The franchise and local commission hace a land purchase deal.
It appears that the ownership of the National Hockey League’s Ottawa Senators franchise is one step closer to building an arena not far from Parliament Hill in the Canadian capital of Ottawa. The Senators franchise’s real estate arm, Capital Sports Development Inc. and the National Capital Commission have signed an agreement for the purchase and sale of an 11-acre plot of land at LeBreton Flats. The land deal is just the beginning of the arena building process as zoning, venue design and other odds and ends need to be settled.
It has been a more than three-year process for two Senators’ ownership groups and the National Capital Commission to get the deal done. On June 23rd, 2022, the Senators business received preferred bidder status from the National Capital Commission for the site located 10 minutes west of Ottawa’s Parliament Hill, the seat of the Canadian Government. Then Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk, just before his passing on March 28th, 2022, signed off on an expression of interest to build a LeBreton Flats events center and a hotel. Michael Andlauer bought the Senators franchise in 2023 and had to be persuaded to buy into the plan for a new arena at LeBreton Flats that the former ownership was pursuing. The LeBreton Flats parcel was a subject of interest to Melnyk as early as 2018. Melnyk wanted to move the team downtown, Senators’ hockey games are played in Kanata which is around 14 miles west of downtown Ottawa. The land deal ends the possibility of Andlauer being interested in Québec City as a landing place for his business. Last January, Andlauer announced that his team would play two pre-season games in Québec City during the 2025 training camp portion of the schedule and that got people speculating. Québec City remains on the outside looking in. Ottawa appears to be getting a new venue.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
