CELTIC has announced that it is formally to begin plans for the construction of a major hotel development in the immediate vicinity of its stadium.
The club is to make a 'proposal of application notice', essentially an official signal of intent, to Glasgow City Council about a development which would also include a retail store, ticketing facility and museum.
The scheme would shore up the promised legacy of the Commonwealth Games in terms of job creation in the east end of Glasgow, as well as acting as a major boost for the neighbouring Emirates Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in attracting major events.
Previous plans for a £44million hotel development on a site facing Celtic park were shelved in 2013.
There have been continuing concerns that the £100m-plus venues are at a disadvantage to similar schemes in London, Birmingham or Manchester due to their distance from the city centre, poor transport links and crucially the lack of hotel accommodation in their vicinity.
Developers of the previous scheme pulled the plug on their hotel, shopping and leisure complex after blaming the failure of council bosses to prove an area designated for the private scheme was free of contaminated land.
Lynnet Leisure, part of the business empire of night-life entrepreneur James Mortimer, has also applied for planning permission for a hotel near Celtic Park, which is just opposite the Emirates Arena and Velodrome.
It has previously been reported that Celtic has been considering a 200-room, four-star facility on the corner of Clyde Gateway, currently site of the club’s ticket office and that it would be part funded by the £30m windfall from the Champions League campaign.
Celtic said the application was part of its long-standing masterplan for the area, which it said "aims to deliver benefit to the club and our supporters and allow further re-generation of the east end of the city, something to which we are totally committed".
A spokesman said: "This application represents only the first stage in this process. It is important to emphasise that considerable work and investment over a number of years would be required to bring this project to fruition. There would be a number of challenges to overcome to complete a development of this scale.
"Celtic aims to be a world-class football club in everything it does. We are pleased to have made significant investment in recent years to develop the stadium and public realm area for the benefit of our supporters.
"Any further development of this kind would be a hugely positive step for the Club, for our supporters and for the local community."
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