Senators and NCC Make Last Minute LeBreton Deal
With a sale agreement signed between the National Capital Commission and the Senators, the process for a new arena will move on to the next step
With the clock ticking, the National Capital Commission and the Ottawa Senators have reached a last minute deal on a sale for land at LeBreton Flats for a new arena and entertainment district. The memorandum of understanding that gave the Senators exclusive negotiating rights for the space was set to expire today.
(On a more personal note, it also comes 10 years to the day from my first article on the topic)
You can read the NCC announcement here and the Senators announcement here.
The deal involves the Senators buying (not leasing) a parcel of land just over 10 acres in size, up from the roughly six acres originally included at the proposal stage. The price for the sale was not announced today, but the NCC's Tobi Nussbaum said it was at a "fair market price" to be established through a land assessment that has not happened yet.
Two of the sticking points (after the size of the property) were parking availablilty while the area is developing, as well as environmental concerns largely linked to the site cleanup. In terms of the parking, nothing was specifically said but there was mention of "transitional elements" which lines up with previous statements on the subject from Cyril Leeder. The soil remediation issues are still a bit of a to-be-determined, but could be done by either party in a way to still be negotiated.
While the NCC is continuing to pursue development of the entire area, the agreement includes promises from them to pursue some of that development within the same timeframe as the arena to ensure that it isn't just the arena, an undeveloped open space, and then the War Museum.
“I don’t think the public is open to a scenario where the City of Ottawa is writing a big cheque towards the construction of a new arena,” said Sutcliffe. “It’s not realistic, and I think the Senators know that too.”
The next steps before shovels hit the ground are finalizing the designs, and finalizing the plan for how to pay for it. The Senators are surely going to pursue any opportunities to bring in external funding that they can. Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe has already said to not expect the city to write a big cheque towards the construction of a new arena, but could help in other ways. There is no word in what way the Provincial or Federal governments may be involved, if any.
Cyril Leeder spoke briefly on the site plan, noting that any detailed design work on the arena and surrounding space hasn't started yet but does expect it the arena to have more space for in-building amenities, and the overall site design to include some type of open public space. He wasn't willing to say much on either cost or timeline without that planning being done, but did say it would still be years before shovels meet the ground. On the subject of the current CTC site, Leeder said there was no set plans but that there have already been some discussions about the future of the land.
After just over 10 years and countless ups and downs, the arena at LeBreton is finally moving on to the next stage.
