Last year, the National Capital Commission called for proposals to redevelop a bunch of government-owned land in central Ottawa called LeBreton Flats.
Earlier this week, the NCC announced that just two proposals had been submitted, after four groups had previously been shortlisted.
One of the two proposals came from the Ottawa Senators, and it included an NHL arena.
The other came from an entity called DCDLS Group....and it included an NHL arena.
While that may have been good news for the Sens -- not to mention Ottawa hockey fans who don’t care for the drive to suburban Kanata, where the Sens call Canadian Tire Centre home -- some had hoped for a few more options to choose from.
“We asked the (private) sector to come back and give us their best to create vision for the last big piece of public land in downtown Ottawa, the capital of Canada. And you get to choose between two hockey arenas. It’s hugely disappointing,” said Ottawa city councilor Catherine McKenney.
The NCC, a crown corporation, said on its website that it “expects to announce the successful proponent in early 2017.” However, according to the Ottawa Sun, “the main obstacle might be convincing the NCC that an arena built for wealthy owners and multimillion-dollar hockey players is the appropriate ‘public anchor use’ for government land.”
The Ottawa Citizen has more analysis here.
Just another arena story to keep an eye on.