Plans to demolish a row of derelict houses next to Liverpool FC’s Anfield Stadium and build a new hotel "appear to have made it easier for the Reds to expand their current home," according to Marc Waddington of the LIVERPOOL DAILY POST. The latest blueprints for the regeneration of housing in the Anfield area show houses on one side of Lothair Road -- directly behind the stadium’s Main Stand -- "earmarked for demolition." The space behind would be "redeveloped for a hotel and possible training centre." The unconfirmed scheme is "the strongest indication yet that Liverpool may decide to expand on their current site," rather than move to a new stadium in Stanley Park. A problem the club would have faced if it wished to expand outward and upward would have been that residential properties "have their right to suitable levels of natural light protected by law." However, commercial properties, such as hotels, do not have that same protection (LIVERPOOL DAILY POST, 8/17).
A CITY NOT UNITED: BLOOMBERG's Chris Spillane reported that home prices near Man City's Etihad Stadium gained 271% since the venue opened a decade ago, about three times the 91% increase near cross-town rival ManU's 102-year-old Old Trafford. The findings are from a study of Premier League cities by mortgage lender Halifax. Newer football stadiums have "produced the best results," with four of the five largest gains in homes located near arenas built in the past 15 years. Man City’s stadium was built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games in one of the U.K.’s poorest neighborhoods, "increasing the impact of infrastructure improvements on the local housing market." City moved in a year later. Home prices near Premier League stadiums increased by 137% over the past 10 years, outpacing the 90% gain in all of England and Wales (BLOOMBERG, 8/17).
