The NCC gets its 'Wow!' on LeBreton. Now go big or stay home?
Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: January 26, 2016 | Last Updated: January 26, 2016 10:12 PM EST
The NCC got the ‘Wow!’ it wanted in the LeBreton Flats proposals. Now to ask of the why?
The plan from Devcore Canderel DLS Group is full of new ideas but suffers from frothy ambition.
There is an NHL-sized arena, and a new library, and an auto museum (World Automotive Experience) and a media museum (Canadian Communication Centre) and an aquarium, a skateboarding park (“the best in the world”) and so much more.
A new public French school, a Farm Boy, a YMCA, a daycare and – lest your head not be spinning – an “air pavilion” featuring a simulated skydiving experience.
And 2,500 new housing units.
“Basically, our plan is that we have something for everyone,” said team member Daniel Peritz, a vice-president at Canderel. No kidding.
It just seems like creative overkill, a plan not really held together thematically but more a collection of shiny architectural objects and disconnected uses. (I was, seriously, getting dizzy trying to follow it all.)
And how would it stand up economically? Museums, as a rule, don’t make money: so we’re offered not one, but three? (There is a beer museum in there somewhere too.)
And the NHL-sized arena is obviously problematic. Only moments after the Devcore presentation, Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk was emphatically saying his team would never play in someone else’s arena, nor does he intend on selling the team.
So who plays in Devcore’s “Theatre of Sports and Entertainment”?
On the positive side, the so-called Canadensis Walk — which features greenery and botanical slices from different parts of the country — did look dynamite.
The plan from the RendezVous LeBreton Group is more modest, and by extension, looks more doable.
Its centrepiece is a new arena/event centre that has been situated so it takes advantage of views of the Ottawa River, especially Nepean Bay Inlet. It sits beside the main gathering place in the plan, LeBreton Square.
Probably the most innovative part of the RendezVous plan, which includes Melnyk and his team, is building a roadway over the proposed LRT route.
The great advantage there is that it connects two big chunks of the LeBreton property that would otherwise be separated by the rail line.
The RendezVous group is also proposing two more ice pads in an adjacent Sensplex that will include an “Abilities Centre” to serve those with disabilities.
So, without a doubt, the plan is pretty heavy on the ice-skating side and will look as though the Senators are the dominant corporate interest.
This will not please everyone.
But architect Barry Hobin did make a solid point in his presentation. The history of LeBreton is a community tilted toward the river.
And so it should be again. Thus does the RendezVous proposal provide for thousands of units of new housing, to be built-in five connected neighbourhoods.
There was an enormous amount of information released on Tuesday but we scarcely had a tool to evaluate it all.
Both plans, for instance, incorporate a city library, possibly with involvement from the National Library of Canada.
Will the city proceed with its new central branch? And when? We don’t know.
Will the land, all 21.6 hectares, be sold or leased? We aren’t certain, but do know the $170 million contamination cleanup will be part of any negotiation.
How much public money will be sought to make these plans happen? We don’t know.
Certainly, the Melnyk group look to be more shovel ready. If all goes well, he said the team could be playing at the Flats in 2021.
“Most of us on this side are already in the hockey business,” said Sens president Cyril Leeder.
Though the Canadian Tire Centre is only 20 years old, he said it will be due for multi-million dollar renovations in the next 10 years.
The NCC, of course, now has some difficult choices, made harder by how high they set the bar themselves.
In their request-for-proposals, they wanted an anchor public use that would enhance the city’s cultural fabric and be a national, if not international, attraction.
Are we there yet? It isn’t clear. The NCC does have a third option: reject them both.
We should not lose focus over what the debate is about. It isn’t about whether RendezVous beats Devcore, or Arena 1 is better than Arena 2. It’s about whether, after 60 years of waiting, we’re arrived at the right plan at all.
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email
[email protected]
Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn
http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/col...g-or-stay-home
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Opposite of sustainable city building gah.
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