Stakeholders called for input into AC Milan stadium proposal

The Municipality of San Donato Milanese has called on the membership of key stakeholders in its vision to develop a new stadium for Serie A football club AC Milan.

The Municipality has called on the input of the Lombardy Region, Metropolitan City of Milan, Gruppo FS Italiane, Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, FS Sistemi Urbani and Sportlifecity in the project. Milan in February took another step towards developing a new stadium in San Donato Milanese after completing the acquisition of a package of land for the project. The land in the San Francesco area had been owned by Sportlifecity, which originally planned the development of a 20,000-seat arena at the site.

These plans changed when the Serie A club identified the site as its preferred location for a new stadium, with Sportlifecity now 90% controlled by Milan after being acquired in June. Milan essentially asked for a change in the structures being requested for development on the site and it now has full control of the land.

The Municipality in January fired the starting gun on a “long and complex path” towards delivering a new 70,000-seat stadium for Milan, with the project clearing its first major bureaucratic hurdle. The Municipal Council approved an initial proposal presented by the club in September, when it officially announced for the first time that it was pursuing a new stadium project away from its current Stadio Giuseppe Meazza home, better known as the San Siro.

At the time, Milan said that it had “completed the first formal step”, in view of the potential future submission of a full project plan, by presenting to the Municipal Council an urban development proposal for the San Francesco area.

Along with the 70,000-seat stadium, the plans being driven by Sportlifecity also envision a hotel, catering facilities, offices, a club store and museum, a large plaza, auditorium and parking for 3,500 vehicles.

The Municipality on Friday said it is now awaiting confirmation of membership from the parties invited to “give impetus” to the administrative process which will delve into the merits of the proposal by defining the design, economic and operational commitments for the overall development of the urban planning intervention.

The objective of the Program Agreement is to address all the strategic aspects to arrive at a hypothesis for the construction of the sports facility, overcoming the critical issues that the Municipality itself has highlighted. Further down the line, the Municipality has said “a constant relationship with citizens of a participatory nature” will be developed.

While the Lombardy Region and Metropolitan City of Milan have been invited to participate in relation to their governance status, and Sportlifecity as the proponent of the project, Gruppo FS Italiane’s input is being sought with regards one of the key challenges of the proposal – ensuring the San Francesco area has the requisite transport infrastructure to service a major stadium.

Mayor of San Donato Milanese, Francesco Squeri, said: “The stadium project represents a unique opportunity for development and attractiveness not only for the city of San Donato, but for the whole of Southern Milan.

“Precisely for this reason, as the Municipal Administration, we strongly feel the duty to evaluate the proposal with the utmost seriousness and the aim of advancing the interest of the entire community, also by opening moments of discussion with the citizens and with the mayors of the territory.”