Pittodrie street isnt the only problem. The residents of Pittodrie Place and The Golf club will also have a big say in any attempts to build a modern main stand with the same capacity as the current one plus all the relevant admin facilities.
Daylighting & 'Overlooking issues', emergency & service vehicle access not just to the stadium but to the neighbouring buildings, and of course needing to find a place for the car-parking spaces lost in the works all spring to mind.
The club didnt just miss a trick not buying the gas works, they also missed a trick not buying the land behind the merkland where the flats now are (and used to be a timber yard I think).
However hindsight is a wonderful thing and back in the early 90s had the club announced they were spending the playing budget on extra land around the stadium just incase they had the desire to build another RDS or 2 I dont think it would have gone down very well with the fans. Especially given they were now in debt for the RDS and the Main stand was in such a state.
Mind you it might have stopped Aitken spending £850k on Brian O Neil, or Miller spending £300k on Nigel pepper and £750k+ Billy Dodds on Robbie Winters......we probably would have missed out on Billy Dodds, Paul Bernard, John Inglis & Peter Hetherston too given they combined cost £2,350,000.
With regards to the 5 years on the Main stand comment I personally take that as meaning 'we have 5 years before it starts costing us serious money to keep open'