Shaelumstash said:
I think something like the 02 is feasible, but bear in mind the whole development relies on the 20k seater arena, and as I said in my earlier post, Manchester already has a successful one of those and I couldn't see the council permitting another one so close by.
The super casino idea is exciting, and could potentially attract visitors from all over the world. Resident artists such as Cirque De Soleil, even Peter Kay or other musical acts could fill an in house hotel theatre of say 5k a night, right throughout the year.
There's 3 problems though, the Wynn in Las Vegas cost $2.7bn to build, I don't think our owners would be too eager to invest in a business associated with gambling, and the government already scrapped the super casino idea so I doubt they'd allow us to do it.
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/Satellite?pagename=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.
