The new leases for Edgar Street are set to be signed in January and given that happens, a new telecom lease worth in excess of £100K should also be signed.
Last week there was mention of the telecom deal in the item about the finances of the club broadcast by BBC Midlands.
Hereford United director Bob Pritchard has been personally involved in dealing with both Herefordshire Council and the un-named telecom company over the leases.
He has kindly given BN an update.
"The leases have been under negotiation for some 11 months now
since my involvement however the framework of the leases have changed
from the original heads of terms where 1 lease was to be created," said Pritchard.
"Now
have 3 separate leases to cover the retention of the stadium as lease 1,
the Blackfriars End as lease 2 and the Merton Meadow End as lease 3
which makes it easier to contract out with any future developer.
"It
was hoped following a solicitors meetings in June to conclude these
leases in September however when we met up in September there were a
great number of issues to still resolve which we have now addressed and
with the support of the leader of the council and a number of conference
calls on a weekly basis over
the past three weeks we are nearly there.
"It is hoped that our
conference call on the 3rd of January 2014 will conclude the drafting
and allow the documentation to be prepared for engrossment by the 10th
January 2014. Unfortunately the Xmas break has come to soon with all parties away from Monday 23rd until the 2nd January 2014.
"The
telecom lease is dependant on the stadium leases as they require a 30
year period in support of the financial offer that they have made,
council approval, and whilst we have a draft lease with the company
involved who will negotiate with the current users, we are having to
qualify lift and shift provisions in order to ensure that
the equipment can be moved to new flood lights as part of the stadium
redevelopment and provide us with a free and unencumbered site at the
Blackfriars End to allow the developments to
proceed.
"The existing leases currently with the
operators using the Blackfriars End flood lights, pay an annual lease
premium for a 5 year lease and contain lift and shift provisions and
termination covenants.
"We hope to conclude this
issue prior to Xmas so that again final drafting and engrossment can
take place by the 10th January 2014."