The Olympic Park Legacy Company has today kicked off a new tender process for a tenant for the £500m Olympic stadium.
Interested parties can submit bids to use the 60,000-seat venue for a maximum term of 99 years by March 2012, with the winning bidders expected to be appointed in May 2012 ahead of a 2014 reopening.
The process comes after a deal between football club West Ham and Newham council collapsed in October.
A statement from the OPLC said it is “seeking to deliver a commercially viable combination of uses that achieves both year round community access and wider public benefits”.
The stadium will be retained by the Legacy Company as a public asset. It is proposed that the Legacy Company will form a joint venture with the London Borough of Newham to operate the stadium and help maximise community benefits around local employment, sport and healthy living.
Newham has offered an investment of up to £40m towards the cost of transforming the stadium to its legacy configuration in order to secure legacy benefits for the borough.
Andrew Altman, OPLC chief executive, said: “The Olympic Stadium will be a new national stadium for athletics and a multi-purpose venue that can host a full array of sporting, cultural and commercial events in one of the most exciting destinations in the world.
“Having already secured the 2017 World Athletics Championships, now is the time for bidders to come forward to further enhance the stadium’s legacy.
London mayor Boris Johnson said: “Opening up the bidding to other interested parties now shows just how far ahead we are in planning a great future for east London long after the Games have left town.”
Minister for sport and Olympics Hugh Robertson said: “The government is committed to securing a legacy from the Olympic Stadium, and wants to see it re-opening in 2014.”
bridget.o’connell@estatesgazette.com
