Millwall FC has clinched a 999-year lease for its home, The Den, paving the way for a 34,000-seat stadium and development of its surrounding area.
Lewisham Council granted the leases across three sites around the ground, which will also see the relocation of facilities for the Millwall Community Trust, on Wednesday, March 8.
Millwall’s chief executive Steve Kavanagh hailed the “incredible news” as helping the Championship club “develop existing and new revenue streams”.
Lewisham Council is the freeholder of the stadium site so the lease allows Millwall to expand the ground and build homes on the land surrounding it.
The developments will form part of the New Bermondsey – a 30-acre redevelopment of the old industrial area being led by Lewisham Council
Approved in January 2022, it will see 3,500 homes built in the area around The Den over the coming years.
The stadium’s revamp is at the heart of the New Bermondsey redevelopment.
New seats will be built as additional upper tiers behind the existing seating bowl, increasing capacity from 20,000 to 34,000.
The new lease will also allow the construction of residential buildings which was forbidden under previous terms.
Millwall FC has previously said a new public plaza and a hotel could be built on the surrounding land.
Plans for The Den’s redevelopment were nearly derailed in 2016.
Lewisham Council said it planned to take some of its land away from the club and hand it to developer Renewal.
Millwall threatened to leave the borough and the council scrapped the plans the following year.
Chief executive of Millwall FC, Steve Kavanagh, said: “This is incredible news for the football club and everyone associated with it.
“Possessing development rights on the land around The Den provides the club with an array of opportunities to benefit supporters on match days, enhance capabilities on non-match days and assist with ongoing efforts to develop existing and new revenue streams.
“Crucially, it cements our position as a community asset by placing the club at the forefront of the wider redevelopment.”
Lewisham Council owns the freehold of the land leased to Millwall on a 150-year lease from 1993, along with the adjoining Lions Centre, which was leased to the MCT on a 25-year lease which started in November 2004.