One year after LeBreton deal, Senators say new arena project is making progress

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“There’s a remediation plan and relocation of services has to take place, and those are necessary steps before we can even get on with the site with our contractor to begin building, whether it’s the event centre and a hotel and some shops; that remediation and the service relocation has to get done first. Then, the event centre itself is 30 to 36 months of construction. We’re a bit away from having a firm schedule and when we get there, we’re probably three to four years from being finished.”

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If you remember the movie Slapshot, coach Reggie Dunlop, played by Paul Newman, is in a bar when a patron tells him: “You gotta get the power play working. You’re losing.”

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“Yeah, we’re working on it,” says Dunlop, player/head coach of the Charlestown Chiefs.

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Leeder must feel that way when it comes to discussing the arena timeframe.

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Cyril Leeder, seen in a 2023 file photo. Photo by Julie Oliver /POSTMEDIA

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Cleaning the site is time-consuming

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The Senators and the NCC knew heading into this that the land would have to be remediated.

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Leeder told the Citizen that 514,000 cubic metres of soil need to be removed and most of it iss contaminated. To understand the size and scope of the work, it’s estimated that a common-sized dump truck would require 34,000 loads to remove all that soil.

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“The work is extensive,” Leeder said.

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Can the Senators remediate and begin the work on the below-ground parking garage at the same time?

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“It’s such a big site, so the answer to that is yes. Could you start Day 1 doing both? No,” Leeder said. “But if you envisioned that your remediation excavator starts on the west end of the site and he works his way east. Well, by the time he gets halfway, then you can get back in and start working on your parking garage. So maybe some of those timelines we can shorten, and that’s part of the work that has to take place over the next six to eight months.

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“As I said, we’d have a better idea of a timeline in the new year. Those are the things we’re working on. We’re trying to figure out how much parking we need. We’ve got a good idea what you’d need for an event centre, but how many residential buildings and how much do they need? And, you’ve pretty well got to do all that as they did at Lansdowne in one shot.

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“You do all your parking and then the above-grade stuff can take place over an orderly schedule, but the first work has to be to get everything in the ground and all the parking. So the parking really drives how big and how much other development will take place on the site. We’re sorting through that now.”

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An important hurdle

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The Senators have held several meetings with Indigenous groups to secure a financial agreement, which is paramount to this project.

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The Senators and the Algonquin Anishinabe Nation confirmed in March that they are on track to establish a framework for an economic partnership for a new rink on land located 10 minutes west of Parliament Hill.

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“We’ve really been focused on our collaboration the last six months with the Algonquin Nation,” Leeder said. “They’re going to be an important partner. If you remember back in March, we announced we were negotiating with them, and those discussions have moved along very well. We’re in a good spot. We’re meeting with them regularly, at least once a week, sometimes twice, and we’re discussing what a long-term partnership might look like with them that would provide economic benefits to the Algonquin Nation.”

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Is the design of the arena finished?

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The Senators are working with an architect on what the rink and the area around it will look like. Leeder confirmed there will be a hotel and restaurants/bars in public spaces, along with residential housing.