute money pit. Anyone taking that on as a project would be mad. You could build a state of the art complex for what it would cost to renovate, upgrade and complete the existing structure, let alone what it would cost to buy. That land is now officially worth a small fortune to FK.

Nope far from it.
Builders will much rather build on green fields as @Oxymoron says and they have a green light on that.
The complex is now "brownfield" that would need demolition and clearing for housing so has a lower value.
Balance that with acquiring a new green field site, building a stadium from scratch and the planning wrangling that will go with it..... nobody wants a football ground in their village.

Ownership and the associated development/income potential still remains the best option IMHO.

 

[Foley]

Nope far from it.
Builders will much rather build on green fields as @Oxymoron says and they have a green light on that.
The complex is now "brownfield" that would need demolition and clearing for housing so has a lower value.
Balance that with acquiring a new green field site, building a stadium from scratch and the planning wrangling that will go with it..... nobody wants a football ground in their village.

Ownership and the associated development/income potential still remains the best option IMHO.

Financially unless Kassam sells it for are price I think that it makes no sense at all. Haven't the club come to a similar conclusion?

 

[Essexyellows]

Financially unless Kassam sells it for are price I think that it makes no sense at all. Haven't the club come to a similar conclusion?

And the clock carries on ticking until we have to renew or tenure or leave.......... to go where?
The rent/service charge etc is a massive weight around the clubs neck.
A potential new ground is still just pie in the sky.

The scope of options is narrowing with little/no progress.

 

[Manorlounger]

And the clock carries on ticking until we have to renew or tenure or leave.......... to go where?
The rent/service charge etc is a massive weight around the clubs neck.
A potential new ground is still just pie in the sky.

The scope of options is narrowing with little/no progress.

I'm still far more optimistic about a new site. There are quite a few locations in and around Oxford that are being considered for development. With housing now given the go ahead for the other side of Grenoble road it would make far more sense to develop the existing site for services for those houses along with improving the facilities available to Blackbird/Greater leys.
The existing stadium would require a vast sum spent on renovations, as has already been investigated and costed. Bear in mind the age of the stadium and the poor standard of fittings and facilities. A modern stadium needs to be multi functional, something the Kass could never hope to achieve in it's present design.
With the political impetus towards housing and development to improve employment and investment, I can see there being quite a few incentives being offered to our more wealthy board members by local authorities.

We shall see, hopefully soon.

 

[brassmonkey]

Looking at kassams perspective. He would i imagine want to knock down and sell the land for housing. More $$$ . Maybe he would do a deal to buy us out of the lease contract / permission from councils.