The ins and out of a new arena on LeBreton Flats

[guest]

The Citizen did a small visual experiment: We plopped down the current Canadian Tire Centre on a map of LeBreton Flats. (The Sens logo is our addition)


Whether you love the idea or hate it, a new downtown arena is looking more and more like a live option for the development of LeBreton Flats with news that Senators Sports & Entertainment is “actively considering” the opportunity.

It’s far from a done deal, though, and there are numerous implications to the move from Kanata to the city centre. Here are some of the issues and reaction from key players:

Process

If it wants to move to LeBreton Flats, Senators Sports and Entertainment will have to beat out a number of competing ideas for developing the 9.3-hectare site on the vacant federal lands.

In September, the National Capital Commission invited developers to submit “innovative proposals” for the site, centred on a “bold, new anchor institution.” Interest has been so keen that the NCC extended the deadline for developer submissions by a month to Jan. 7.

The NCC board will select a short list of candidates early next year. Those chosen will then have until August 2015 to submit detailed design and financial proposals. The recommended proposal will go to the NCC board in November 2015, with cabinet signoff in early 2016.

Mark Kristmanson, the NCC’s chief executive, declined to comment Wednesday on “potential opportunities,” but added cryptically: “I’m a federal employee but I’m also a Sens fan, so I’m hoping they’re going to make it all the way this year.”

The city’s view

Mayor Jim Watson called the possibility of a downtown arena “a very exciting opportunity because of the proximity to transit, which is a key priority for me and my council.”

But asked if a hockey arena was an appropriate use of public land, Watson replied: “Not necessarily. I’m waiting to see what is proposed and make sure that there is a public good there.”

If the move downtown takes place, Watson said the city would have to ensure the shift doesn’t leave a “significant void” in the Stittsville-Kanata West area. “Obviously, that’s a big employment generator and a magnet for a lot of activity.”

Cost

A new arena won’t be cheap. New stadiums in the United States are costing $1 billion or more, said Ian Lee, an assistant professor at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business.

“This is not going to be a $150-million project,” Lee said. “This is going to be something in the hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Edmonton’s new downtown arena, Rogers Place, currently under construction, will cost $480 million plus a further $125 million for associated work. The new Quebecor Arena in Quebec City will cost $400 million.

Who will pay?

It’s virtually certain that taxpayers will foot a significant portion of the bill, said Lee, who has studied arena and stadium projects across North America. In the past 30 years, only two stadiums have been built without any public money, he said.

In Edmonton, city and other government sources are footing much of the bill, while in Quebec City, the province and the municipality are splitting the cost 50-50.

The federal government refused to contribute to the new Quebec City stadium, which could be an impediment to getting federal money for something similar on LeBreton Flats.

But Lee expects Senators chairman Eugene Melnyk to pitch the project in a way that emphasizes its national role, he said. “It’s not just going to be a hockey rink,” he said. Instead, he predicted, it will be pitched as “a cultural centre for all Canadians in the capital of Canada.”

The federal government might agree to donate the land, Lee suggested. “If you can get the land for free, that’s a major step forward.”

Don’t count on the city to pony up, though.

“No, I wouldn’t support that,” Watson said.

Getting there

In stark contrast to the car-dependent route to Canadian Tire Centre, getting to an arena on LeBreton Flats would be a public transit experience for most people, and a walk for others.

The light rail transit Confederation Line, now under construction, will have a LeBreton Flats stop called Pimisi station and will link up with the existing O-Train at Bayview, providing good transit service for downtown, east end and south end residents.

Because the Confederation Line will end at Tunney’s Pasture, “in the short term, there would be an inconvenience for people from the far west end,” acknowledged Harry Gow, president of Transport Action Canada. “But right now, the inconvenience is for almost everybody except the residents of Kanata.”

West-end service would improve once the western extension of the LRT is built starting in 2018.

While Gow said transit makes LeBreton Flats a good location for an arena, he stressed that the devil may be in the details. “People need to be able to get to the transit, preferably under cover, and not feel they’re exposing themselves to the howling northern winds every time they go to a sporting event.”

Watson said Tuesday there’s “still a little bit of flexibility” to the location of Pimisi station. “The cement foundations haven’t been poured yet, so there is still some time.”

Transit is key because there would likely be little parking at or near an arena on LeBreton Flats. (By contrast, Edmonton’s new arena, which will open in 2016 and is well-served by light rail transit, also boasts 13,500 parking spots within 800 metres.)

What’s in it for the team?

Despite the widely despised location of the current arena, the Senators attendance has remained strong. The current average of 18,339 – nearly 96 per cent of capacity – ranks 12th among the NHL’s 30 teams.

But a new arena offers the chance to increase seating, Lee said. And it would effectively increase the market area the team can draw from by making it easier for fans in Ottawa’s east end or Gatineau to get there.

Moreover, Lee said, the income per capita of people who live downtown is double what it is in the suburbs. “There’s a lot of high-income people there who are more than willing to drop $200 on a ticket and not even think about it.”

The Senators now often discount tickets to put bums in seats. With a downtown location and better access to wealthier patrons, they could likely raise prices and still sell out, Lee said.

Design

Would an arena be an aesthetic fit on LeBreton Flats, given its proximity to the parliamentary precinct? Ottawa architect Barry Padolsky sees no problem. “Obviously, there are sight lines that are sacred, but there is room within the whole of LeBreton Flats to accommodate a building like that,” he said.

There should be no surface parking on the site, Padolsky said, and the arena should leverage rapid transit. “We’re investing $2.1 billion in this excellent light rail system, and to put an arena right where you have a stop at LeBreton I think makes a huge lot of sense.

“Over the years I’ve always wrung my urban design hands over the fact that the arena was built out in a field n Kanata,” he said. “This is probably a good chance to do it right.”

What about Kanata?

But would any gain for downtown mean pain for Kanata? Not according to Bruce Firestone, founder of the modern Senators, who believes the team’s current home could easily be renovated as retail space.

“Look what they did with the old Montreal Forum or look what they did with the old Maple Leaf Gardens, they can repurpose them,” Firestone said.

“Imagine a 650,000-square-foot super store in the middle of a 7000-vehicle parking lot. I think (Eugene Melnyk) could do a real good job leasing that building.”

Why Kanata to begin with?

The Canadian Tire Centre, then the Palladium, opened in rural Kanata in 1996 after a long battle with regulators in which Terrace Investments, which held the franchise for the NHL team, was forced to dramatically scale back plans for a development that was to include a hotel and other businesses and homes as well as an arena. Terrace was also required to pay for a $30-million interchange to the adjoining Highway 417.

Firestone, who led Terrace Investments, said the company looked at LeBreton Flats and other properties, but the sites were either unavailable or lacked the transportation links necessary for a facility with 20,000 seats.

“There’s been a change in two ways,” Firestone told the Citizen Wednesday. “One, the NCC I think is open to something that will animate the site today that they were not open to 20 years ago, and two, light rail is under construction.”

Firestone is enthusiastic about the potential move to LeBreton Flats. “I think it’s great — it will help the franchise look to the future.”

The current arena was a showpiece when it opened and remains highly functional. But Firestone notes that such facilities are generally intended to serve for just 25 to 35 years. “The day of building 100-year buildings or like the pyramids, 3000-year buildings, we generally don’t do that.”

Even as the move is discussed, the Canadian Tire Centre is becoming the centrepiece of increased residential and commercial development in the once open fields between Kanata and Stittsville, served by a newly widened Highway 417.

“That was the original vision, to create a west urban community,” Randy Sexton, a Senators co-founder and now director of amateur scouting for the Pittsburgh Penguins, said Wednesday.

“It took 25 years to happen, but it’s happening.”

dbutler@ottawacitizen.com

robostelaar@ottawacitizen.com

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