Pat’s outline an ambitious development
ST Patrick’s Athletic hope to get the green light from Dublin City Council (DCC) by the end of this year to start work on the planning permission process for their proposed new 12,000-seater stadium.
And club president Tom O’Mahony believes such procedures will take 12 months and would lead to the Saints starting the 2022 League of Ireland season in a new location across the road from their current home at Richmond Park.
After months of informal talks with the DCC and local councillors, the Premier Division club yesterday announced ambitious plans to revitalise Inchicore with the development of the St Michael’s Estate which would also include a town centre, housing units, civic facilities and retail outlets.
The latter, O’Mahony confirmed, would cover the cost of the construction of the stadium which would sit on the first floor of a shopping centre complex and also contain 350 car-parking spaces.
The club are hopeful that DCC will now choose them to develop a site that has been earmarked for renewal in the near future following the collapse of a deal with another property developer during the recession.
One of the two engineering companies who have partnered with St Pat’s owner Garett Kelleher also helped build FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich, as well as a similar project to the one planned for Dublin 8 in Gallen, home of Swiss Super League side FC St Gallen.
Swiss firm HRS International are on board with Dublin-based FESP International who boast the Guinness Storehouse and the capital’s Luas network as part of their portfolio of clients.
O’Mahony says the best case scenario for the club is to have work commence by the end of next year with completion expected at the end of 2021.
‘There are three steps involved in the process,’ O’Mahony said. ‘The first is for us to get the goahead from the city council. We would hope that we would get that by the end of this year. ‘The second would be the planning permission process which would take another year, all going to plan, and then we would move on to the final stage; building it. That would be the easiest part of the process. ‘We want people to know we are deadly serious about this, over the next couple of months the council are going to have decisions to make. We don’t know who else is out there with their own plans, they may well come along and wipe our eyes with what they can offer but there are serious people involved here too and we want to be involved.’ Kelleher, who took control of the club in 2007 and has had to overcome his own financial difficulties, first proposed the development of St Michael’s Estate a decade ago and is now aiming to see his vision come to pass.
‘The financial package we have will cover the construction of the whole project together, not in different stages,’ O’Mahony continued. ‘It will all be built at the same time and the financial backers Garett has involved will be benefitting from the retail areas.’
While The Richmond Arena is the current working title for the proposed stadium, O’Mahony said that naming rights will be up for grabs.
And the former secretary general at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport also stressed that while the 12,000 capacity is not set in stone, he sees no reason to reduce it significantly regardless of the fact the club’s current average gate is around 10 per cent of that.
‘We want to be playing games in Europe every year and be able to play our home games in our own ground.’
Local councillor Paul Hand is sceptical of the plans, however, telling RTÉ Sport that he fears the local community could be left ‘high and dry’ should the plan not materialise.
‘I heard about the plans this morning and I was a bit concerned,’ he said.
‘St Patrick’s Athletic don’t own the land. Dublin City Council own the land so I don’t understand how they’re going to build a stadium on land they don’t own.
‘The council will possibly be putting the land out for tender in the coming months, for a proposal for housing and a new neighbourhood centre for the community in Inchicore.’