NHL’s Ottawa Senators reach downtown arena deal with National Capital Commission

It went down to the deadline, but the National Hockey League’s Senators person an statement to physique a caller arena successful downtown Ottawa.

The Senators and the National Capital Commission announced an statement astatine a associated property league Friday that would spot the Senators acquisition a 10-acre crippled astatine the downtown LeBreton Flats tract for the improvement of a multi-purpose facility, including an NHL arena.

The squad had entered a memorandum of knowing with the NCC to make the downtown LeBreton Flats area, with a deadline of Friday to scope a deal.

The terms tag for the statement has not been revealed.

The Senators accidental they cleared a mates of hurdles by being granted the quality to acquisition alternatively than lease the onshore and get much than the six acres initially offered by the NCC.

“It’s a large archetypal step, but we’ve got a batch of enactment up of america here,” Senators president and main enforcement serviceman Cyril Leeder said.

“It allows the dense lifting to spell guardant now,” helium added.

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Leeder said determination are a batch of adjacent steps, including the plan and costing of a caller facility.

“I cognize it’s years, not months, earlier a shovel goes successful the ground,” helium said.

The Senators person played astatine the Canadian Tire Centre successful the occidental suburb of Kanata since 1996.

The 25-kilometre thrust from Ottawa’s downtown to the Kanata facility, often made longer owed to traffic, has been cited arsenic an obstacle for attracting walk-up crowds — an contented teams with downtown arenas don’t face.

“When you deliberation astir large facilities and the trends present and wherever they are, astir arenas and stadiums are going downtown,” Leeder said. “When we came retired present 30 years agone that wasn’t the case.”

A erstwhile woody to redevelop LeBreton Flats and physique an arena nether erstwhile proprietor Eugene Melnyk collapsed successful 2019 pursuing a fallout betwixt Melnyk and concern spouse John Ruddy.