Celtic have taken a step closer to submitting detailed proposals for a major hotel and museum development in the area between The Celtic Way, London Road and Davaar Street where the Ticket Office is located.
After initially making the hotel announcement in 2017 it seemed like the project had been mothballed but yesterday papers were submitted to Glasgow City Council.
Celtic were requested to reduce the retail aspect in order to ‘protect nearby shopping areas’ but it seems hard to imagine shoppers leaving the Forge or local grocery shops in order to shell out £50 or more on a new Adidas training top.
The area around Celtic Park has been transformed in the last decade with new residential areas and the Velodrome but it still lacks a major hotel while a museum and redeveloped club shop would bring jobs and visitors to the area all year round.
Re Glasgow (a site that monitors developments and planning applications) yesterday reported:
Documents submitted to planners this month regarding the retail element of the project reveal that Celtic is working towards lodging its final proposals and designs.
Celtic have had to apply to sort out one of the planning conditions attached as part of Glasgow City Council’s decision to grant planning permission in principle in September 2017.
It stated that the retail part of the development should be no bigger than 1,500 square metres with no individual shop unit being larger than 400 square metres, because the council wanted to protect nearby shopping areas.
But planning consultants acting for the club have now asked for the restriction to be changed to reflect that only one shop is proposed and that it will be purely involved in selling club merchandise.
Their letter states: “The need to vary the precise terms of the condition has become evident as the applicant (Celtic FC) has sought to bring forward detailed proposals for approval.”
The overall development includes a hotel with between 175 and 200 bedrooms, a Celtic museum, shop and ticket office.
Despite regular speculation there are no plans for stadium expansion.