Ottawa Senators' $3.5B LeBreton Flats bid aims to turn desolate site into bustling downtown hub

The LeBreton Flats redevelopment proposal backed by Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnykaims to return the site to its heyday as a bustling urban hubwith five distinct neighbourhoods,a focus on public transit and a world-class library, sources familiar with the bid told CBC News.

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The 2,500-pageproposal byRendezVousLeBretonGroup (RLG) includes anNHL-calibrearena, which would become the Senators' new home rink. Detroit-basedRosettiArchitects, which built the team's current home inKanata, has been chosen by RLGto construct the new, 18,000-seat arenaas well.

Sources said the arena will be located betweenBayview stationand the futurePimisistation. The building will serve as a multi-purpose event centre, and will feature both a glass facadesimilar to Ottawa's Shaw Centre and wooden cladding in tribute to the area's past as a lumber town.

It will also have a roof-top greenspace with a walkway and views of Parliament Hill and the city's other sights.

RLG has brought in renownedDanish architectMortenSchmidt a member of the international team behind the much-admiredHalifax Central Library to help design thelibrary. Sources said the building will be designed to act as a multi-faceted cultural centre rather than a traditional books-on-a-shelfvenue.

Sources said the proposed library design could be expanded to include room for Library and Archives Canada, whichannounced earlier this monththat it's working with the Ottawa Public Library on a new central branch.

Other companies involved in the bid include construction firm PCL, Brookfield Asset Management andcommercial developer Trinity Development Group, which was involved in theLansdownePark project.

A large team of architects worked on the proposal, including well-known local architect BarryHobin.

5 distinct neighbourhoods

The RLG bid includes a public plaza beside the arena with room for approximately 28,000 people, as well as pedestrian connections to the future Bayview and Pimisi light rail transit stations. The entire development will be heavily transit-oriented, sources said.

The bid also includes at least two hotels, commercial and retail space, and a residential component.

The redevelopment, worth a total of $3.5-billion, will include five distinct neighbourhoods to be constructed over three multi-year phases.

• Phase 1 will be built from 2018-26, and will include 1,400 residential and 500 hotel units. The three neighbourhoods to be built during this phase are LeBreton,Pimisi,and the Aqueduct, a pedestrian-only area of street-level shops, bars and condos in the eastern-most section of LeBreton Flats.
• Phase 2 will be built from 2026-2036, and will include another 1,000 residential and 300 hotel units, as well as a fourth neighbourhood.
• Phase 3 will be built after 2036, and will include a fifth neighbourhood.

Sources said the buildings will be massed in such a way that they will not interfere withsightlinesto landmarks such as Parliament Hill, a condition stipulated by the National Capital Commission.

Rivals didn't approach Melnyk

The full details of the bid from RendezVous Lebreton Group will be made public at 4 p.m. ET Tuesday, along with details from a competing bid by DCDLSGroup, which includes Devcore Group and at least two Quebec-based billionaires Andr Desmarais and Guy Lalibert.

Sources familiar with the RLG bid said the group includes deep-pocketed backers besides Melnyk, but didn't reveal who those individuals are, or whether they're public partners or silentinvestors.

Melnyk has said the Senators aren't for sale, and sources said DCDLS Group has not contacted him about acquiring the franchise. That's led to questions about who will play at LeBreton Flats if DCDLS Group wins the right to redevelop the site.

Sources said RLG is setting its sights on all four parcels of availableland the NCC is offering up9.3 hectares with the option of taking on an additional 12.3 hectares to be developed over three phases.

DCDLSGroup is also proposing anNHL-calibrearena anda central library, along withtwo museums.

The public unveiling of the two plans takes place Tuesday at the Canadian War Museum in LeBreton Flats at 4 p.m. Formal presentations from the two groups will begin at 6 p.m.