Villa Park Redevelopment

[Villan For Life]

Ah the hotel…..I had dreams of scoring at Villa Park, in one of the rooms.

[Percy McCarthy]

If planning is going in late-27 then this is post-Euros and a much larger project. I hope it is as ambitious as we all want and looks to expand the Witton Lane Stand.

Apologies. Re-read the message and it said ‘decisions expected late ‘27’. I imagine that work would still be post-Euros though as you say.

[Brazilian Villain]

WE'RE GETTING A DEER QUARTER?!

well it is already expensive !

That should have been the plan from the start, but hindsight is 20/20.

[Crown Hill]

The old plans for the hotel at the Holte End. Someone earlier in the thread misremembered it was at the Witton End.

https://x.com/primetimeperry/status/1983611383972528539?s=46&t=GdM6cpVxe5IloByNCRheWA

That’s was Ellis’s plan. Where the corner flag restaurant ended up!

[London Villan]

The Ellis hotel would have been in the trinity/north corner, and would have removed a few hundred seats at the back of the stand. It was in a match programme around 88/89 - might be just before Hillsborough, which then changed everything.

[VancouverLion]

Ah the hotel…..I had dreams of scoring at Villa Park, in one of the rooms.

This made me chuckle out loud 

[Dante Lavelli]

Whilst we appear to be playing monopoly, we should buy The Belfry, making Bodymore the best training complex in the world.

Build some penthouses for new signings, expand the hotels, host the Ryder cup,

Cash can become the club pro when he retires.

[Dante Lavelli]

My sources* tell me that planning apps for the development of the area around Villa Park are expected to go in in late 2027.

*A dm on X.

I had the same DM. But sometimes he gets over excited and misreads documents.

True. It does all fit in with that local plan that was posted though.

Does the local plan identify any thing other than resi and leisure (villa)?

Feels to me that the development needs another anchor client to attract business/cash. I can’t see how they can increase the density/population otherwise,

[Percy McCarthy]

^^ It mentions the council is amenable to the provision of a high quality hotel (can’t mind the exact phrase), and investment into the local centre - by which they mean Witton Square. Also the clearance of Westpoint(?) business park for housing.

In my fevered and optimistic imagination I hope for the bringing back to original use of the Aston Hotel (beautiful building), and the use of the Birmingham settlement building next door (which we apparently already own), and possibly the acquisition of the Majestic/Aston Tram Depot (another building with an attractive frontage). That’s quite a bit to be going on with, but there’s scope for improvements on virtually everything that lies between VP and Witton Station.

You’re probably a lot more clued up than I am about this stuff, but would it be the goal to attract other businesses to the area? I would have thought it might be to increase footfall/consumers, and for them to buy whatever the fuck WE’RE selling (food/drink/merch), from us in our variously-sized venues? (VP/Warehouse/Lower Grounds/Holte Hotel).

[Dante Lavelli]

‘placemaking’ seems to be the term used whenever there’s a big re-development of an area, with Quintain at Wembley and Argent at Kings Cross being the ‘flavour of the month’ case studies.  I haven’t googled properly but I’d predict the term “15-minute city” would also be used somewhere, whereby everything (work, leisure, retail and nature) are part of the masterplan, with the aim of creating a 365-day sustainable zone.

Does the villa masterplan/local plan aim for that level of redevelopment, or are they simply trying to create space for a new stand by relocating housing?  I guess there’s merit in both.  A development partner will want a return on investment (higher land values/rent) whereas Villa probably want to build the stand(s) as economically as possible knowing they get the return from the additional match day income.

[Crown Hill]

From what I can remember it’s all quite vague. It’s defined as a growth area and the aim is to improve quite a large area. Villa Park fits into that but they date by go into any specifics about the Witton Lane Stand so they just talk about integrating Villa Park into Aston Park and pedestrianising Trinity Road.

They earmark former industrial sites to the north and to the west of VP for housing.

They daren’t talk about relocation because of private ownership of housing in McGregor Close and Holte Road.

Separately there was a red herring about Villa acquiring land by the Academy but this was done around 2017 I think when the Academy was built and since then very few housing on Holte or McGregor have changed hands.

[Des Little]

I'm probably stating the bleeding obvious here, but us not going balls out on the North was a clear hint that the additional seating that we want would be coming with a new Witton Lane.

[pauliewalnuts]

I'm probably stating the bleeding obvious here, but us not going balls out on the North was a clear hint that the additional seating that we want would be coming with a new Witton Lane.

How much more balls out could we have gone, though, in terms of capacity of the north stand?

[The Edge]

I'm probably stating the bleeding obvious here, but us not going balls out on the North was a clear hint that the additional seating that we want would be coming with a new Witton Lane.

How much more balls out could we have gone, though, in terms of capacity of the north stand?

Knocking the whole thing down and building a big brand new stand would be proper balls out. Keeping the central core of a stand that's widely regarded as unfit for purpose just feels a bit Doug.

[Dante Lavelli]

Being a pedant, but isn’t the consensus that the view is great from the North Stand but the concourses are shite?  I think that is being addressed by the removal of offices.

Otherwise I kinda agree.  Typically corporate types want to be on the halfway line, however the north stand offered parking and space to offer proper restaurant style facilities.  Most the other stands are compromised for space one reason or another.