Since this week, work has been going on on a special construction phase on the Gugl: With the erection of the grandstand in the east, the new Raiffeisen Arena will be closed all around. The three remaining grandstands have been under construction for a long time. For the first time in 70 years, there is a football stadium on the Frogberg in Linz that is closed on all sides. The old Linz stadium was open to the east. Current video recordings from LASK-TV show what it currently looks like on the stadium construction site:
After the construction freeze was lifted at the end of March, the construction work is now progressing rapidly. The stadium construction was not under a good star at the beginning. First there was a dispute among those responsible in the club, the tender was withdrawn and the planning adapted, another tender and withdrawal again because the Europe-wide tender was “forgotten”.
Another point of bankruptcy, bad luck and mishaps followed on March 18: the building authority of the city of Linz imposed a temporary freeze on construction “because the project submitted and approved for construction does not match the construction that has been completed” – the OÖN reported exclusively. Specifically, it was about a basement under the main grandstand, which was enlarged. The LASK spoke of “planning mistakes from the past” and “technically unavoidable changes”.
The freeze on construction was lifted a few days later. The association and the construction company were given eight weeks to submit the plans for the unauthorized basement area. The deadline expires in mid-May. “There are changes in every project of this magnitude, but it’s done for me,” said LASK President Gruber recently in an exclusive OÖN interview. The realization of the “LASK project of the century” has long been in full swing again, so that the athletes can kick off the spring of the coming season in February 2023 in the new stadium.
funding stands
Most recently, state funding was also an issue, because a prerequisite for this is fixed financing. “The financing has been in place for a long time, and the contracts are now legally signed,” said Gruber and explained the procedure: “Our bank, the Raiffeisen Landesbank, suggested two alternatives to us: bond financing or classic bank financing in the form of a loan. We have opted for a classic loan with repayment over 20 years.” The ground-breaking ceremony for the stadium on the Gugl was held last October and completion is scheduled for February 10, 2023.
Source: Nachrichten
