The deal for Chelsea to buy a parcel of land next to Stamford Bridge was announced yesterday and hailed as a major step forward in the process of building a new stadium.
But further details released today have shown that it’s not that simple. In fact, the deal is guaranteed to delay the start of any work on site.
Nizaar Kinsella’s piece in the Evening Standard today reveals all.
Chelsea yesterday finalised the purchase of Sir Oswald Stoll mansions, a block of flats owned by a housing charity for veterans which is wedged between the stadium and the tube station, making ownership by the club vital for any redesign.
A deal to buy the land for £80m was agreed in October, and since then the charity have been finding a suitable new site, which they have now done.
Major delays – but a starting point
The crucial factor in all this is the deal agreed that Chelsea won’t take possession of this land until 2027, giving residents time to move, and delaying any physical start to stadium reconstruction until then.
It seems far off now, but given the club can at least move ahead on the planning stages, and given there are likely years of paperwork involved, it might not be as bad as it seems.
“We have been next to Chelsea for 100 years and hope to be for the next 100 years. Both Stoll and Chelsea understood the moral obligation, and we are keen to build out that relationship. It is a long-term community relationship as well as the commercial transaction,” said Will-Campbell-Wrote, CEO of Stoll charity.
The important thing is that the deal is agreed, and the residents are not being hard done by. Parts of the building are Grade II listed, and so will have to be kept and integrated into the design of the new stadium.
