Featured image credit: Santos
A new stadium project for Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A football club Santos has cleared its latest hurdle after members approved the formation of a partnership with WTorre for the construction of the 30,000-seat venue.
The partnership was approved with 97.5% of the votes during an extraordinary general assembly meeting. A total of 4,789 associates voted, 548 of which were in person and the rest online.
In a statement, Santos said the decision will be marked in the history of the club. The decision came after board members approved the project earlier this month following a meeting with WTorre chief executive Claudio Macedo and architect Luiz Volpato.
The Arena Vila Belmiro will have a capacity of 30,000 and will be built on the site of the club’s current home, the Estádio Urbano Caldeira. The stadium is expected to cost BRL300m (£46.5m/€53.1m/$56.5m), with WTorre to operate the venue under a 30-year contract.
In October, Santos announced that it would be pressing ahead with the plans following a meeting with WTorre, which later made an official presentation of the project to board members.
In August last year, Santos renewed a Memorandum of Understanding with WTorre to explore the possibility of a new 30,000 stadium. It came after an initial MoU was signed in September 2020, although that agreement was only valid for one year.
No start date has been set for the Arena Vila Belmiro project, although the approval at the weekend was viewed as the last major step before Santos could sign its partnership with WTorre.
WTorre oversaw the construction of Allianz Parque, home of São Paulo-based Palmeiras. The company’s Properties division also operates Allianz Parque, which opened in 2014.
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