The RendezVous LeBreton proposal: More than an arena for the Sens
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...eglected-flats
DON BUTLER, OTTAWA CITIZEN
Published on: January 26, 2016 | Last Updated: January 26, 2016 9:17 AM
It’s no secret that the centrepiece of the RendezVous LeBreton Group’s plan for LeBreton Flats is an arena. But according to sources, there is a lot more to the $3.5-billion project, dubbed IllumiNATION LeBreton, than just a new home for the Ottawa Senators.
It also offers a new cafe-lined waterscape, an optional new central library building, innovative light and holographic features, parks and gathering spaces, and enough Green cred to win over the most ardent environmentalists.
Though the plan contains five distinct neighbourhoods and numerous high rise buildings, sources say more than half the site – which includes both the 9.3-hectare primary lands offered for development by the National Capital Commission and the 12.3-hectare “option lands” – will be devoted to open space areas.
If the project is chosen by the National Capital Commission, it will take more than two decades to fully complete. But construction could start as early as 2018, according to sources, and the new arena could be ready by 2021, with several other key elements finished by 2026.
The full details of RendezVous LeBreton’s proposal, along with those of the competing DCDLS team, will be revealed at a public consultation session Tuesday at 4 p.m. at the Canadian War Museum.
Here’s a closer look at what sources say are the major elements of the IllumiNATION LeBreton plan:
The Major Event Centre
The arena, with indoor seating for 18,000 and room for 28,000 people in the adjacent LeBreton Square, is expected to attract 175 events per year – 30 more than the Canadian Tire Centre now draws. Hockey represents only 30 per cent of those events.
It would be built on the option lands on LeBreton’s western side, midway between the future LRT’s Pimisi and Bayview stations.
The arena has been designed by Rosetti Architects, a Detroit firm that has worked on Los Angeles’ massive LA Live project. One distinctive feature is an interior bowl made of wood – reminiscent of the wooden veil at TD Place in Lansdowne Park – that would surround spectators.
The Abilities Centre
Only the second of its kind in Canada (the first is in Whitby, Ont.), the Abilities Centre Ottawa, intended to be part of a new dual-rink Sensplex on LeBreton Flats, would be a sports and recreation community centre accessible to both able bodied and disabled users.
Programming would be focused on recreation and sport, the arts, music, dance and life skills, sources say. The plan includes a centre of excellence for persons with disabilities.
The heritage aqueduct
Despite its heritage designation, the aqueduct on LeBreton Flats has been so sadly neglected that few Ottawa residents even know it exists. That would change under RendezVous LeBreton’s proposal, sources say.
It would transform the linear water channel into the centrepiece of a new iconic public space, lining it on either side with boardwalks, shops and cafes and using it in winter for skating and programming.
Bright lights, big city
RendezVous LeBreton has recruited more than 30 partners for the project, including Moment Factory, a Montreal new media company that has done work for Cirque de Soleil and Madonna, and the Canada Science and Technology Museum.
Its plan proposes to use illumination, holograms and multimedia to showcase the capital as a centre for innovation, sources say.
Along a pedestrian concourse called the Public Art Axis, pedestrians will be able to stroll along a “digital pathway” of discovery. Visitors will be able to walk through a green roof forest on the arena’s edge, illuminated at night.
Embracing the green
The RendezVous LeBreton project will combine with the adjacent Zibi development to create what sources say will be the largest EcoDistrict in North America. It will meet or exceed LEED Gold, with the aim of making the arena the first net-zero carbon event centre in the world.
The proponents also want to make IllumiNATION LeBreton one of the largest “One Planet” urban communities in the world. One Planet is a global initiative that aims to reduce one’s ecological footprint down to, and within, the resources available on the planet Earth.
The public library option
The plan includes a new central public library at the corner of Albert and Booth streets, but it is just outside the LeBreton Flats lands offered by the NCC. The City of Ottawa owns part of the property and the NCC owns the rest, so both owners would have to agree for the library to proceed.
Commercial and residential
The proposal includes 800 hotel rooms, office and retail space and 4,400 residential units, a percentage of which would be set aside for affordable housing. (The Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation, a not-for-profit housing organization, is one of RendezVous LeBreton’s many partners.)
When everything is fully developed, up to 12,000 people would work at LeBreton Flats and 7,000 would live there, sources say.
Transportation and parking
RendezVous LeBreton expects 80 per cent to arrive at the site by transit, bicycle or on foot, with the rest coming by car.
The site can accommodate up to 8,000 underground parking spaces, with 4,400 dedicated to residents and 500 to the arena. But according to sources, the expectation is that number will be reduced over time as more people come to rely on the LRT.
Cleaning up the site
As part of its proposals, RendezVous LeBreton will remove 1.2 million cubic litres of contaminated soil and ship it to landfills at its own expense. The estimated cost of removing it is $170 million, sources say.
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And why exactly would the NCC talk about any of these ideas when it's the competition proponents job to propose things? That's why they're holding a competition. Also, we're still in an information blackout period. 
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