A few days after his brewery announced it had leased space from the National Capital Commission for a new taproom in the ByWard Market, Beyond the Pale Brewing co-owner Rob McIsaac was cheering another piece of negotiating from the NCC on Friday.
McIsaac, a self-described passionate sports fan, was all smiles when he was told the Crown corporation had reached a deal to sell 10 acres of land at LeBreton Flats to the Ottawa Senators for a new NHL arena and events centre.
The new venue will be just a slapshot or two away from Beyond the Pale’s brewery and restaurant at the City Centre complex, a block south of LeBreton Flats.
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From McIsaac’s perspective, the club’s decision to relocate to the Flats is a winner.
“I’ve lived in a number of different cities, and having the team in the core of the city, I think it’s great for the community,” said the Ottawa entrepreneur, who married a Boston native and spent 10 years living in the sports-mad Massachusetts capital. “It’s great for the team because … it’s a lot easier to get fans out.”
Sports aside, McIsaac also expects the move to be a boon for his business as thirsty Sens supporters in search of sustenance spill over from the Flats.
“I definitely expect there will be some pre-game traffic coming through here on game nights, that’s for sure, and on any nights they’re doing concerts there as well,” he said.
Beyond the Pale is no stranger to capitalizing on its hometown NHL team’s popularity. The brewery has previously collaborated with SensChirp – a site dedicated to all things Senators that has amassed a significant following on social media – on projects such as a SensChirp-branded beer.
With the club eventually to become his next-door neighbour, McIsaac is already musing about the possibility of creating a Sens-themed brew.
“Our business is very much about getting liquid to lips,” he said. “The opportunity to have something like this come right down the street from us means that we’re going to have the opportunity to put our beer in a lot more people’s hands. That will hopefully drive growth for us over the coming years.”
While it will be years before the NHL team vacates its current home at the Canadian Tire Centre, McIsaac and other Ottawa business boosters could hardly contain their excitement that a deal to bring the Senators to the city’s core has finally been reached after a series of false starts.
“I think this really does a lot to shine a light of positivity on the city,” said Shawn Hamilton, a principal at Proveras Commercial Realty who has been among the loudest voices calling for the team to pull up stakes and leave Kanata.
Hamilton said recent discussions about Ottawa’s city centre have been clouded by worries over rising crime and homelessness, transit woes and economic stagnation as remote work took hold during the pandemic.
Magnet for tourists
He predicts a new arena and events venue will be a magnet for residents and visitors alike and will help trigger a downtown renaissance.
“It makes great use of a great piece of land that’s well-situated,” Hamilton said. “It’s not just about hockey. It’s concerts, it’s trade shows, it’s spectacles. It’s an accelerant for more tourists. This unlocks residential development and helps with the diversification of our downtown that we’ve been talking about in light of the federal government figuring out what they want to do (with their office footprint).”
Hamilton also noted the new arena is part of a “cluster” of new development west of downtown that includes the riverfront mixed-used Zibi development and the new central library, which is slated to open near LeBreton Flats in 2026.
“This is going to create a critical mass that I think will be a really positive influence for our core,” he said. “As we talk about moving away from government dependence to a more live-work-play downtown core, I think this (will be) a huge catalyst for that.”
Erin Benjamin, an Ottawa resident who is the president and CEO of the Canadian Live Music Association, said the new arena will be a “major piece of the puzzle” when it comes to building a stronger live music industry in the nation’s capital.
“If more people see more major shows downtown, when those shows are done, they’re spilling out into the downtown core, which means music venues across the city are more accessible,” Benjamin said.
“I think it’s just going to increase live music activity at every level of the ecosystem. We’ve talked often in this city about the lack of different-sized venues and the proximity of major venues to smaller venues. This solves that problem. If done right, we could have an incredibly robust, thriving live music ecosystem in Ottawa.”
A healthier live music scene will draw more talent to the region, Benjamin added – including young, highly-skilled knowledge workers who are the lifeblood of the city’s high-tech sector.
“They want a vibrant, exciting city to live in, and this will help.”
Ottawa Board of Trade president and CEO Sueling Ching agreed the new arena will be a major economic catalyst, saying it will “build confidence” among businesspeople and outside investors that the city’s downtown revitalization efforts are on the right track.
“We’re determined to work together to make this (project) happen,” Ching told OBJ. “It’s an exciting development for all of us.”
Meanwhile, Ottawa Tourism vice-president Catherine Callary called the deal “good news” for the local tourism industry, noting LeBreton Flats “has close proximity to many hotels and tourism operations like restaurants and attractions.”
Hamilton couldn’t resist bringing up a less-than-favourable epithet about Ottawa when assessing the potential impact of the Sens’ new home and other city-building projects such as the new library.
“All of these, I think, are things that sort of allow Ottawa to step forward out of its shell of the ‘city that fun forgot’ – which is an expression I hate, but it goes a long way to erasing that.”
