Queens hope to turn the King George V sports complex into a football academy.
And chairman Billy Hewitson hopes the Dumfries facility can help the Palmerston club achieve their dream of playing top flight football.
Mr Hewitson even hinted that the move could one day see the first team come ‘doon hame’ on a full-time basis from the club’s current training base at Cumbernauld.
He told Standard Sport: “I’m hoping to make it the Queen of the South Academy.
“We’ll move the U20s there with the eventual aim to bring the first team back down. Once we’ve got it organised we’ll have as good a facility as any other team in Scotland.”
The Doonhamers chairman continued: “It pleases me how many local kids are coming through the youth system.
“We’re starting to produce some good players. There are 10 going up to train every day at the moment.
“It’s what we’re here for and want to continue with, to keep building and keep improving.
“If you look at Hearts they are playing at a slightly higher level than us and we need to get to get to that level to be in the premier league. And we’re capable of doing it – there is no reason why we can’t.”
The Championship club announced this week that they’d be taking over the running of the Glasgow Road complex, which includes changing facilities, a gym, tennis courts and an astroturf currently used mainly for hockey, from the council.
But punters won’t see too many changes in the immediate future with the complex remaining virtually untouched until the summer when the first upgrades are carried out.
The chairman added: “We’re keeping it the same over the next few months. We’ve got existing clients and we want to continue with them going forward.
“But we need to make the place more user friendly and have a few ideas of how we can do that. I think there is a lot of potential – it’s a great facility.
“We’ll rejuvenate the pitch in about June time which will allow it to be re-used for another season.”
A council spokesman said: “The establishment of the King George V Sports Complex Community Sports Hub was agreed as part of the budget proposals at full council on February 5. This is now an established practice across Dumfries and Galloway and enables local community sports clubs to run community sports facilities.
“It will save the council up to £35k per year and reduces the revenue cost of operating the facility. Existing staff at KGV will transfer to Queen of the South under TUPE terms and conditions.”
Chair of Community and Customer Services Committee Tom McAughtrie added: “Our council needs to make savings of £32million over the next three years. Partnership agreements such as this one with Queen of the South are an effective way of reducing the council’s spend but with no impact on the level of service our public receives.
“Existing facilities at KGV such as the multi-use court, gym and full size pitch can continue to be used and booked at very competitive prices by clubs and members of the public alike. The robust partnership agreement we have put in place will ensure KGV remains an important and well used leisure facility in Dumfries and Galloway.”
Queens already have their own indoor facility – the Queen of the South Arena – which has two indoor pitches, a cafe and various businesses who rent space from the club at their Palmerston base.