York City has completed the sale of Bootham Crescent to Persimmon Homes for £7 million.
City chairman Jason McGill today handed over the keys to the club’s home for nearly 90 years to Scott Waters, MD of Persimmon Homes Yorkshire.
Persimmon plans to start demolishing the stadium at the 4.25 acre brownfield site this month.
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Once cleared, work will begin to build 93 new homes on the site.
Nineteen affordable properties are included – they will be transferred to a housing association including houses to be made available for social rent and discount sale.
The development will reflect the history of the ground. It will include a memorial garden incorporating a section of terracing from the old Popular Stand.
The centre circle of the pitch will also be retained within a large open space accessible to the public.
Scott Waters said:
The preservation of the ground’s history is absolutely central to our redevelopment plans to provide a fitting and lasting legacy that fans, residents and the wider public can enjoy.
As the new custodians of the site, preserving its heritage in a way that the community can be proud is of vital importance and we are excited to start work on bringing these plans to life.
Where the money goes
Much of the proceeds from the £7m sale of York City have already been accounted for.
The sale means the club has paid back the £2 million loan from City of York Council. That money is York City’s contribution to its new home, the LNER Community Stadium.
It can also pay back interest of £400K to the Football Stadia Improvement Fund, from its £2m loan to buy back Bootham Crescent from the previous directors. The loan itself was later turned into a grant.
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The majority owner of York City Football Club is JMP Packaging, owned by City chairman Jason McGill.
Some of the money he has invested in the club is also paid back from the sale proceeds.
In a statement today the club said: “The balance after payment of project related costs has been used to pay off a capped element of the capital invested by JM Packaging Ltd.
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“All interest accrued on that capital as well as part of the capital itself being written off by JMP.
“JMP have entered into a funding agreement to ensure generous funds will be made available to the club for the remainder of the season.”
Future funding will be dependent on agreement with York City Supporters’ Trust, which owns 25% of shares.
The club says it has “entered into a written protocol with the supporters trust to ensure that they work more closely together in the future”.
It adds:
These parties have also put in place a streamlined procedure which could be utilised should any third-party who is interested in moving the club forward table a suitable offer.
Such an offer would only be accepted if both the club board and supporters trust agree that it is in the best long-term interest of the club.
You can read the full statement on the York City FC website here.