Multiple Ottawa news outlets are reporting that the Ottawa Senators and the National Capital Commission have reached a deal to build a new arena at LeBreton Flats.
Ian Mendes, vice-president of communications for the hockey club, confirmed to OBJ that there will be a press conference at the Canadian Tire Centre to provide an update Friday afternoon. A media advisory was also issued by the NCC.
The site for a new arena to replace the 30-year-old Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata has been a topic of speculation for some time. In April, Senators president and CEO Cyril Leeder told an audience of local business leaders at the City Building Summit that the club was determined to set up in LeBreton Flats.
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“I would say the only one we’ve been focused on right now is LeBreton Flats,” he said in response to an audience question. “Obviously there are other sites within the city and we’ve looked at a number of those. Probably too early to say definitively where the arena is going to go but, at this point, the only site we’re serious about is LeBreton Flats.”
Leeder told OBJ at the club’s season launch event earlier this month that talks were intensifying between the two parties and he was hopeful that a deal would come through.
Leeder said a new 800,000-square-foot arena — which the hockey organization, the city, and local stakeholders have said should be constructed downtown — would cost between $1.2 billion and $1.5 billion. Surrounding infrastructure, such as hotels, condos, restaurants, bars and office buildings, is expected to cost three to five times that amount.
A new arena would be a similar size or slightly smaller than the Senators’ current home, aiming for a capacity of between 16,000 to 17,000 people. It would also include newer amenities and improved loading zones, with the hopes of doubling the number of shows the facility can host.
“You’re talking about a three- to six-billion-dollar project,” Leeder said. “It’s a big, big project.”
Following the death of former Sens’ owner Eugene Melynk, the Senators were granted preferred-bidder status in June 2022 to negotiate with the NCC on a plan to build an events centre that would be the crown jewel of the Crown corporation’s long-term efforts to redevelop the Flats.
The site was identified for a potential major facility in the 2021 LeBreton Flats Master Concept Plan, which reflected the feedback of more than 5,000 Ottawans who participated in public consultations.
The NCC signed a memorandum of understanding with the organization led by the Senators in June 2022 to build a major events centre as part of a mixed-use development at a six-acre plot of land on Albert Street between City Centre Avenue and Preston Street.
Earlier this year in January, the NCC agreed to extend its memorandum of understanding with the Senators to Sept. 20 to give the two sides more time to negotiate. The MOU was originally slated to expire in September 2023.
More to come …
