If all goes according to the plan concocted by the city and the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, professional football and soccer will kick off in the newly refurbished Frank Clair Stadium in 2013.
That is the projected timeline for the $250-million first phase of a re-development plan for Lansdowne Park that would completely change the park’s orientation, moving the front entrance from Bank Street to the Rideau Canal.
That first phase calls for the city to contribute nearly $130 million to renovate the stadium and the Civic Centre and replace a large portion of the parking lot with a green space.
OSEG would pay for nearly $100 million to build 400,000 square feet of retail and commercial space and underground parking.
The largest retail shop housed in the new complex would be a 40,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market.
Space would be made available in the Horticulture Building for the Ottawa Farmers Market to operate year-round.
The second phase of the plan calls for a “boutique hotel” in the southwest corner of the property and residential buildings.
The park would not have trade and consumer show space. Instead, a new facility would be built for trade shows near the airport.
A complex business model calls for the city to create a Municipal Service Corporation that would then enter into the 30-year lease with OSEG for the entire park.
Minto Chairman and CEO and OSEG spokesperson Roger Greenberg assured people that the financial arrangement is “at worst revenue neutral to the city, at best it’ll be substantial positive cash flow.”
Since the beginning of the sole source agreement between OSEG and the city Capital Ward Coun. Clive Doucet has been opposed to any redevelopment that does not stem from a competition.
Yesterday, he called the plan an abomination.
“It’s a massive shopping centre in the middle of a parking lot,” he said.
