The container, the fence and the curious case of a £180,000 plot of land outside St James’ Park
Firstly, a large yellow metal office container appeared outside turnstiles 42 and 43 of the East Stand, partially blocking these two access points to St James’ Park.
On the second weekend of August, as fears grew that the far-right riots that had broken out across Britain could soon reach Tyneside, almost 66,000 Newcastle United fans attended back-to-back friendlies against Girona and Brest.
For hundreds of fans seated in that part of the East Stand, and for the many thousands who walked along Leazes Terrace before and after both matches, the container provided an additional obstacle in an area that is already a bottleneck on match day given how narrow Magpie is. Lane, which leads down past the stadium, is located to the left of the metal box.
The following weekend, when Newcastle hosted Southampton in their Premier League opener, the container was gone.
No one knew what purpose it had apparently served.
Less than a fortnight later, the situation became even more strange. In the week leading up to Newcastle’s home game against Tottenham Hotspur, a three-foot fence appeared, leading nowhere but apparently indicating five parking spaces.
We have been informed that the owner of the land is constructing the following fence/parking area to the front of the East Stand. pic.twitter.com/aHyDxKpJLu
— Newcastle United Supporters Trust (@nufctrust) August 29, 2024
The fence extended approximately 8 meters along the perimeter of the East Stand, almost exactly where the container had previously stood, while on one side it extended three meters onto the road, parallel to other on-street parking spaces marked out by white dashed lines.
By the evening of August 31, the eve of the Spurs match, the peculiar fence had been removed and was not present on the day of the match. In the days that followed, part of the fence reappeared in that spot, but instead of being raised, the parts were stacked on top of each other.
(Chris Waugh/The Athletics)
Once again, before Newcastle’s next home match – against Manchester City last Saturday – the wooden posts were nowhere to be seen.
As of Tuesday evening, when Newcastle welcomed AFC Wimbledon in the third round of the Carabao Cup, Leazes Terrace was once again unobstructed.
(Chris Waugh/The Athletics)
Theoretically, though, even more obstacles could appear in that same tricky spot in the future.
The land is not owned by Newcastle United, or even Newcastle City Council. Instead, as notices posted by the club above turnstiles 42 and 43 indicate – and which remain in place – the plot is “owned and controlled by St James Terrace Land Ltd, company number 15599599”.
(Chris Waugh/The Athletics)
While matchday public safety was cited by the Newcastle United Supporters Trust (NUST) and Newcastle United as a major concern as a result of these stunning events, for the club this is also one of a host of factors influencing the club’s potential expansion and redevelopment of St. James’ Parking extremely complicated.
The listed buildings on Leazes Terrace and the listed buildings on the adjacent St James Terrace already make the expansion of the East Stand problematic.
But even if the feasibility study of Newcastle United’s stadium – which began a year ago and whose results Darren Eales, the CEO, claimed were ‘imminent’ as early as July – outlines a possible solution to these delicate issues, the club still have to acquire this foreign island land. And given the price the current owner paid for the plot, Newcastle may have to fork out a staggering amount of money for it.
Located immediately adjacent to the East Stand, the strip is in the shape of two triangles pointing towards each other (as shown in red below, but excluding the green section), and starts outside turnstiles 42 and 43 on Leazes Terrace and extends for approximately 8 meters out. 10 yards further up Magpie Lane, along the side of No. 4 St James Terrace.
The current owners acquired the plot on April 5 this year as the club’s feasibility study was still ongoing.
St James Terrace Land Ltd was not incorporated as a company until March 28, but eight days later, according to Land Registry records entitled “Land Lying South West of 4 St James’ Terrace”, it paid £180,000 ($239,000 at current exchange rates) to to buy the land.
Robbie Kalbraier is the sole director of the company. Although Mr Kalbraier’s correspondence address for St James Terrace Land Ltd is Great Portland Street in London, he is an active director of seven other companies – ranging from construction to flat letting and advertising companies – some of which are registered in Jesmond, Newcastle.
The Athleticsunable to reach Mr Kalbraier or his companies by email or telephone, he visited Tyneside Developments Ltd, his company headquartered in Blue House. An iconic 19th century building with red bricks on the exterior ground floor and a white and blue checkered facade on the outer first floor. It belongs to the Fremen of Newcastle and is located just off a busy roundabout in the middle of Newcastle’s famous Town Moor.
Mr Kalbraier acknowledges receipt thereof The Athletics‘s questions – including questions about how he came to own the land at Leazes Terrace, why he placed obstacles on it, whether he will continue to do so in the future, and whether he had spoken directly to Newcastle United about this – but he declined politely answer them.
Contact has been made between the club and the landowner, although the reasoning behind why these obstacles were placed there and whether more will be placed in the future remains unclear.
Newcastle United said: “The landowner is not associated or affiliated with the club in any way.
“In the interests of continuing to provide uninterrupted access to our fans and others who use St James’ Park, especially on match days, we have offered the landowner alternative nearby locations for the safe storage of their belongings and will continue to endeavor to participate to constructive dialogue with the landowner about this. We will monitor the situation and work closely with our partners to find a sensible path forward.”
The NUST described the actions of St James Terrace Land Ltd as “disgraceful” and “openly petty”.
“We strongly urge the landowner to remove the current structure (fence) and stop erecting structures that could endanger the safety of our supporters on match day,” NUST said in a statement last month declaration. “We are naturally concerned about the serious health and safety issues posed by the structure, given the impact this would have on queues entering and exiting the East Stand.
“The area close to where this is constructed is a very busy area on match days and placing barriers in front of supporters could have dangerous consequences and lead to significant overcrowding.”
The club did contact Newcastle City Council, who began an investigation while the container and then the fence were in place, but that stopped once the obstacles were removed.
A council spokesperson said: “We know a fence was installed but it is no longer there. This is a matter between the landowner and the club. The municipality will only be involved if there is a risk to public safety or if work is proposed that requires legal permission.”
Although Northumbria Police were made aware of the situation, the police have not been involved or commenced an investigation as it is considered a civil matter.
Anyway, how did a private company come into possession of this piece of land directly behind the East Stand?
Four of Mr Kalbraier’s companies include Tyneside Group Limited, which specializes in the redevelopment, management and leasing of properties in Newcastle.
One of those companies, St James’ Central Investments Limited, lists on its website that: “In early 2014 the opportunity arose to purchase 1, 2, 3 St James Terrace and 17 St James’ Street”. These properties were redeveloped and, according to the company, collectively “sold for £2.05 million” ($2.72 million at current exchange rates), although it does not specify when these sales took place.
According to Land Registry documents, No 4 St James Terrace was separately purchased for £300,000 by St James Partners Limited on March 4, 2016. Their sole director is Kashif Mumtaz, a businessman and Newcastle supporter who also owns numbers 1 to 3 on the same street – previously redeveloped by Mr Kalbraier’s St James’ Central Investments Ltd – meaning he owns the entire block possess.
A week after No. 4 was purchased, on March 11, 2016, the strip that St James Terrace Land Ltd now owns was separated from the title for No. 4 St James’ Terrace, as well as the land immediately behind that property (as shown on the image). map above in green). The description of the property was then amended together with the land registry to reflect the change. Therefore it is now “land lying to the south-west of 4 St James Terrace”.
The Athletics attempted to contact Mr Mumtaz to confirm these details but received no response.
For now, Leazes Terrace is back to normal. But St James Terrace Land Ltd can continue to use the plot as it sees fit – and could theoretically throw up further obstacles to it in the future.
Although the site has been used (temporarily) to house a metal office and a fence apparently demarcating the parking areas, it is not an excellent storage facility, while the parking areas cannot be used on match days when the road is closed.
Its significance and value to St James Terrace Land Ltd is unclear. But if Newcastle United ever want to expand the East Stand, they will have to acquire that small piece of land.
When it comes to the redevelopment of St James’ Park, nothing seems simple.
(Top photos: Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust, Chris Waugh/The Athletic)
