The National Capital Commission is mulling five submissions for the redevelopment of a large swath of land at LeBreton Flats, a stone’s throw from downtown.
Among these is a bid from Senators Sports and Entertainment to build a new arena for the Ottawa Senators hockey club – a possibility Senators owner Eugene Melnyk has called a “game-changer.”
After languishing in the suburbs for almost 20 years, the Senators are due for a change of scenery.
The Palladium, now the Canadian Tire Centre, opened in 1996. Ever since, Ottawa residents have complained about the venue’s Kanata location, roughly 25 kilometres west of the city centre.
Taking public transit to the arena is an ordeal, even with OC Transpo’s express bus routes for hockey games and other events.
Driving is often worse, as hockey fans struggle to journey from their offices in the city to the arena in rush hour traffic.
Escaping the 7,000-car parking lot after games is equally daunting.
A new arena in the city centre could revitalize Ottawa’s sports culture and provide a world-class entertainment venue for the entire city and its visitors to enjoy.
The price tag for a new arena will be steep. For example, the total cost of Edmonton’s new downtown arena, currently under construction, will exceed $600 million.
Ottawa could expect similar cost, and city taxpayers would likely be on the hook for at least part of the total.
However, under the right circumstances, it’s possible the federal and provincial governments could chip in to cover a portion of the necessary funds.
A key benefit of a LeBreton Flats arena would be accessibility. When it begins service in the spring of 2018, the city’s light-rail transit Confederation Line will stretch from Tunney’s Pasture in the West through LeBreton Flats and the downtown to Blair in the East. It will also meet the pre-existing O-Train at Bayview.
This would provide easy transit access to the new arena from downtown, east end and south end neighbourhoods, including Centretown. Many more Ottawa residents could conveniently walk to the arena. Currently, getting to a Senators game is not particularly convenient for anyone except Kanata residents.
There might not be much room for parking at LeBreton Flats, especially compared to the sea of parking spots that exists at the current arena in Kanata.
In this respect, the Senators could draw inspiration from the Ottawa Redblacks, who successfully completed their inaugural CFL season at the newly renovated, 24,000-seat TD Place in 2014. The Canadian Tire Centre seats 19,153.
The Redblacks’ Lansdowne Park stadium has only 1,000 underground parking spots and parking is also scarce in the surrounding neighbourhoods, so Redblacks ownership and the City encouraged people to take transit, bike or walk to the games instead of driving. As a result, traffic around the stadium on game days remained manageable.
Several hurdles need to be cleared before a new LeBreton Flats arena could receive the NCC’s seal of approval.
The Senators’ plan will have to beat out several competing proposals for the hotly contested real estate and the NCC board of directors is not expected to sign off on any decision until early 2016. Yet, excitement about the possibility of a new arena in the heart of the city is already building.
Originally, Senators ownership made the mistake of building in Kanata because more central areas, including LeBreton Flats, were unavailable. Now that the land is up for grabs, it’s time to correct that mistake.