Queen of the South are planning a £17.4 million redevelopment of Palmerston Park.
The club is in talks with Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership which would provide a 6,000 seater stadium fit for the SPL, a cinema and bowling alley. They are working on a joint venture which would transform Palmerston and lead to the creation of office accommodation and housing on land currently owned by the club.
At a recent meeting Queens Directors Tommy Harkness,Colin Rutherford,Billy Hewitson and Craig Paterson along with their chairman Davie Rae met James Shirazi,John Potts and Zoe Forster of DGHP to form a working/steering grop to take the scheme forward.
Outline for the scheme is as follows:
1. The old West Stand would be demolished and replaced with a new 1,100 seat stand at a cost of £825,000 with a £6.5m office and corporate complex attached to it.
2. Current terracing at the Portland Road end would be would be demolished and replaced with a new 1,100 seat stand at a cost of £825,000 with a £6.5m office and corporate complex attached to it.
3. Another 1,400 seat stand costing £840,000 would be built at the Terregles Street end with a £1.5m office complex attached.
3. Undersoil heating would be installed along with new floodlights.
4. One seating bay at the southern end of the East Stand would be removed and reinstalled at the northern part of the same stand with the pitch being moved several meters to the North.
5. The current derelect Tesco store would be transformed into a 10 pin bowling alley and multiplex cinema.
6. The current peice of greenfield land on Lochfield Road could be developed for housing.
7. The club wants to earn about £250,000 a year as income from the land around Palmerston to help fund a move into the Premier League.
DGHP would take up most of the offices as a new HQ but some would be used by Queens and the rest may be rented to other organisations. It's also understood an interested party would have to be found to take on the cinema or/and bowling alley aspect of the development for the former Tesco store. A bingo hall would also be considered for the site. No mention was made for provision of a new Queens social club but presumably there will be space within the new West Stand. There is also no mention of parking spaces but no doubt this will be taken care off when final plans are submitted.
It is understood a delegation from Queens and the DGHP recently visited Preston North End to view their recently completed stadium at Deepdale. Deepdale as you can see from the attached picture is a very atmospheric stadium as the stands are quite steep and hug the touchline. Let's hope the new Palmerston is bulit on similar lines.
The main hurdle for both parties will be funding for the development. Queens and DGHP hope to attract fundsfrom bodies such as :
Sportscotland,The National Lottery,Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Government. It's understood that both parties were in discussion over a joint venture last May.
Sportscotland,The National Lottery,Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Government. It's understood that both parties were in discussion over a joint venture last May.
DGHP chairman John Potts said "Although plans are still at a very early stage, we are extremely pleased to take the project forward further and look forward to working in partnership with the Queens to provide these new state of the art facilities. And it will cement the club's ambition to be promoted from the First Division and compete in the SPL where a 6,000 seat stadium is a requirement".
The project is expected to take about three years to complete. A further meeting will be held in May.
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