Decision day looms for LeBreton Flats
Don Butler, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: April 26, 2016 | Last Updated: April 26, 2016 6:02 PM EDT
One of Ottawa’s biggest secrets is about to be spilled.
The National Capital Commission will reveal Thursday which of two competing multibillion-dollar development proposals for LeBreton Flats has been ranked highest by an evaluation committee.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean the runner-up will be finished or cast aside as a loser.
While the NCC may opt to negotiate a development agreement with the highest ranked proponent, it could also negotiate with the runner-up if talks with the top-ranked team fail. It could even enter into “separate and distinct but contemporaneous” negotiations with both teams.
The two proponents — Eugene Melnyk’s RendezVous LeBreton and the Devcore Canderel DLS Group — are strictly prohibited from speaking publicly until Thursday’s announcement. But it will come as no surprise to either if the NCC chooses to keep both involved, if only to provide a Plan B in case things fall apart with the preferred choice.
For those reading the tea leaves, there is circumstantial evidence to support that scenario. The NCC has asked both proponents to be present when its board of trustees votes on the LeBreton recommendation Thursday, and to stick around afterwards to answer media questions.
Both teams are expected to show up in large numbers, though Montreal billionaires André Desmarais and Guy Laliberté — key members of the Devcore Canderel DLS Group — won’t be there.
Officials from both teams will also be briefed on next steps Friday by NCC staff, and both will only be allowed to speak publicly about their proposals until midnight on May 4, after which the now-familiar cone of silence will again descend until the announcement of a successful proponent early next year.
The two proposals to develop the 21.6-hectare LeBreton Flats site — vacant since the 1960s and by far the largest undeveloped parcel of land in Ottawa’s core — were unveiled on Jan. 27 at the Canadian War Museum at a two-day open house that attracted more than 3,000 people.
The NCC also received nearly 8,000 responses to an online questionnaire about the proposals. It will release a report summarizing that public feedback at Thursday’s meeting, along with the latest comments by the project’s fairness monitor, Louise Panneton.
While both proposals include plans for an arena, a new Ottawa central library and significant residential, commercial and retail development, they are starkly different in other ways.
Devcore Canderel’s LeBreton Reimagined plan proposes a dizzying array of attractions, from aquariums and planetariums to museums and skydiving pavilions, arrayed along a grande allée.
RendezVous LeBreton’s IllumiNation LeBreton plan is less flashy, focused on a new downtown arena that would house Melnyk’s Senators and major events, augmented by a restored “heritage aqueduct,” numerous parks and squares, and an Abilities Centre catering to disabled and able-bodied athletes.
The evaluation committee, which included architect A.J. Diamond, planner Mark Conway, NCC chief executive Mark Kristmanson and two senior NCC officials, spent about two months rating the competing proposals based on a dozen different criteria.
The single most important factor they considered was market rationale. Each team had to demonstrate the viability of its public anchor uses and commercial, retail and residential components, something the NCC described as “paramount” in its request for proposals for the LeBreton lands.
The design of the development plan itself and the delivery model, including the proposed ownership structure, financing and business terms, were also key elements of the evaluation.
On several of the most important evaluation criteria, the projects had to get at least 60 per cent of the available points or they would be considered not to have met the minimum qualification threshold, eliminating them from further consideration.
Adding to the intrigue Thursday, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and his Gatineau counterpart, Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin, will be attending their first NCC meeting as ex-officio members. Though they won’t be able to vote, they will be free to ask questions and express their opinions.
Once the NCC board has voted, negotiations will begin with one or both of the proponents. Those talks are expected to continue through the summer and fall. Assuming the negotiations succeed, the federal cabinet will need to sign off before the NCC can enter into a development agreement.
According to the current NCC timetable, the successful proponent will be announced in early 2017, followed by a municipal approval process later in the year. But NCC spokesman Nicholas Galletti wouldn’t say this week whether that timetable remains current.
dbutler@postmedia.com
twitter.com/ButlerDon
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...lebreton-flats
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