Although it has been widely reported that West Ham will rent the Olympic Stadium a minimum 20 days per year, it has been under reported that we will have large areas of the Stadium dedicated to us 365 days per year over the next 99 years at the new stadium.
West Ham Vice Chairman Karren Brady has touched on this subject in her statement in the annual financial accounts published earlier this week.
Baroness Brady says: “There is an immense amount of work going on behind the scenes in preparation for our move in 2016. As the plans take shape it becomes even more apparent that our new home will be one of the greatest arenas in world football and a platform to transform the future of our great club. From a technical perspective contracts for the conversion work, roof, mechanical and electrical, retractable seating and the enabling works have been completed. The new roof has been installed, as has the retractable seats and the turnstiles, concessions and other facilities all moved inside the stadium in keeping with a traditional football stadium. The dressing rooms are almost complete as well as other facilities for players and the management team. We have selected a premium hospitality fit out which will include The Boleyn Bar, the Arnold Hills Lounge the BM6 amongst others, and we have designed the new club megastore which with 12,000 sq ft of floor space it will be almost 3 times of the current size of the club shop. A new stock warehouse will be added, as well as a pick and pack internet distribution warehouse which will make our retail business more robust and easy to expand. Lastly, new offices, a new call centre and ticket office will start being built in January 2016″
Planning documentation shows that the Hammers retail store is 700 sqm while the West Ham office area is 4000 sqm
At the going rate of £39.50 per square metre per annum in Stratford this space is worth around £185,650 in rent to the Hammers which we assume is included in the Irons £2.5m rental agreement.
Am I correct in thinking that all the fit out of West Ham needs are being paid by the club?
Ie store, office, lounges & the stadium wrap etc
^^ well when i signed up for a 7 year lease i negotiated a full fit-out at the expense of my landlord. the premises had to be fit for business. same goes for most commercial leases. this is what bugs me about the “uproar” in us taking the stadium with a large proportion being picked up by the rate payer. Its standard business that the landlord/owner makes the venue/premises ready for whatever the tenant needs for its primary use. If you rent a warehouse you can negotiate shelving, office partitions and fit outs. i would assume we would be paying for the wrap as this is signage, the store would be shell and core (blank canvas) and the lounges would be us as we are taking the full ticket value from memberships and match day sales. But the 4000 metres of office space should be provided by the landlord.