Peter Lowy interview: Leeds's Elland Road redevelopment, a tram and potential £2bn investment

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He is speaking to The Athletic at UKREiiF, a real estate investment and infrastructure forum being held in Leeds this week. Lowy has just been on stage, explaining why he feels a tram system is so important to the city, when he sits down for our interview. While the redevelopment of the stadium has planning permission and will accelerate through the close season, the future of the 30 acres of land around the ground is foremost in Lowy’s mind. He is concerned about the pace at which an agreement on a tram system is being reached. “DfT (Department for Transport) slowed down the work for the business case and pushed it out a few years and, for us, that’s very difficult because we can’t sit around until 2035 waiting for them to tell us whether they’re going to build the tram or not,” said Lowy. “With capital like ours, ready to go do a job, we can invest in lots of different places. “This is a very good project, and the sooner the government can get its act together, within a reasonable time, so the bureaucracy can do its job, the sooner we can invest the money. When you look at the site, if you do get the tram, you could invest somewhere between £1billion and £2bn. “You could build 2,500 homes, which are sorely needed in the city. You could build a hotel, offices and a neighbourhood shopping centre, which is vital for that part of town. “What we need is the government’s commitment, so we know it’s actually happening. You don’t need to wait until it’s finished for us to start, but we need their commitment, so they have to do the business case, then allocate the funds and, in essence, sign the contracts to build it.” Just this week, DfT announced the formation of a new taskforce, which will tackle barriers to the delivery of mass transit systems across the UK, supporting economic growth, jobs and new homes. It is called the Mass Transit Taskforce and it will bring together experts from planning and industry to speed up the process of unblocking development. Transport secretary Heidi Alexander said the taskforce “will use its skills and vast knowledge to deliver real and practical recommendations to shape the future of urban transport for years to come”. Sources at the DfT, who spoke under the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, said it was now awaiting West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s (WYCA) business case for mass transit in Leeds. They also pushed back against Lowy’s suggestion DfT was responsible for slowing down any business case, pointing instead to WYCA’s December statement on a revised plan for development and delivery, which pushed back the first tram services from the mid-2030s to the late 2030s. The latest development in this process, and one of the reasons why Lowy is so optimistic, is the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) freshly signed by three key parties. The MoU formalises the shared ambition across Lowy Family Group (LFG, the investment firm Lowy leads), Leeds City Council (LCC) and West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) to bring the tram to fruition. The MoU essentially sees the three parties sharing resources and expertise to ensure plans for mass transit and the land around Elland Road meet each of their respective needs, as they develop, thereby speeding up the process. National government is central to making this happen. For infrastructure projects like a mass transit system, it has to be funded and signed off by the Treasury and DfT. Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, is a Leeds MP. She hosted Lowy and his team at 11 Downing Street in February and has met them twice at Elland Road, too. Lowy said: “She is fully on board with this.” Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill, the DfT’s current minister for rail, worked closely with Lowy on transport infrastructure around the 2012 London Olympics and the latter’s Westfield development. Hendy was transport commissioner at Transport for London at the time. They have a relationship. Lowy said: “They (DfT) know we know what we’re doing. What we’re working with them on is not pie in the sky.” Lowy is confident he has the support of several stakeholders. Councillor James Lewis, leader of Leeds City Council, said: “We have come a long way in a very short space of time. This time last year, we were talking about concepts and, today, we are seeing real action on the ground, with probably the most shovel-ready sports-led regeneration project in the UK. “The progress we’ve made so quickly shows exactly what Leeds can do when we have a clear plan and strong collaboration. At every home game, I’m looking forward to watching the regeneration move forward before I go through the turnstiles, as we build a new future for Elland Road everyone in our city can be proud of.” Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin said: “Leeds United are staying up and our ambitions for the city couldn’t be higher. This groundbreaking partnership is about turning momentum into real change: new homes, good jobs and a year-round destination for tourism and growth. “By working together, we’ll transform Elland Road and the surrounding area into the vibrant, well-connected community local fans and families need and deserve.” Lowy does not need to see trams gliding through Leeds before he can start developing these 30 acres around the stadium. Once that formal commitment is in place, he says he can start to invest billions in the area. Lowy believes the business case for the tram writes itself. He mentioned at least one million riders a year purely from football footfall as 50,000 fans, once it’s been redeveloped, visit Elland Road at least 19 times annually. The council’s vision for the development says there is also the potential for 2,500 new homes, 200,000 square feet of offices, a hotel, a convention centre and a neighbourhood shopping complex. A tram would, in Lowy’s eyes, benefit the existing community near Elland Road, too. “At the moment, we have 3,500 cars on site (at Elland Road),” he said. “The neighbourhood needs the stadium to be built and for the cars to be gone. “If they don’t, it’s not good for the neighbourhood to have 20,000 people walking from the (city centre railway) station across Holbeck Park. What happens after everybody’s drinking? It’s not exactly like people are going for an afternoon stroll. “To get the cars off the site, to get the people out of the streets and to the stadium efficiently, makes the neighbourhood much better. “When we start building, you can start building the wider economic case of that whole area, but what it needs is that damn tram.” That wider economic case comes up more than once when Lowy talks about this vision. Yes, he acknowledges there is a financial incentive for investors in making this plan a reality, but he sees this development as the route to revitalising an underserved part of the city. He saw, first hand, what the 2012 Olympics and Westfield development did for Stratford, east London. “It will be (a) mainly residential (development), some commercial and I am hellbent on having a neighbourhood shopping centre there to bring things like fresh food and convenience to that part of town,” he said. “We’ve seen this a hundred times. “It’s 30 acres. It’s a huge site, and just like Stratford did, although it’s much smaller and Leeds isn’t London, it will transform the whole of south Leeds.” While the stadium is being redeveloped, regardless of what goes on around it, it remains to be seen what Lowy and his team can achieve if the tram does not materialise quickly enough. In that scenario, he says the project would only realise 20 to 30 per cent of what could be done with a mass transit system in place. After decades of false dawns in and around Elland Road for United fans, Lowy hopes, with the expertise of the 49ers and the backing of this new MoU, an exciting new phase in LS11 history is on the horizon. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms