Stade Grimonprez-Jooris - Redevelopment Plans and Demolition

Redevelopment Plans and Demolition

Plans to build a new stadium compliant with UEFA's standards were made in 2002, when the club was privatised. City authorities tried to persuade the club's new owners to redevelop the existing stadium, but they refused and instead opted for a plan to build a new 60,000-seat stadium outside the city, financed as a public-private partnership. However, their search for investors willing to finance the ambitious project was met with little success.

In June 2003 the club's board agreed to a new proposal put forward by the city mayor to build a new 33,000-seat stadium on the site of the Grimonprez-Jooris. Preliminary works which included dismantling of training grounds were undertaken, and the delivery was scheduled for 31 December 2004 but was postponed. In the meantime the funding of the project moved from the City Council to the Urban Community of Lille Métropole and became 100 percent public. Construction work was then planned to begin in early 2005, but the project faced opposition from preservationists who successfully prevented the project to obtain necessary permits as the site of the stadium was close to the 17th-century Citadel of Lille. The delays forced Lille OSC to play their league matches at Stadium Nord Lille Métropole and their 2005–06 UEFA Champions League games at Stade de France in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.

After two years of court battles, local courts had declared issued building permits void in July and December 2005, which meant that Grimonprez-Jooris II would never come into existence. Once the dismantling of training grounds was completed, the club moved their facilities to Camphin-en-Pévèle. The failed project cost the city of Lille 6 million euros, including 3 million paid to the architecture bureau, 2 million in damages to businesses which invested in the project and 1 million for court fees. The future of the stadium was unclear until January 2007 when the Urban Community of Lille Métropole decided to fund the demolition of the stadium. The demolition works finally began in March 2010.