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  • Sens at LeBreton Flats?

    The Senators are contemplating a move downtown.

    The group that operates the NHL team — Senators Sports & Entertainment — has confirmed to the Citizen that it is “actively considering the opportunity” to build a new hockey arena on the grounds of LeBreton Flats.

    That means the Senators will be among those taking a long look at redeveloping the so-called second phase of the sprawling property on the south side of Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway across from the Canadian War Museum.

    On Sept. 30, the National Capital Commission launched a request for proposals to redevelop as much as 21.4 hectares of land at LeBreton Flats that sits south of the parkway and west of Booth Street. One criteria for the redevelopment proposal is the inclusion of “an attraction of a regional, national or international significance” that is also a “world-class capital destination.”

    The Senators told the Citizen the sports organization has been “approached by numerous well-established private sector companies and community organizations who have expressed a strong desire to partner with us on developing a world-class proposal for the site.”

    The Sens organization said it will make its final decision on whether to submit an application to the NCC over the next few weeks. While the Senators believe an NHL arena at LeBreton could drive economic development in the core, as well as serve as an “architectural anchor” for the development, they underlined that they “feel very strongly that this could only be possible with strong community support.”

    That could be a call to arms to Sens fans who support an arena in the city core to rise up in support of the idea.

    For decades, many have decried the current arena’s Kanata location as inconvenient, if not a downright barrier to attendance.

    As one of the NCC’s criteria for proposals is that the redevelopment be a “valued destination for residents from the region,” vocal support from fans in favour of a move to LeBreton could help the organization’s bid.

    Even Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird seemed to question the current location of the NHL arena.

    The Ottawa West-Nepean MP was at the Citizen on Tuesday for an editorial board meeting when he was asked about whether he’d be in favour of an arena being built at LeBreton.

    Baird is the federal minister responsible for the NCC, and his opinion matters. He appoints directors to the NCC board and hired the new CEO, Mark Kristmanson.

    His main concern is that any new plan for LeBreton be state of the art — “If it’s not excellent my strong advice would be let’s not do it,” he said — pointing out that few cities have an opportunity to develop a major piece of land in its downtown core. Baird also said he wants to “respect the process” and didn’t want to wade into what his personal preferences for LeBreton might be.

    “I’m going to keep my powder dry,” he said.

    Still, when pressed about the possibility of a hockey arena, the foreign affairs minister said, “I’ve travelled quite a bit and I’ve never seen a major sports arena in the middle of nowhere.”

    It’s not a huge surprise that the Senators are looking as if they are moving ahead with an application for a major redevelopment project at LeBreton. Senators owner Eugene Melnyk has always said that the franchise needed non-hockey revenue in order to thrive. The original Senators owners wanted to make the current arena the centrepiece of a new commercial development, a controversial plan that never materialized, rebuffing the advice of then-councillors — including Jim Watson, Diane Holmes and Jacquelin Holzman, who was mayor at the time and is now an NCC director.

    Building an arena not just in a more central location, but right on the new LRT line — LeBreton Flats will be served by the new Pimisi Station — could attract more people to the games. The NCC has called for a redevelopment plan that “builds on the investment in the Confederation Line,” which this surely would.

    If the Senators go ahead with their application, they will have a number of hurdles to leap.

    The concept of an NHL hockey arena doesn’t immediately jibe with other NCC criteria for the new development, including fostering a “strong integration with existing and surrounding communities” or being a “complementary use for a waterfront site, with nearby national institutions and memorials.”

    As well, the NCC set up an expectation that the new development would be anchored by a public institution — LeBreton Flats is public land — and, at least under the current ownership structure, the NHL arena does not qualify.

    Then there’s the fact the bidding process is expected to be quite competitive. Applications were due by Dec. 5, but the NCC extended the deadline to Jan. 7, 2015 “due to a greater expression of interest than expected.”

    In September, the NCC’s CEO, Kristmanson, allowed that the LeBreton redevelopment “could” include a new arena, “but we can imagine other possibilities, as well.”

    http://ottawacitizen.com/sports/hockey/ ... s-lebreton
    I live in Kanata...I'm within walking distance of the CTC. However, I believe the Sens need to move down to Ottawa. It's a lot easier for fans from the West end to get down to the East end than vice versa, IMO. I hate how the CTC is in the middle of nowhere. Of course a lot of people would be upset with this move, but the attendance would go up and it would make more sense.

  • #2
    Re: Sens at LeBreton Flats?

    Back in the days it was built in the middle of nowhere, people were upset LeBreton flats was not the 1st choice...

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Sens at LeBreton Flats?

      Yup, this was always where the arena should be. I hope their proposal ends up being accepted.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Sens at LeBreton Flats?

        That would be amazing.

        I've been to Ottawa a handful of times but April was the first time I got tickets to a Sens game. Being a Saturday night game, the traffic to Kanata (from our hotel across from the Rideau Mall) wasn't terrible, but I can easily see how the congestion starting around 5pm or so on a weeknight would really mess with people. Especially if you also had to get through a good chunk of downtown coming from the East. Add to that bad weather that may happen in the Winter...

        Imagine, as a tourist, having to choose whether you want to be close to the arena or close to other attractions? What other major city does that happen in? Then if you are around the arena, there's nothing else out there - just suburban streets, country back roads. This to me is a no brainer.

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        • #5
          Re: Sens at LeBreton Flats?

          Sweet baby Jesus, please make this happen.

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          • #6
            Re: Sens at LeBreton Flats?

            PLEASE

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            • #7
              Re: Sens at LeBreton Flats?

              Matt tackled most of the points on the head.

              With the arena downtown, it makes Sens games accessible from downtown, Gatineau, Kanata and the West-end and Orleans and the East-end. The tourists will clearly stay downtown because it's where everything is, and it takes up way too much time to get too and from the Canadian Tire Centre.

              It's like the casino. They want to build it at the Rideau Carleton Raceway. Why wouldn't you put it downtown where everyone will be on weekend nights?

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              • #8
                Re: Sens at LeBreton Flats?

                Originally posted by Alfie11
                Matt tackled most of the points on the head.

                With the arena downtown, it makes Sens games accessible from downtown, Gatineau, Kanata and the West-end and Orleans and the East-end. The tourists will clearly stay downtown because it's where everything is, and it takes up way too much time to get too and from the Canadian Tire Centre.

                It's like the casino. They want to build it at the Rideau Carleton Raceway. Why wouldn't you put it downtown where everyone will be on weekend nights?
                Because this city is stupid as fuck

                I actually did a college essay on a casino downtown.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Sens at LeBreton Flats?

                  Yeah, I remember you saying that.

                  With a casino and arena downtown, it makes the downtown area look a lot more attractive than it already is.

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                  • #10
                    Sens at LeBreton Flats?

                    Feel free to make a thread and post your essay Mike, I'd love to read it.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Sens at LeBreton Flats?

                      Originally posted by Josh
                      Feel free to make a thread and post your essay Mike, I'd love to read it.
                      +1 :)

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Sens at LeBreton Flats?

                        I don't even know if I still have it. I think I deleted it, but I'll have to check when I get home.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Sens at LeBreton Flats?

                          You wanted it, you got it.

                          BTW, I wrote this shit in my first, and only semester of college (as of now), was super depressed and just wanted to get it over with. I haven't read it since I wrote it, so I dunno how it is but here it is:

                          The City of Ottawa has been clouded with debate for the last while about a new casino opening up or the Rideau Carleton Raceway being Ottawa’s go-to casino. The decision was made to not open a new casino in Ottawa and stick with the Rideau Carleton Raceway. This is a bad decision. A new casino in the city of Ottawa would generate a good, new source of revenue, become an attraction area for tourists and, if located downtown, would be more accessible and give the downtown core of Ottawa more “life”.

                          A new casino would benefit the city of Ottawa revenue wise because it’s a business in the city, and like all businesses in the city, they pay taxes to the city and earn the city revenue, however, a casino is on a different stature in terms of just how much it can contribute to the city’s revenue source. A second casino in the city of Ottawa would do wonders for the local economy and, in exchange, do wonders for the citizens of Ottawa. How? Well, for one, revenue from a casino could go towards city projects, such as the LRT project being built all throughout Ottawa, and the new Ottawa River Action Plan project, which “aim to protect the Ottawa River for residents to enjoy a clean water environment”, among other projects which include expanded integrated road, water and sewer construction in the downtown, construction of a secondary water transmission main to the Orleans area, etc. (City of Ottawa, 2013, para. 6). Currently, all of these projects either get paid by through the taxes citizens currently pay, or rate hikes, which the water price saw this year by 7%. Another benefit of this would be easier negotiations with city workers, such as firefighters, police officers, bus drivers, etc. when it comes to their contracts. With a new source of revenue and more money being pumped into the city, contract negotiations could go smoothers for these services and their contracts. While the city won’t bend over backwards for them, it’ll give the city the ease of knowing they have enough money to not worry about sacrificing other city projects entering negotiations depending on what these services want. Like any other business, jobs are created. As of October 2013, the unemployment rate in the Ottawa-Gatineau region is 6.4% (Stats Canada, 2013, table 1). A new casino could create at least thousands of jobs in the city, possibly tens of thousands, which would lower that unemployment rate in the city (Bonacic, 2013, para. 1). How much revenue is the city missing out on by not having a casino? They’re losing up to $100 million of revenue every year to Lac Leamy over the bridge in Gatineau (Prentice, 2012, para. 1).

                          A new casino could also serve as an attraction area for tourists, on top of the other attractions the city has. Each year, Ottawa hosts Winterlude at the Rideau Canal and Ottawa has a huge Canada Day celebration every year. A new casino being thrown in the mix would allow for consistent tourists in the city, give tourists a reason to come into the city and explore, and most likely, these tourists will spend more money in the city given the options and attractions in the downtown core. As it stands now, the “lively” part of downtown Ottawa, known as the Byward Market, is mostly filled with restaurants and bars with not much variety. A casino in there is a huge difference and provides a huge amount of variety, especially to the tourists who aren’t always in the city, visit for about a week or so and want to change up their routine. Like most businesses in the Byward Market, the casino would be a local business which means the city would see revenue off it!

                          A downtown casino in the city of Ottawa would also serve as a more accessible option. Currently, there are two casinos in the Ottawa region. The Rideau Carleton Raceway and Lac Leamy. There’s one problem, though. Lac Leamy is not a local business. Lac Leamy is across the bridge in Quebec. People that use that casino as their ‘go-to’ casino are gambling, but it’s not doing any good for the city of Ottawa and their revenue – it’s going straight to the province of Quebec and city of Gatineau. Considering a lot of people live around the downtown area or really close to it (City of Ottawa, 2006 census), and the Rideau Carleton Raceway is 25 minutes by car to the Byward Market, where are most people going? Lac Lemay is 9 minutes from the Byward Market by car, so if people spend the night out in the Byward Market but want to gamble afterwards, where are they most likely to go: a casino that’s 9 minutes away or a casino that’s 25 minutes away? Per Google Maps’ calculations and date collected from the City of Ottawa website, 2006 census, at that time, 54.9% of Ottawa citizens would find a downtown Casino more convenient and accessible, whereas only 14.4% of citizens calculated would find the Rideau Carleton Raceway a more accessible option. Some citizens went unaccounted for due to the small populations of those regions. Since 2006, Orleans has become a booming area to live in, which was calculated at 27 minutes away from the Rideau Carleton Raceway and only 13 minutes from the Byward Market. Central Ottawa, Ottawa East and Beacon Hill were also all calculated at within 13 minutes of the Byward Market. Moving south, Alta Vista was calculated at 13 minutes from the Byward Market and 16 minutes from the Rideau Carleton Raceway and with the Merivale region, it was calculated at being 16 minutes away from the Byward Market and 17 minutes away from the Rideau Carleton Raceway. Hunt Club, changing the trend, was only 9 minutes away from the Rideau Carleton Raceway and 20 minutes from the Byward Market. Moving to the west region, only South Nepean was closer to the Rideau Carleton Raceway at 23 minutes, while being 24 minutes away from the Byward Market. Kanata and Bayshore were both calculated at being with 14-18 minutes of the Byward Market and being 25-29 minutes from the Rideau Carleton Raceway, while the Stittsville area was 29 minutes from the Byward Market and 39 minutes from the Rideau Carleton Raceway. As proven by Google Maps and the city of Ottawa website, a larger portion, and by a large chunk, of the city would find a downtown casino more convenient to go to rather than the Rideau Carleton Raceway. As it stands with those statistics, the odds of these people in those areas going over the bridge to Quebec is high and Ottawa is missing out on a big pile of cash.

                          The city of Ottawa should seriously look at the topic of opening another casino again because the city would benefit tremendously from a second casino in a more accessible area of the city, such as the downtown core. It would help Ottawa’s revenue by bringing in a new source of profit from a gigantic entity such as a casino, bring in more money from tourists that visit the city during events such as Winterlude, Canada Day and it would give tourists a reason to just come whenever rather than on those special events and, as proven by Google Maps and the city of Ottawa population breakdown, more than half of the citizens of Ottawa would find a downtown casino more convenient than the Rideau Carleton Raceway.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Sens at LeBreton Flats?

                            You bring up some great points. Interesting read.

                            Comment

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