黑洞社区

Bristol mayor Marvin Rees has said he is open to proposals from a US investor to rescue the 拢156m city centre arena scheme he cancelled at the start of the month.

Rees (pictured) told 黑洞社区 he would be 鈥渧ery interested鈥� if a US investor, understood to be Oak View Group, that met with city council officials two weeks ago, decided to table a bid to build a concert venue on the site.

His comments come amid a deepening political row in the city over the arena, with supporters of the original Populous and Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios scheme, which was to have been built by contractor Buckingham Group, accusing the Labour mayor of being biased against the project.

The row follows the city mayor鈥檚 decision, backed by the council cabinet, to terminate the existing scheme, citing cost rises, and instead explore a proposal by Legal & General for a mixed-use scheme with conference centre on the same Temple Island site, next to Temple Meads train station.

Senior executives from Oak View Group were told by council officials, including Rees鈥� head of office, Kevin Slocombe, that the site was not available. Slocombe later said the US firm had agreed the site would not work for an arena. However, Bristol property developer Stephen Fear, acting as intermediary for Oak View Group and who was present at the meeting, denied the executives said this, and said they are now working with their consultants to decide whether to table an offer.

Rees, who promised in his election campaign to deliver the arena, described accusations of impartiality over the scheme as 鈥渘onsense鈥�, and said: 鈥淚f you can get him [Stephen Fear] to confirm categorically that they鈥檙e interested in Temple Island, I鈥檇 be very interested in that.鈥�

Rees said the decision to terminate the existing scheme was made because of the potential impact on the council鈥檚 already stretched finances. A report by KPMG, commissioned by the council, found L&G鈥檚 scheme would likely create an extra 拢500m of economic benefit for the city. Rees said: 鈥淢y question is what is your appetite for risk [鈥�] in a time when music venues are difficult to make stack up.

鈥淎t some point someone has to stand up and say this is a huge gamble. You can鈥檛 run a city on crossed fingers.鈥�

Fear said Rees鈥� declaration of interest was 鈥渧ery positive鈥�.  

Architect George Ferguson, who promoted the Temple Island scheme while mayor of Bristol prior to Rees, described the decision to cancel it as 鈥渦tter madness鈥�.

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