A deal for the surrounding land is close at hand…
Croke Park is set to be expanded as a deal to purchase some of the surrounding land is in the final stages of negotiations.
The deal would allow the GAA to build a new entrance into the stadium and hence remove the crowds from the surrounding streets on game days.
As well as a new entrance, shops, restaurants offices and handball facilities would be built as part of the new development.
The land is owned by the Dublin City Council and is occupied by part of the Croke Park villas estate. This is a 1960’s apartment complex that in recent years has become run down and currently just nine of the 79 flats are in use.
Plans were made to redevelop these flats during the boom but the plans fell through soon after and the GAA are keen to take over the land and create a kind of Croke Park village.
The money from the sale would be partly used to build 44 new homes on a portion of the land.
According to the Irish Times, the executive manager of the council’s housing department Gerry Geraghty said a “firm proposal” had been made by the council’s valuers to the GAA last May and the council was expecting an answer tomorrow.
“There will be a meeting on Thursday, the 11th, to try to bring this to a close.”
The sum to be paid would be a “sizeable contribution” he said. “I’m not going to put a figure on it before that meeting . . . but there is a lot of money on the table here”.
If the deal goes through, you can expect the outside of Croke Park to change dramatically over the next few years…
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