The Ottawa Senators are the preferred candidate for building a major attraction at LeBreton Flats, clearing the way for the NHL arena on the ground, just west of downtown.
The National Capital Commission reached a memorandum of understanding with a consortium led by senators to build an arena surrounded by a mixed-use complex on a six-acre plot.
The NCC made the announcement at its board meeting on Thursday morning. The goal is to sign a lease agreement for the site by the fall of 2023.
“This is just the first step in an incredibly exciting and transformative urban project that will become a landmark in LeBreton Flats and in the region of the national capital,” said Katie Paris, LeBreton project manager, in front of the board.
The Senators-led consortium also includes Sterling Project Development, Populous, Tipping Point Sports and Live Nation.
Sterling is a real estate management company that graduated from UBS Arena, the new arena for New York Islanders.
Populous is a design company that has designed major sports facilities such as the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, UK.
Tipping Point Sports is a sports finance and consulting company, and Live Nation is an entertainment company that produces concerts and festivals.
This is the senators’ second crack in moving to LeBreton Flats. The first attempt ended a lawsuit between the late owner Eugene Melnik and Trinity Group, the developer of the project.
But officials insist things will be different this time. NCC CEO Toby Nussbaum told reporters that the committee was impressed with the completeness of the senators’ proposal.
“Of course, they checked all the necessary boxes,” he said. He also said that the partners that the team presents at the table as part of the offer give him confidence that he will be more successful than the previous attempt to build an arena at LeBreton Flats.
“These are people with serious experience in building sports arenas and understanding entertainment, culture and sports,” he said. “The fact that they brought in new partners who weren’t part of the earlier process, I think, also gives us confidence that this is something that is considered an in-depth hub for events with much more than hockey.”
The senators launched a LeBreton website with images of what an arena might look like.
“Today’s announcement marks a significant step towards our long-term vision, an arena at the heart of LeBreton Flats,” Senators Business Operations President Anthony LeBlanc said in a statement. “We believe that this development will have a great impact on both the National Capital Region and our franchise, the one that will help shape the future of the city.”
In December, the NCC launched a request to express interest in two plots of land in LeBreton Flats, looking for “bold and transformative” ideas for attractions.
The first site is a six-acre plot along Albert Street between City Center Avenue and Preston Street, while the smaller site is a 1.2-acre plot along the Ottawa River.
The NCC published several details about the land conversion requests, saying only in April that it had received “numerous offers” for a major attraction.
Speaking to reporters before last week’s 1 Stanley Cup final, NHL Commissioner Gary Batman said the senators were watching a slide downtown.
“I know the senators are in the process of trying to see what the possibility of a new arena at LeBreton Flats might be,” Batman said on June 15.
Senators owner Eugene Melnik died on March 28. Melnik left the organization to his daughters Anna and Olivia, and Batman said the senators were “completely stable and functioning as usual.”
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