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A spokesman for the Devcore, Canderel and DLS Group, one of two teams vying to develop LeBreton Flats, says he is “perplexed” by Eugene Melnyk‘s flat refusal to even consider allowing his Ottawa Senators to play in somebody else’s downtown arena.
Melnyk, who’s part of the competing RendezVous LeBreton team, has made it clear he’s not interested in selling the team or shifting it downtown unless he owns the arena, a position he reiterated Tuesday.
“I’m surprised that he would take that rigid a position,” Daniel Peritz, a senior vice-president at Canderel, said in an interview Wednesday. “I’m a little perplexed. Actually, more than a little. I’m quite perplexed.”
Both the Devcore Canderel group and Melnyk’s RendezVous LeBreton group are proposing to build an NHL-calibre arena on LeBreton Flats. It would be one of the first things built if RendezVous LeBreton wins the competition, with a projected opening date of 2021.
The 18,500-seat Devcore Canderel arena is currently slotted into the project’s third and final phase, 12-to-15 years from now.
But it could be ready within five years if the Devcore Canderel group wins the LeBreton competition and Melnyk is willing to come to terms for use of the arena, Peritz said. “We are open to have any type of discussion that Mr. Melnyk would like to have.
“If it’s what the public wants and there’s a party there ready to cut a deal with him in one fashion or another, (is he saying) he just won’t even consider having a discussion with us to move the team downtown?”
Related
Under those circumstances, Peritz said he would be very surprised if Melnyk refused to even talk to the Devcore Canderel team about moving to its arena.
“I can’t think of another location in downtown Ottawa that could accommodate the Senators,” he said. “Is the die then cast forever that they will remain in Kanata? Is (Melnyk) basically saying to the people of Ottawa, ‘That’s it, we’ll never move downtown,’ even if people are ready to do a deal with him?
Peritz thinks “the dynamics will change,” depending on who wins the LeBreton competition which, he said, “should be won on merit, not on popularity.
“If it’s determined that our plan is the better plan, what’s next? We know we’re ready to sit down and try to hammer something out with him, whatever that might be. We’re ready to have the discussion.”
Any agreement wouldn’t necessarily require Melnyk to sell the team, Peritz said. “We’re ready to talk about anything.”
While having the Senators as an anchor tenant would enhance the viability of the Devcore Canderel group’s arena, it may not be essential, Peritz said.
“Our attitude is we are going to be there if we win and we will exhaust every possible avenue before we say it can’t happen,” he said. If the Devcore Canderel team wins the competition, Peritz added, hopefully Melnyk “will have the common sense to sit down and talk to us.”
dbutler@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/ButlerDon
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Melnyk, who’s part of the competing RendezVous LeBreton team, has made it clear he’s not interested in selling the team or shifting it downtown unless he owns the arena, a position he reiterated Tuesday.
“I’m surprised that he would take that rigid a position,” Daniel Peritz, a senior vice-president at Canderel, said in an interview Wednesday. “I’m a little perplexed. Actually, more than a little. I’m quite perplexed.”
Both the Devcore Canderel group and Melnyk’s RendezVous LeBreton group are proposing to build an NHL-calibre arena on LeBreton Flats. It would be one of the first things built if RendezVous LeBreton wins the competition, with a projected opening date of 2021.
The 18,500-seat Devcore Canderel arena is currently slotted into the project’s third and final phase, 12-to-15 years from now.
But it could be ready within five years if the Devcore Canderel group wins the LeBreton competition and Melnyk is willing to come to terms for use of the arena, Peritz said. “We are open to have any type of discussion that Mr. Melnyk would like to have.
“If it’s what the public wants and there’s a party there ready to cut a deal with him in one fashion or another, (is he saying) he just won’t even consider having a discussion with us to move the team downtown?”
Related
- Battle for LeBreton pits hometown team against ambitious outsiders
- How they compare: IllumiNATION LeBreton vs. LeBreton Re-Imagined
- LeBreton Re-Imagined pitches big tourism boost, not Sens
- The RendezVous LeBreton proposal: More than an arena for the Sens
Under those circumstances, Peritz said he would be very surprised if Melnyk refused to even talk to the Devcore Canderel team about moving to its arena.
“I can’t think of another location in downtown Ottawa that could accommodate the Senators,” he said. “Is the die then cast forever that they will remain in Kanata? Is (Melnyk) basically saying to the people of Ottawa, ‘That’s it, we’ll never move downtown,’ even if people are ready to do a deal with him?
Peritz thinks “the dynamics will change,” depending on who wins the LeBreton competition which, he said, “should be won on merit, not on popularity.
“If it’s determined that our plan is the better plan, what’s next? We know we’re ready to sit down and try to hammer something out with him, whatever that might be. We’re ready to have the discussion.”
Any agreement wouldn’t necessarily require Melnyk to sell the team, Peritz said. “We’re ready to talk about anything.”
While having the Senators as an anchor tenant would enhance the viability of the Devcore Canderel group’s arena, it may not be essential, Peritz said.
“Our attitude is we are going to be there if we win and we will exhaust every possible avenue before we say it can’t happen,” he said. If the Devcore Canderel team wins the competition, Peritz added, hopefully Melnyk “will have the common sense to sit down and talk to us.”
dbutler@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/ButlerDon
查看原文...
