ONE of the final steps in Glasgow's preparations for the 2014 Commonwealth games is ready to fall into place.
ONE of the final steps in Glasgow's preparations for the 2014 Commonwealth games is ready to fall into place.
On Friday, city councillors are likely to agree to buy 4.5 acres of derelict ground in the East End for £17million.
It is the final large piece of land needed for the Commonwealth Games Athletes' Village.
Pawnbroker cash row delays six-star hotelTHE major hotel chain which will run the £125million Argyle International Hotel is expected to be revealed within weeks.Businessman Charles Price has been given the go-ahead to build the 26-storey, six star hotel on a site at the edge of Glasgow's International Financial Services District. It will include a gourmet restaurant, two huge penthouse suites and a rooftop pool. The hotel will also have 158 large rooms and suites and next to it will be a block of 68 flats serviced by the hotel for longer stay visitors. However, work cannot begin until a row with city pawnbroker Edward Fox is resolved. He owns Robert Biggar, one of Glasgow's oldest pawnbrokers, but is refusing to sell up, despite being offered £375,000 above market value for his property. Mr Fox was initially offered £625,000 plus a further £100,000 for relocation costs involved in reopening across the road. He was later offered a total of up to £950,000 but said that was still not enough. If Mr Price and Mr Fox fail to reach an agreement, the city council will impose a compulsory purchase order meaning Mr Fox will get only the market value for his property. Many of the ideas incorporated in the new hotel result from Mr Price's regular stays in luxury hotels across the world. He said: "I think the Argyle International could be Scotland's top hotel and one of the best in Britain." |
The land is owned by Springfield Properties, whose boss is Glasgow businessman Charles Price, the developer behind plans for the six star Argyle International hotel in the International Financial Services District.
As part of the deal, the council will sell Mr Price a piece of ground it owns on the East End site for £3m.
Mr Price plans to spend £60m on building a 200-bedroom hotel and two office blocks, one of which is set to be the new headquarters for Sport Scotland.
The agreement requires the property tycoon to enter a profit sharing scheme with the council, meaning the city could benefit by more than £2.5m in future years.
Mr Price's site is regarded as vital to the Athletes' Village because his land effectively splits the planned village location in two.
Steve Inch, the council's executive director of development and regeneration, said: "To deliver the Village we need to acquire all the land to give us a single site."
External valuers were brought in to decide how much Mr Price's land was worth and set a price of £17m.
Mr Inch said: "There was a long and complex negotiation with Charles Price, but we agreed the figure recommended by our valuers."
The hotel and offices will be built at the corner of London Road and Springfield Road, next to where the National Indoor Sports Arena will be constructed.
The council is still negotiating to buy a single shop that will have to be demolished for the Games Village to go ahead, but Mr Inch said he is confident a deal will be reached.
When both deals are concluded, the council will then take out a compulsory purchase order for the entire site in case it has overlooked the purchase of any tiny pieces of land necessary for the development.
Mr Inch explained: "The problem with large sites that were in use by tenements is someone might have a historic claim on ownership of part of the site.
A compulsory purchase order will sweep up any of those small sites.
"I am confident all the land will be in our ownership by the end of the current financial year.
"It will take a major uncertainty away when we own all the land."
Archie Graham, the council's executive member for development and regeneration, said: "Buying this crucial piece of land will be one of the last pieces in the jigsaw in preparing to build the Games Athletes' Village and will be a good investment for the city.
"Apart from the many benefits this could bring, this means 12 acres of vacant or derelict land in the city's East End being brought back into productive use."
Mr Price said part of the deal to sell his land for £17m included a condition the council sell him an area of ground for £3m, with the council getting a percentage of future profit.
He added: "I am delighted we have agreed terms and that we are going to have a joint venture with the council, so benefits should flow back into the community.
"The East End has become famous on the world stage for the wrong reasons. We have won the Games, but have social problems that have to be dealt with.
"But until we start to create permanent jobs we will never solve those problems."
Mr Price said he wants people from the East End and the rest of Glasgow to get work not just from the construction of his new hotel and offices but also once the Games are over.
He added: "If we do not create jobs we will never get out of the vicious circle we are in."
It is likely one of the offices planned by Mr Price will act as the media centre for the thousands of journalists who will travel to Glasgow in 2014 to cover the championships.
The new three star hotel will provide accommodation not only for the Games but for people attending events in Celtic Park, the National Indoor Arena and the cycling velodrome in future years.
Mr Price said: "This is a big thing for the East End because people in the area never thought they would see the sort of schemes we are going to produce.
"We have to make all three buildings iconic showstoppers because they will be at the entrance to the Games Village.
"That is no mean task but a very big challenge - and one we have to live up to. But we are honoured to be in that position.
"I do not do ordiinary and I want to do something wonderful for an area that has been a long time going downhill, but will come uphill very quickly."
