[reidjr]

A mixed-use development should be built in the parking lot of the Ottawa Stadium, an analysis has concluded.

The six-acre parking lot could support a development with at least an additional 550,000 square feet of floorspace, the report says.

But the future of the actual taxpayer-owned stadium is still murky.

“In any event, if the stadium facility is to be maintained, it will require the city to find a strong development partner with a financially viable and sustainable development and stadium use plan. The potential to find such a development partner appears to be limited if restrictions are placed on the potential, in the future, to further adapt or redevelop the stadium facility,” the report says.

The analysis suggests maintaining the stadium without development in the parking lot, or modifying the stadium to broaden its use, “appears to be unrealistic.”

Converting the stadium into a concert bowl is “feasible,” and although eliminating the stadium from the long-term plan is possible, it might not produce the best value to the city, the report says.

If the entire 16-acre stadium property was sold and redeveloped without the stadium, the value of the land would be reduced by the roughly $2.5-million cost to demolish the stadium.

Since the stadium is still in good condition, staff say keeping the structure would be “economically and environmentally appropriate,” even if the playing field isn't maintained.

Staff also say the $4 million to move the a sports dome facility from Lansdowne Park to the baseball stadium is hard to justify without first establishing a long-term benefit that fits with the vision for the stadium.

The report also comments on the future of baseball in Ottawa.

“Based on the past experience in Ottawa and the apparent overall decline of organized baseball in Canada in the last decade, there is little or no current evidence to indicate that a purpose-built baseball stadium can be financially sustained in the long-term by reliance on a professional or semi-professional baseball being the predominant use for the facility,” the report says.

“The financial viability of maintaining the Stadium structure for the long-term will likely be dependent of the ability to attract a significant number of other customer paying events.”

The Ottawa Fat Cats of the Intercounty Baseball League currently play out of the stadium, which was originally built in 1992 for the Ottawa Lynx triple-A ball club.