August 17 – Plymouth Argyle have unveiled plans for a £150 million ($235 million) redevelopment of Home Park, which they hope will be part of the 2018 World Cup if England’s bid to stage the tournament is successful.
The plans include a 4,000-seat indoor arena and exhibition hall, which would double as an ice rink suitable for ice hockey.
The arena would include bars and restaurants, overlooking a piazza, and would host music events.
With the exhibition hall, it could operate as a convention centre.
The American entertainment giant AEG, which owns the O2 Arena in London, has already expressed interest in being involved.
Plymouth, who were relegated to League One at the end of last season, will have to increase the stadium capacity to 43,000 if it hopes to host World Cup games in 2018.
Keith Todd, the chief executive of Argyle, said: ”Without the other developments it would be very difficult to achieve the stadium in its entirety.”
A detailed planning application for the extended stadium will go to the planners in October, alongside an outline planning application for the rest of the development.
Plymouth is one of 12 English cities in the running to host games.
They are one of three proposed new developments along with Bristol and Nottingham, whose plans have recently both hit serious problems.
Todd said: ”The feedback we’ve been getting is that our stadium design stands out from all the other new World Cup stadium plans.”
The development would create a busy plaza around the stadium, the arena and the new Life Centre, now being built in Central Park.
In the centre of the plaza would be a sports bar, with offices above it.
Most of the development would be on land already earmarked in the Central Park area action plan for creation of a “citywide and regional facility of sporting recreation and leisure”.
Todd said he hoped work could start at the end of May or early June next year.
He said the development would create up to 700 construction jobs, and once all elements are open, the equivalent of 1,000 permanent jobs throughout the site.
In April the Argyle board approved a proposal to sell the Pilgrims’ stadium to a new company called the Home Park Properties Ltd, which is responsible for the massive new development now planned. Home Park Properties and Plymouth Argyle Football Club are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Plymouth Argyle Football Company (Holdings).
Todd said the company structure was needed because it was difficult to get funding on this scale inside a football club.
He said: ”Having a vibrant, successful football club is incredibly important to the success of this destination.
“This is mutually good for the club as well as the city.”
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