From Sunday Business Post 23 Mar 2008
http://www.thepost.ie/post/pages/p/s...359-qqqx=1.asp
Airport firm did not know of Bohemians offer
23 March 2008 By Neil Callanan
The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) is believed to have been unaware that Liam Carroll was planning to offer a site it jointly owns at Harristown in north Dublin to Bohemians Football Club.
Carroll agreed to provide the club with a €25 million, 10,000-seater stadium and a cash payment of €40 million in return for taking possession of Dalymount Park in Phibsborough, Dublin 7.
The DAA was later made aware of the plans and Carroll is understood to have said that the stadium plans weren’t site`-specific at this stage but that it might include the jointly owned lands at Harristown.
‘‘The DAA is aware of proposals made by Liam Carroll to Bohemians Football Club to relocate to a new stadium on a number of possible sites including land jointly owned by the DAA and Liam Carroll,” a spokesman for the DAA said.
It is not yet known how Carroll plans to compensate the DAA for the land on which he intends to develop the stadium. He has already lobbied the Railway Procurement Agency to have the Harristown stop on Metro West moved closer to the site earmarked for the new stadium.
That would ‘‘provide for a high capacity crowd, would generate significant patronage for the metro service to access sporting events and concerts,” Carroll’s submission stated.
‘‘The unconstrained space adjacent to the stadium presents further opportunities for development to support the stadium.
‘‘This station would allow for a possible interchange with the bus depot and provides an excellent link for large numbers of individuals wishing to access the stadium for various events.
‘‘Therefore the development of these lands adjacent to the proposed Metro Stations would provide a synergy whereby both would benefit through the appropriate integrated land use and transportation developments on the lands.”
After building the stadium in Harristown, Carroll wants to redevelop Dalymount Park in a scheme that is likely to include apartments and retail.
Rival developer Pascal Conroy’s Albion Properties has planning permission to redevelop the existing shopping centre that adjoins the stadium but the city council want both Carroll and Conroy to drop their plans and instead link the two sites to provide the area with ‘‘a greatly enhanced village centre, and act as a catalyst for the overall regeneration of the Phibsboro/ Mountjoy area’’.
Bohemians and Conroy are already involved in legal action over a stretch of land at the end of the club’s ground. The High Court case commences on April 1, is expected to last six days and will be heard by Justice John A Edwards.
The Eircom League side is suing Albion Properties over a deal a number from years ago, when the club sold a tract of land at the back of its stadium to Conroy. A dispute has now broken out over the ownership rights to a portion of the land, which though relatively small, is significant because of the access it provides to the stadium site.
