WHAT SPARKED LEBRETON FEUD?
Arena was bone of contention
Part of the planning application filed at city hall in support of the LeBreton Flats redevelopment reveals more details about what RendezVous LeBreton Group had in store for the historic transformation of contaminated federal land.
The city made the planning rationale public on Tuesday, but not the rest of RendezVous’s development application filed at city hall because it’s still considered incomplete.
The development application is one of Capital Sports Management Inc.’s beefs with the RendezVous partnership, as revealed in the company’s $700-million lawsuit against Trinity Developments founder John Ruddy and project management consultant Graham Bird.
Ruddy and Bird have rejected the allegations. The lawsuit hasn’t been tested in court.
Because of the internal feud at RendezVous, the future of the LeBreton Flats redevelopment is uncertain.
CSMI is part of the Ottawa Senators group of companies, whose owner is Eugene Melnyk. Melnyk and Ruddy are the main partners of RendezVous.
The RendezVous planning rationale, which is dated Aug. 28, 2018, and written by Fotenn Consultants, describes the complete project in detail and includes the municipal official plan and zoning amendments required to pave the way for the redevelopment.
While the CSMI lawsuit alleges Ruddy and Trinity filed a plan “that situated the new arena closer to the 900 Albert development than to the transit hub that was CSMI’s preferred location,” the planning rationale appears to keep the arena in the same location as first proposed by RendezVous: between the Bayview and Pimisi LRT stations, just west of the Nepean Bay inlet.
Trinity is one of the main developers of the planned mixed-use complex at 900 Albert St.
CSMI alleges Trinity filed the development application on behalf of RendezVous last August without consulting CSMI.
Nicolas Ruszkowski, the chief operating officer of the Ottawa Senators, said the hockey club wanted the chance to get the arena closer to Pimisi Station so fans could enter the arena without going outside.
“The allegation is that, by submitting the development applications without first consulting CSMI, Trinity denied us the ability to situate the arena in a more fan-friendly location, for example, placing it close enough to the Pimisi LRT station to enable direct indoor access to the hockey games,” Ruszkowski said in an email. “Our understanding is that this can now only be achieved with the agreement of Trinity — which CSMI fears is likely to oppose any effort to locate the arena further from its own development at 900 Albert.”
The planning rationale largely keeps the spirit of RendezVous’s original submission to the National Capital Commission during the development competition. It describes a full build out of about 4,000 residential units, 1.3 million square feet of retail space and more than 1.5 million square feet of office space. A municipal park would take up 2.5 hectares around the Nepean Bay inlet.
A minimum of 25 per cent of housing would be considered affordable housing, the planning rationale says.
As pedestrians walk through the site, they would see a lot of retail at the bottom of tall buildings, according to the plans. In fact, walking to the arena from the LRT stations, pedestrians would pass small retailers. Large-format retailers would be at ground level of three buildings along Albert Street.
Of the roughly 8,000 parking spaces that mostly would be underground, 1,500 spots would be allocated to the arena, which is a boost from the 500 originally contemplated. RendezVous believes only 20 per cent of trips to the site will be made by car.
The planning rationale doesn’t say exactly how tall the mixeduse and hotel buildings would be, but a map of proposed maximum heights on the property suggests the range would be between nine storeys and 60 storeys. The tallest buildings would be just east of Bayview Station and just to the west of Booth Street. The buildings wouldn’t disturb the sunlight that shines on the headstone of the Unknown Soldier in the Canadian War Museum on Remembrance Day, the planning rationale says.
As for potential disruptions to the surrounding communities, the planning rationale says “no significant impacts related to noise or air quality are expected as a result of the proposed development.”
Is there a future for LeBreton Flats redevelopment without the involvement of mercurial Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk? Absolutely. In fact, it would be easier to get the job done with Melnyk out of the picture.
Melnyk’s LeBreton partner, Ottawa developer John Ruddy, has a record of developing complex projects. He is a key force behind the tricky redevelopment of Lansdowne Park, for example. Melnyk, by comparison, has proven time and again that working co-operatively with others is not really his thing. All that Melnyk brings to the table is his ownership of the Senators.
If you think a downtown arena is critical to the future of the Senators, that’s a big deal, but not even Melnyk is arguing that anymore. He has been musing for a year about whether the downtown rink is needed and his actions last week guarantee it’s never going to happen. Not as long as he owns the team, anyway.
People have adopted the idea that the Senators’ attendance problems are related to the location of the rink, which is in far-flung Kanata, or the sticks, as some would call it. Funny thing, though. The team averaged more than 18,000 fans a year for 11 years, in Kanata. In the last three years, the quality of the team has declined and so has the attendance. Did they move Kanata, or are people unwilling to pay for a mediocre product with an unpopular owner?
Melnyk surely knows there is a connection between the product and attendance. He seems also to have realized that moving to a new arena would entail a huge financial commitment with no guarantee of a return, unless you think fans go to see the building, not the team.
Or maybe Melnyk can’t afford his share of the project or thinks it’s not commercially viable, as his $700-million lawsuit says. The deal-breaker, according to Melnyk’s suit, is a three-tower condo development at 900 Albert St., on the edge of LeBreton Flats. It would add 1,300 units at the junction of two transit lines. Melnyk argues that those 1,300 units will swamp the market and destroy the finances of the LeBreton plan, which calls for 4,400 more units over more than 20 years.
Ruddy is a partner in the other condo complex and an expert in property development. If the Albert Street towers were going to kill Ruddy’s own deal at LeBreton, why would he do it?
The premise of Melnyk’s suit might be weak, but he has leverage. He is part of the partnership approved by the National Capital Commission. If there is to be a change in that partnership, Melnyk has to agree to it. That puts Ruddy in the uncomfortable position of writing Melnyk a cheque to drop out, or walking away from the time and money already invested.
If Melnyk can be bought out for a reasonable sum, expect Ruddy to approach the NCC with a Plan B that retains all the aspects of the approved plan, but pushes the hockey rink back several years, to that happy time when Melnyk no longer owns the Sens and a new owner wants to come downtown.
Remember, redeveloping LeBreton Flats is not just about relocating a hockey rink. It’s about creating a larger, livelier downtown core that is connected to the Ottawa River. We don’t need the Senators and their 41 game nights to accomplish that.
LeBreton without a rink won’t satisfy everyone, but it’s likely the best we will get. Government has no interest in putting anything there and the other group that wanted to develop LeBreton featured beer and car museums.
The approved LeBreton plan, sans Melnyk, is far better than the nothing we have put up with for decades. The sooner Melnyk is out of the deal, the better. The hockey entrepreneur is in over his head — familiar waters for him — and he’s certainly not the person we want to shape the future of our city.
Redeveloping LeBreton Flats is not just about relocating a hockey rink.