Chelsea in major stadium breakthrough in plans to redevelop Stamford Bridge after reaching agreement to buy land
CHELSEA have received a major breakthrough in their plans to redevelop Stadium Bridge.
We revealed previously that the Blues have committed to a massive redevelopment of their current home — ending fears the club will relocate to a new stadium.
American owner Todd Boehly, who bought the Premier League outfit last year for £4.25billion, made promises to the stadium freeholder to expand the ground rather than move the club to a new location.
Now journalist Jacob Steinberg has tweeted an update on the situation – and it is good news for the redevelopment as they are on the verge of securing land next to their stadium in order to push ahead with their plans.
He wrote: “Development in Chelsea’s hopes of redeveloping Stamford Bridge – the Board of Trustees for Stoll, the leading provider of supported housing for veterans, has agreed in principle to sell the majority of its Sir Oswald Stoll Mansions site in Fulham to the Chelsea FC ownership group
“Deal agreed in principle and is subject to further resident consultation, which will run for nine weeks from 19 July.”
Chelsea appointed a committee to consider new locations and had reconsidered a shock move to a 60,000-seater stadium in Earl’s Court.
A move to Earl’s Court, where the Exhibition Centre once stood, was previously explored under Roman Abramovich with land at a premium around Stamford Bridge.
But plans were abandoned in 2010 when Hammersmith and Fulham Council squashed the idea.
Battersea Power Station was also an area of interest during the Abramovich era.
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The Blues made a bid to buy Battersea Power Station in 2012 and convert it to a football stadium.
The landmark building’s four chimneys would have been kept as part of a design which included a 15,000 seat single-tier south stand.
But the dreams were dashed when a Malaysian consortium bought the site for £400m.
Chelsea want to build a new 60,000-capacity ground to satisfy supporter demand and keep up with the rivals commercially.
SunSport was previously told that the new owners plan a staged rebuild of the Bridge, with the stands replaced and upgraded one by one.
The hotel behind the Shed End would also be bulldozed.
Boehly has appointed architect Janet Marie Smith, who has worked on a host of stadium renovations in the US, to oversee the monumental task of rebuilding Chelsea’s famous ground.
A number of Smith’s projects include Baltimore’s Oriole Park, Atlanta’s Olympic Stadium, the Boston Red Sox’s Fenway Park and Dodger Stadium in LA.
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