By the Editor, Ottawa Citizen, January 27, 2018
(...)For, after 40 meetings and 120 hours of hardball negotiation, the National Capital Commission and RendezVous LeBreton (led by Senators’ owner Eugene Melnyk and Trinity Development Group’s John Ruddy), have reached agreement in principle to transfer land to the private consortium so it can begin transforming those barren Flats. This is a real step forward in a discussion that has unfolded not just over the past two years, but over decades – ever since dwellings on the Flats were razed in the 1960s with a promise of better land use to come.
Development, we learned this week, will occur in two phases. The first will include key public-use elements such as the desperately desired NHL arena, a pedestrian walkway and a multi-use “abilities” sports centre for both recreation and rehabilitation. Among optimists – and for now, let’s be optimists – it’s thought construction could begin between 2019 and 2020.
http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-lebreton-deal-anything-but-flat