News Article: Downtown Arena possible

[AchtzehnBaby]

"Obviously, this represents a big change for our city and we've known this is coming, but the idea that the federal government is going to move out of 50 per cent of its buildings in the downtown core is probably the biggest change to downtown Ottawa we will ever experience and have ever experienced," Sutcliffe said on TSN Mornings on TSN 1200 with John Rodenburg and Steve Lloyd.

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[JD1]

Oh man, this is such a complicated situation.

My preference is where L'esplanade Laurier is but I think you'd need to buy out the north side of Gloucester to make it work.

There really isn't a space large enough downtown that the feds own. 240 sparks maybe but that's a newer building in terms of the feds owning a building

You could level most of Place du Portage, put the rink on the river which would be cool but that would be the death knell of the franchise imo.

I think it's going to be hard to see it somewhere other than LeBreton or Bayview

 

[ACLEVERNAME]

Get those fat cats back downtown! Only people still fear mongering over Covid and wailing over the transportation system are the bloated appendage that is the """""public service""""". Only there to serve themselves, mind you. Milking from the ample bosom of Joe-everyday-taxpayer while they sit at home cleaning their pools and varnishing their decks in anticipation for another "work from home" extended holiday summer. Makes me f***ing sick. I 'see' you Peter - you privalaged suck.


Right downtown would be nice tho.

 

[JD1]

Get those fat cats back downtown! Only people still fear mongering over Covid and wailing over the transportation system are the bloated appendage that is the """""public service""""". Only there to serve themselves, mind you. Milking from the ample bosom of Joe-everyday-taxpayer while they sit at home cleaning their pools and varnishing their decks in anticipation for another "work from home" extended holiday summer. Makes me f***ing sick. I 'see' you Peter - you privalaged suck.


Right downtown would be nice tho.

they don't have any choice but to let them work from home. they hired so many of them in the past 5 years there's nowhere to put them in the NCR

 

[branch]

Get those fat cats back downtown! Only people still fear mongering over Covid and wailing over the transportation system are the bloated appendage that is the """""public service""""". Only there to serve themselves, mind you. Milking from the ample bosom of Joe-everyday-taxpayer while they sit at home cleaning their pools and varnishing their decks in anticipation for another "work from home" extended holiday summer. Makes me f***ing sick. I 'see' you Peter - you privalaged suck.


Right downtown would be nice tho.

100%...go to a Costco during the week, It's full. People are mowing their lawns 2 pm on a Tuesday. Get back to work!

 

[SanderSen]

Get those fat cats back downtown! Only people still fear mongering over Covid and wailing over the transportation system are the bloated appendage that is the """""public service""""". Only there to serve themselves, mind you. Milking from the ample bosom of Joe-everyday-taxpayer while they sit at home cleaning their pools and varnishing their decks in anticipation for another "work from home" extended holiday summer. Makes me f***ing sick. I 'see' you Peter - you privalaged suck.


Right downtown would be nice tho.

LOL. The Feds have been shrinking the space of federal workers through Office 1.0, then 2.0, pre-covid the plan was to go to Office 3.0 which was desk sharing and remote work. All covid did was accelerate what the government already wanted to do - which was reduce the office space costs.

Oh man, this is such a complicated situation.

My preference is where L'esplanade Laurier is but I think you'd need to buy out the north side of Gloucester to make it work.

There really isn't a space large enough downtown that the feds own. 240 sparks maybe but that's a newer building in terms of the feds owning a building

You could level most of Place du Portage, put the rink on the river which would be cool but that would be the death knell of the franchise imo.

I think it's going to be hard to see it somewhere other than LeBreton or Bayview

And 240 Sparks (CD Howe building) had an expensive multi-year renovation and update of mechanical systems finished not that long ago. I would think it is a building that would be moved in to.

 

[Sun God Nika]

Just get it done asap. I remember sutcliff saying it needs to be done right and we already waited long enough what’s another few years? No f*** that another few years is more wasted time playing in kanata, ramp this shit up and put a shovel in the ground

 

[stempniaksen]

Echoing what's been said in here already but I'm not seeing a natural fit on a big enough plot that makes sense. 240 Sparks is likely one of the spots the Fed Gov would want to hold onto given the work (and money) that's gone in there the last handful of years.

101 Colonel By Drive would kind of be a dream in a lot of ways. Located between Elgin and the Market, you get the views of the canal, ect. They could probably cram the rink in there but obviously doesn't leave a ton of room for extras. It certainly wouldn't end up being another version of Lansdowne but would likely reinvigorate/clean up the market in a way that's much needed for this city.

When all is said and done I can't help but think shovels will be in the ground at Lebreton/Bayview after they do their diligence searching out more central locations. I don't blame the City for wanting to explore all avenues on such a big decision, but I also don't want them to delay the inevitable move by another X amount of years.

 

[Joeyjoejoe]

Suttcliff is a f***ing clown that's overthinking this, typical Ottawa fashion.

 

[Butchy Dakkar]

I like the idea of a ring downtown but this feels like we’d be starting over. And a lot of things would have to happen before shovels we go to the ground, each which will take once the years.

At this point I just want to do Anna somewhere near the downtown core built-in operating in the next eight years ideally 10 at the outside. It might be just a dream though.

 

[Loach]

I like the idea of a ring downtown but this feels like we’d be starting over. And a lot of things would have to happen before shovels we go to the ground, each which will take once the years.

At this point I just want to do Anna somewhere near the downtown core built-in operating in the next eight years ideally 10 at the outside. It might be just a dream though.

You want to do Anna?

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

100%...go to a Costco during the week, It's full. People are mowing their lawns 2 pm on a Tuesday. Get back to work!

It can be lame how out of balance it ends up, like in the case of a lot of public servants abusing it, but as a society, we should all be celebrating a reduced work life, and a better work/life balance imo. 40 hour, 5 day work weeks dominate lives. 2 days a week and the rat race 5 days a week which we need to use mostly to get all the other life shit done. What are we even here for lol.

 

[Senovision]

There is already a downtown arena......The Tom Brown Arena just knock down a couple of walls, build up the walls, add a few more seats, a couple more concession stands and voila..... there's your new arena, easy peasy.

 

[mysens]

Echoing what's been said in here already but I'm not seeing a natural fit on a big enough plot that makes sense. 240 Sparks is likely one of the spots the Fed Gov would want to hold onto given the work (and money) that's gone in there the last handful of years.

101 Colonel By Drive would kind of be a dream in a lot of ways. Located between Elgin and the Market, you get the views of the canal, ect. They could probably cram the rink in there but obviously doesn't leave a ton of room for extras. It certainly wouldn't end up being another version of Lansdowne but would likely reinvigorate/clean up the market in a way that's much needed for this city.

When all is said and done I can't help but think shovels will be in the ground at Lebreton/Bayview after they do their diligence searching out more central locations. I don't blame the City for wanting to explore all avenues on such a big decision, but I also don't want them to delay the inevitable move by another X amount of years.

I am pretty sure that they will not go ahead with Lebreton. The ownership group is too smart to build a Billion dollar facility on land that is not theirs. No way. Unless, if the NCC decides to sell the land to the ownership group, this is not happening. I heard that is what the hold-up is, they want to buy Lebreton, not lease it.

 

[Flamingo]

I am pretty sure that they will not go ahead with Lebreton. The ownership group is too smart to build a Billion dollar facility on land that is not theirs. No way. Unless, if the NCC decides to sell the land to the ownership group, this is not happening. I heard that is what the hold-up is, they want to buy Lebreton, not lease it.

Nortel was built on NCC property and paid a $1 annual lease. What's the problem with building on NCC land?

edit: please ignore the implied curse of comparing a business plan to Nortel

 

[Masked]

You want to do Anna?

There's been lots of talk over the years about f***ing Melnyk.

 

[maclean]

You want to do Anna?

Just somewhere near the downtown core and with a timeline of 8-10 years. As dreams go, he's put some realistic parameters on it

 

[SanderSen]

Nortel was built on NCC property and paid a $1 annual lease. What's the problem with building on NCC land?

edit: please ignore the implied curse of comparing a business plan to Nortel

Toronto Air Canada Center was built on $1 per year lease lands. I would bet that ownership would be ok with a sweetheart deal like that. I bet the Feds are trying to extract a lot from them to use Lebreton Flats. Just like the Sens had to pay for the highway off ramp while the ACC got the sweet $1 deal.

 

[StoicSensFan]

You want to do Anna?

Imagine being banned from the arena before it's even built?

 

[ottawah]

There is already a downtown arena......The Tom Brown Arena just knock down a couple of walls, build up the walls, add a few more seats, a couple more concession stands and voila..... there's your new arena, easy peasy.

We are not Phoenix ......

Between StLaurent and the Ball diamond. Put on/off ramps to the queensway in both directions, there is already an LTR stop. If it is hard to get too and no car possible, its a real issue in this town. That spot has both.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

Poor Anna... poor, poor Anna.

 

[Butchy Dakkar]

Poor Anna... poor, poor Anna.

Hey now…

 

[thinkwild]

I'd think that a building over time will lose its value as opposed to the land it's on which will appreciate. That and losing out on non-cash expenses when you dont own the land might not appeal to all capitalists. I wonder if there's a bigger development opportunity downtown than lebreton

 

[Wondercarrot]

We are not Phoenix ......

Between StLaurent and the Ball diamond. Put on/off ramps to the queensway in both directions, there is already an LTR stop. If it is hard to get too and no car possible, its a real issue in this town. That spot has both.

What completely and totally uninteresting place to put a destination arena.

i hope they exhaust all possibilities at 101 Colonel By drive.
That would be glorious.
Next best spot is the one JD1 was talking about with Esplanade Laurier etc.

Those two spots are easily the best choices for the city. They both feed Elgin St, Sparkes st, and the market.

 

[Senovision]

We are not Phoenix ......

Between StLaurent and the Ball diamond. Put on/off ramps to the queensway in both directions, there is already an LTR stop. If it is hard to get too and no car possible, its a real issue in this town. That spot has both.

I was only joking about the Tom Brown Arena idea. Obviously The Tom Brown Arena could not be converted into an 18,000 seat arena.

I agree with you about St. Laurent and the ball diamond location.
I like that location because anyone ( tourists, commuters, etc...) that is driving along the Queensway can see the arena from the Queensway. They could check the marquee and see what teams are playing and upcoming games. The Via rail station is right there as well.