Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.
It went down to the deadline, but the National Hockey League Senators have an agreement to build a new arena in downtown Ottawa.
The Senators and the National Capital Commission announced an agreement at a joint press conference on Friday that would see the Senators purchase a 10-acre plot on the LeBreton Apartments site in the city center for the development of a multi-purpose facility, including an arena NHL.
The team had drawn up a memorandum of understanding with the NCC to develop the LeBreton Flats area in the city centre, with a deadline of Friday to reach an agreement.
The price tag for the deal has not been disclosed.
The Senators say they have cleared a couple of hurdles by having the ability to buy rather than lease the land and get more than the six acres originally offered by the NCC.
“It’s a great first step, but we have a lot of work ahead of us here,” said Senators president and chief executive officer Cyril Leeder.
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“It allows the heavy lifting to go on now,” he added.
Leeder said there are many next steps, including the design and costing of a new facility.
“I know it’s years, not months, before a shovel goes in the ground,” he said.
The Senators have played at the Canadian Tire Center in the western suburb of Kanata since 1996.
The 25-kilometre drive from downtown Ottawa to the Kanata facility, often made longer by traffic, has been cited as an obstacle to attracting walk-up crowds – a problem that teams with downtown arenas don’t have. city ​​faces it.
“When you think about big facilities and the trends now and where they are, most arenas and stadiums are going downtown,” Leeder said. “When we came out here 30 years ago that wasn’t the case.”
A previous deal to redevelop LeBreton Flats and build an arena under former owner Eugene Melnyk collapsed in 2019 following a fallout between Melnyk and his business partner John Ruddy.
& copy 2024 The Canadian Press
(Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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