Michael Andlauer, the Senators owner, is looking at land options in the Ottawa area.

There seems to be a lot of talk going on in Ottawa about where the owner of the National Hockey League’s Ottawa Senators franchise, Michael Andlauer, should set up shop in the city. The Senators’ business headquarters is in Kanata which is about 15 miles from downtown Ottawa and probably a 20-minute car ride away. Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe sounds more like a chamber of commerce member than a mayor in that he is very hopeful that Andlauer can find land near Parliament Hill that would be big enough to house an arena and probably some office and retail space along with housing around the venue. Meanwhile the National Capital Commission has land available at an area called the LeBreton Flats that could house an arena. LeBreton Flats is about a 15-minute walk from downtown and Parliament and is about a mile away from Parliament Hill.

The late Eugene Melnyk, who died in 2022, had a deal in place whereby he could negotiate with the National Capital Commission to build an arena on the property. The Melnyk estate sold the franchise to Andlauer who is studying whatever land options are available before making a final decision. The Melnyk-NCC deal was extended a year to allow the new ownership to review the LeBreton Flats land and perhaps look elsewhere around downtown Ottawa as to where a building could be built. “The Senators should have as many options as possible for where they can locate an arena,” Sutcliffe said. “And to me, there’s got to be a way to do it downtown somewhere. At some point, we’re going to need to figure out if there is an option downtown. We’re going to have to develop one or two concepts. See how feasible they are and put them on the table.” There is no Sutcliffe downtown proposal, at least not yet.

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