Tuesday marks one year since the Ottawa Senators reached a deal with the National Capital Commission to purchase 11 acres of land at LeBreton Flats to build a new arena for the team.
Senators president Cyril Leeder told Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia that there is still no firm timeline for when the team will break ground on project, but things are moving forward behind the scenes.
“We’re making good progress,” Leeder said. “We’ve taken some steps forward and what we’re trying to do here is we’ve got a vision to build the next great gathering place at LeBreton Flats, and there’s a lot of planning, a lot of effort that has to go into that, and we’re happy where we are right now.
“Obviously, we’d like to move things along. The fans would like to move things along as quickly as possible. But we’re making progress and there’s a lot of work going on right now. There are meetings two, three or four a week taking place with various stakeholders, and we’re feeling like we’ve made progress.”
The Ottawa Citizen has reported that Senators owner Michael Andlauer and his partners have agreed to pay $37 million for the LeBreton Flats land, though that is just step one in the path to building a new home for the team.
Leeder told Garrioch that the building plans for the arena feature a hotel, restaurants and residential housing in the surrounding area.
Still, the biggest question among fans and the people of Ottawa is when will the project be done. Leeder is hesitant to commit to a firm timeline, but it appears the Senators will not be playing in their new home for several more years.
“I get that every day,” Leeder said of the timeframe question. “We don’t want to speculate on that because, as I said, there’s still a lot of planning. We will have a better idea, I believe, in the new year. That’s what we’re focused on: getting to a real timetable in the new year, and we know once construction starts, it’s going to take at least a year just for the site work to get done.
“There’s a remediation plan and relocation of services has to take place, and those are necessary steps before we can even get on with the site with our contractor to begin building, whether it’s the event centre and a hotel and some shops; that remediation and the service relocation has to get done first. Then, the event centre itself is 30 to 36 months of construction. We’re a bit away from having a firm schedule and when we get there, we’re probably three to four years from being finished.”
The Senators will continue to play at the Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata, roughly 25 kilometres from downtown Ottawa. The suburb has served as home to the team since 1996.
