There are new concerns about the ability of Liverpool’s co-owner, Tom Hicks, to to fund the club’s proposed new stadium in Stanley Park following an unexpected decision to delay the construction of a stadium in Texas.
Tom Hicks, one of the two co-owners of Liverpool Football Club, has made the shock admission that he has been unable to secure financing for the Glorypark mixed-use development in Arlington, Texas that was scheduled to open in March 2010.
The $500million development has been shelved because of the credit squeeze and difficult US retail market.
Hicks said in an interview with the Dallas Morning News: “We are in the most difficult credit crunch I have seen the last 20 years.”
It is an admission that will encourage Dubai International Capital (DIC) - the prospective buyers of Liverpool. DIC have always believed that Hicks and partner George Gillett, the Liverpool co-owner with whom he has fallen out, would find it virtually impossible to raise further loans to facilitate the club’s move from Anfield to the proposed new home in nearby Stanley Park.
It is now believed that Hicks will have to secure funding over the next few months in order to build Liverpool’s new £350million stadium.
However, with Hicks Holdings group having been unable to find the cash in the current market for their Texas plans, serious doubts will be raised about how they can raise the money for the Merseyside move given the current financial climate.
Hicks’ shock announcement about having to shelve the Arlington stadium project comes one week after a Dallas hotel project in which he is also involved was delayed.
Construction was scheduled to start this spring on the Glorypark project, which is adjacent to the Texas Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, and close to the Dallas Cowboys’ new $1.1 billion stadium.
Hicks owns the Rangers baseball club as well as the Dallas Stars ice hockey team.
The completion of Glorypark, which would have included restaurants, retail, residential and office space, had been delayed twice before.
Last week, Liverpool FC obtained their third planning permission for the revised Stanley Park scheme.
Hicks said at the weekend of the Liverpool project: “Site work will start in September and actual construction in late October/early November, with completion in time for the season starting in August 2011.”
DIC believe the financial pressures on Hicks will eventually force him to return to the negotiating table. He scuppered a planned buy-out by DIC earlier in the year.
Meanwhile his fall-out with Gillett remains unresolved. Gillett has made it clear he will not sell his 50% stake in the club to Hicks. He flew to London last week for informal talks with DIC.
Mark Hinton, Goal.com
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