Collar Site | Etihad Campus

[jrb]

Recently posted on Blue Moon.

tolmie's hairdoo wrote:
Feel lucky to have been seen a view of this whole thing, stadium, the surrounding areas last 24 hours.

All I can say is incredible. The area will make the Yas Marina look like a high rise in Hulme.

[RMB2007]

Great, but when does it actually go public?

[jrb]

Originally Posted by RMB2007

Great, but when does it actually go public?

Nobody knows apart from those involved in the proposal. And 99.9% of them aren't saying.

[hulmeman2]

Originally Posted by jrb

Nobody knows apart from those involved in the proposal. And 99.9% of them aren't saying.

So point us to the 0.1% who will say........!

[jrb]

Originally Posted by hulmeman2

So point us to the 0.1% who will say........!

Can't.

[hulmeman2]

Originally Posted by jrb

Can't.

[slipdigby]

Not 100% whether this should be in here, but will go for it anyway...

Despite official looking signs to the contrary, the City link between Holt Town and the Etihad reopened on Saturday..



Usage was, light to say the least....



Although the bloke stood (kindly, I might add) in the rain after full time suggesting that the water was up to people's ankles at Holt town (it wasn't) cannot have helped.

Glad to have it back open. It's a blessing for anyone in the East stand coming from the city centre.

Best,
Slip

[gouldybob]

Originally Posted by chrisja1000

WTF!!

Where did this come from?!!!

http://mcfc.co.uk/News/Club-news/201...th-City-Circle

[jrb]

..

[scproductions]

My goodness! It's turned into a metrolink thread!

[jrb]

Posted by GXCity.(answer)

I'd say he knows what he's talking about.

Question.

Just a quick question for those that maybe are a little more informed.

Will the training complex be available for sponsorship. I mean different parts of it? Or is it just under the whole umbrella of the Etihad deal?Just thinking of further revenue streams.

Answer.

There is at least one additional partner in place for the whole campus that I am aware of.

Think of the Olympic Village and all the various partners they had. Difference is it is called Etihad Campus not Olympic Village. I am sure there are others being lined up. For example "The Etihad Campus powered by......" You get the idea?

FFP is finished!

[jrb]

Excellent post by Petrusha.(Blue Moon)

I posted this way back when on the Vegas thread, but we're not looking at a 20K arena, because the Manchester Arena is a real success story (I know it's a bit of a nonentity architecturally). IMO it's a fantastic achievement to be the world leader before the O2 was built in terms of numbers of visitors and now second to the O2 but ahead of Madison Square Garden, the Staples Center and so on.

So as you say, MCC won't want that to be lost. However, Manchester with a 20K capacity arena does lose out to other venues for shows that need a smaller capacity - say 7K or 10K. I know that the masterplan for the Sportcity site (as it was called before Etihad came along) even pre-dating ADUG was contemplating some kind of arena for the north carpark site. There have certainly been plans post-ADUG which have carried on with that idea. However, it would be logical if any new development were to complement what Manchester can currently offer (both in terms of the Arena and Manchester Central), not replace them.

I've said before it's much more likely to be something like this: http://www.adnec.ae/ - which has the flexibility to be reconfigured in all kinds of ways/ to host major shows and exhibitions. At ADNEC, the big arena has a capacity of up to 6K. I suspect we might be looking at more, but the key is that it's no a competitor to the city's main Arena: it was bring shows and events that Manchester would otherwise miss out on completely. Likewise, it won't compete with Manchester Central for the biggest exhibitions, party conferences and so on, but it will draw people to the site day in day out with lots of smaller conferences. The

As for the super casino, that's dead but there was reported interest at the outset from Apollo Leisure, who were looking to build a smaller casino along with a Vegas-style lounge venue as you describe. (The original casino would have had floor space of over 50K sq. feet, which remains illegal after the collapse of the enabling legislation, but they could probably have obtained a licence for 10K sq. feet). I believe that the idea floundered because MCFC weren't happy with it.

The plans for a major attraction of international significance do still exist. They were referred to when the Eastlands Community Plan was put before the council less than a year ago and have been referenced in passing in other documents since then. However, it's clear that the intention to go to market in 2012, expressed by Eddie Smith of New East Manchester back in 2011, isn't going to happen. I was led to believe by someone who knows more about these things than I do that a preferred partner is lined up and that the attraction will be genuinely distinctive.

City have actually had quite a lot of interest from people who were keen on a partnership for that site. The issue is finding one who fits with the vision of the club and its owner, who want this to make a statement about MCFC and its values (building a tie-in for the club with sponsorship and commercial opportunities too). That means family friendly, with an educational slant and probably involving cutting-edge technologies. The latter fits with MCC's aim to drive Manchester forward as a high-tech centre, too.

The thing is, if ADUG just wanted something that would help revenues to grow and help us to meet FFP, it would be there already. They're taking their time to get the right thing, and as another poster has noted above, the issue is the economic climate.

I think we're estimated to have around 20 million people within 2 hours' travelling distance of Manchester, and while any attraction will be intended to reach beyond them for potential visitors, they're your core. In the current climate, numbers of visitors will be low; that climate is forecast to persist for a while yet, and people won't want to open a facility like that until returns are better. However, ADUG have had serious talks with world class organisations, some suggest that they've reached agreement in principle. For all these reasons, I still believe that it's a question of when and not if with regard to the leisure attraction planned specifically for the 40-ish acres of the 'collar site'.

As far as the wider area is concerned - the 200 acres plus owned by MCC and MCFC at and in the vicinity of the Etihad Campus - people should remember that as long ago as March 2010, fbloke stated that the model was Melbourne Docklands - see here: http://www.docklands.com/cs/Satellit...name=Docklands. In other words, we're talking about a mixed development, which started with a large sports facility being built and grew from there. It includes further development focused on sports, leisure, visitor attractions, retail, office space, media and technology.

What has been mentioned in this thread on recent pages is therefore hardly any surprise. You'll see all this at or around the Etihad Campus in due course. (In other words, fbloke got the nature of this development spot on in the Vegas thread exactly 3 years ago). There will be other associated development, too - look out for transport improvements part-funded via section 106 agreements as development of the campus moves on, for instance. However, we're talking about a timeframe that goes well into the next decade.

I can appreciate why people say they don't believe that these kind of things are possible at the location City occupy. However, what I'd say in response is that ADUG bought MCFC party in reliance on the fact that they saw the possibility of pursuing this type of development once they acquired the club. Look at who our key stakeholders are and what they've achieved in the last 50 years in their own land. No doubt people back in Abu Dhabi then were telling them they were hopeless dreamers and that nothing much could ever be made of a patch of barren desert. They proved it wrong there, and they'll do so here in time as well.

When I originally heard and read about all this stuff - and we're going back four years now since I started to take an interest - I thought it would be tied in with FFP. I was obviously wrong on that timescale. However, I am fortunate to speak every now and then to people who do know how this project is progressing. I thought back in 2009/2010 that there were grounds to be tremendously excited over what this would do for both MCFC and Manchester as a whole. I still think so today.

[Tommo89]

I might be missing something, but don't we already know the full plans for Ethiad Campus? I didn't know there was anything left to be revealed about what they are doing, unless they really are building that theme park...

[scproductions]

Originally Posted by Tommo89

I might be missing something, but don't we already know the full plans for Ethiad Campus? I didn't know there was anything left to be revealed about what they are doing, unless they really are building that theme park...

The whole stadium will be redeveloped after the academy is completed.

And no none of those plans have been released yet.

[jrb]

Video originally posted by NQ.

Go to 28.30 minutes and shortly after that he mentions a proposal in Saudi Arabia. Continue on to the end of the video.

"Combine education with entertainment and link it with real estate by creating*Discovery centres for Children."

East Manchester and the propoed Collar site leisure destination?



Location Based Experience
Experience & Discovery Center

http://www.eonreality.com/files/presentation/EDC.pdf

[jrb]

Today's MEN.

Club hailed for investment

Manchester City’s role in the transformation of east Manchester has been hailed by a town hall boss.



Eamon O’Rourke, Manchester council’s head of community and cultural services said the Blues were vital to the community and added that their Arab ownership is here to stay.

Speaking at the Soccerex European Forum, at Manchester Central, Coun O’Rourke highlighted the financial benefits the club bring to the city.

He said: “The council gets £4m a year from the club’s use of the (council-owned) Etihad Stadium. This is directly re-invested back into sport.”

Coun O’Rourke added that the Blues could have chosen a different location for their £120m training complex, under construction across the road from the Etihad Stadium.

“The training ground is a remarkable story,” he said. “Most Premier League training grounds will not be in urban setting. In this case it could have been out in the Cheshire Plains.

“The club do not see themselves as a club that’s landed there. They see themselves as part of that community.”

Rumours have been rife about plans for the swathe of land next to the Etihad Stadium which was earmarked to become a Super Casino until the House of Lords pulled the plug.

Coun O’Rourke revealed that talks were ongoing.

“A key strategy is to create footfall 356 days a year on the site,” he said.

“The work that is ongoing is around attracting business to that site.”

[heatonparkincakes]

365 days a year

Oh yeah this is so frustratingly vague that it means everything and nothing.

Praise be for the development. Can't be denied.

But open "all hours" can mean anything from a brothel to a museum to a church or mosque or a cheery Arkwright character welcoming Nurse Gladys as he tries to tempt her with his Cumberland sausage.

Nah it wouldn't be an off licence. Look higher Heaton.


Hotel is my bet. One of those. multi. storey Hiltons like. erm. we. already have in Bentham Tower.

Ah maybe not.

Ah it's frustrating. Jrb point me out one of the 0.1 %!!!

[js1000]

Originally Posted by heatonparkincakes

365 days a year

Oh yeah this is so frustratingly vague that it means everything and nothing.

Praise be for the development. Can't be denied.

But open "all hours" can mean anything from a brothel to a museum to a church or mosque or a cheery Arkwright character welcoming Nurse Gladys as he tries to tempt her with his Cumberland sausage.

Nah it wouldn't be an off licence. Look higher Heaton.


Hotel is my bet. One of those. multi. storey Hiltons like. erm. we. already have in Bentham Tower.

Ah maybe not.

Ah it's frustrating. Jrb point me out one of the 0.1 %!!!

Zzzzzz....... Are you serious?

[RMB2007]

One rumour from the Bluemoon forum that will hopefully turn out to be true:

[Brock Flanders]

Public Enemy had a great hit with Dont Believe the hype.