Melnyk drops gloves over Arena Bid
One day in August, the Ottawa media was summoned to City Hall to observe the tail end of a private meeting that looked for all the world like it had been cordial and productive. At the head of a gleaming, gilt-edged table sat the city’s mayor, Jim Watson. On his right was John Ruddy, a prominent local real-estate developer. On his left was the billionaire owner of the National Hockey League’s Ottawa Senators, Eugene Melnyk.
It was a public gesture intended to calm the public’s nerves over the future of a grand $4-billion project to develop a swath of unique real estate in the heart of the nation’s capital.
Several blocks west of Parliament Hill, past the Bank of Canada and the Supreme Court and across from the Canadian War Museum, Lebreton Flats sits empty. It is a 21-hectare expanse not far from the shore of the Ottawa River, and for decades it has been the subject of ambition for those frustrated that Ottawa sometimes still feels more like the sleepy timber town it was at its founding than the modern capital of a G7 nation.
Ruddy and Melnyk were partners in the bid that had won the competition to finally redevelop the Flats, the last significant patch of clear land near the city centre and perhaps the best chance to elevate the nation’s capital into something more. Their Rendezvous Lebreton Group’s ambitious plan had beaten a bid funded by Quebec’s powerful Desmarais family and Guy Laliberté, the founder of Cirque du Soleil. It would, they promised, revitalize the area with retail and housing, and a new home for the struggling Senators, an 18,000-seat arena that would be the showpiece of the development.
Smiles, handshakes and all the right words. “The Lebreton project is going to be one of the most exciting projects in the history of the city of Ottawa,” Watson told reporters. Shovels should be in the ground “as quickly as possible.”
The show of unity was necessary because questions were swirling about the future of the project and the Rendezvous group. And behind the smiles, the reality was the project had been in a two-year-long death spiral, the relationship between the partners seated at the mayor’s table that day collapsing irreconcilably.
On Thursday, at a meeting of the National Capital Commission, the Crown corporation responsible for planning and stewarding the capital region, it was finally revealed publicly what deep trouble the Lebreton Flats redevelopment deal was in.
(IT’S) GOING TO BE ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING PROJECTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE CITY.
“Serge Arpin, the chief of staff to Mayor Watson, informed CSMI’S Chief Operating Officer that any attempt to withdraw from the Lebreton Project during the current election cycle … would be viewed as a direct attack on the mayor’s political career and reelection effort,” the lawsuit claims
“It would result in a ‘severing’ of any relationship between Mayor Watson and Melnyk and CSMI. CSMI interpreted this as a thinly veiled threat that Mayor Watson would not only withdraw support for any new arena project, but would oppose any initiatives by Melnyk or CSMI for the during of his mayoralty,” the suit claims.
The mayor’s office declined a request to respond to the allegations. “As the matter is before the courts, Mayor Watson and Serge Arpin are unable to comment,” spokesperson Livia Belcea said in an email.
Melnyk was already concerned about what was happening in political backrooms, his people say.
Graham Bird, who served as project manager with his eponymous consulting and property management company, had allegedly met at least five times with city officials about the project without notifying CSMI. Melnyk only learned of the meetings this July when speaking with Bird and Brendan Mcguinty, who has held a number of political positions including as an adviser to Watson, and is the brother of former Ontario premier Dalton Mcguinty.
CSMI says it doesn’t even know what McGuinty’s role in it is. In the lawsuit, the swift passage of the Albert project is dubbed a “political coup” by Bird and Mcguinty people who are not registered lobbyists.
Mcguinty told the Post “the claim is 100 per cent false.”
The allegations, not yet tested in court, make it impossible to believe Melnyk and Ruddy will jointly put a ceremonial shovel in the ground let alone erect a glittering arena and a retail and condo palace.
Melnyk confirmed as much to the Post.
“As an organization, we just didn’t have the confidence and the comfort that we would actually be building a viable project for the city at Lebreton, instead of a white elephant.”
In a statement Friday, Ruddy was equally forceful. “Trinity strongly denies the allegation in CSMI’S lawsuit and intends to vigorously defend the claim. For over 30 years, I have sought to make a contribution to the communities in which Trinity operates, and in particular my hometown of Ottawa. I will always find ways to build Ottawa up and continue to make a contribution to our great City”
The NCC officially clings to the dream.
NCC board member Aditya Jha, a plainspoken entrepreneur, said at Thursday’s meeting that the NCC is “long on process and patience and we are kind of short on reality.”