City councilors are gearing up for marathon meetings on Lansdowne 2. 0, a plan to save the urban entertainment venue from monetary oblivion.
Home to sports teams, restaurants, music festivals, and a farmer’s market, Lansdowne Park has struggled to attract the city of Ottawa and the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG).
The public-private partnership is now vying for council for its next reform.
If we turn to the 72 public delegations that signed up before Tuesday morning to speak on the subject, the public is not convinced.
It has been the subject of controversy throughout its history, adding audits, a failed attempt to challenge it in the Supreme Court, and crumbling infrastructure.
Here’s what you want to know to get up to speed.
Before the redevelopment about a decade ago, Lansdowne Park was little more than an enclosed parking lot around the crumbling Frank Clair Stadium.
The refurbishment order was an exclusive order, coming directly from OSEG, which resulted in an unsuccessful judicial appeal.
OSEG leases the city’s land and facilities, horticultural building, and Aberdeen Pavilion, for $1 per year. The city maintains ownership of the stadium, advertising spaces, and parking lot.
The city’s partnership includes four revenue streams: the Redblacks football franchise, the Ottawa 67s youth hockey team, the stadium, and retail outlets and restaurants that rent retail space.
All revenue is distributed using a complex closed monetary formula in which OSEG is reimbursed for its expenses before the city recoups its investment.
It was never paid in cash.
When the financial difficulties of the deal were exacerbated during the pandemic, the City Council voted to extend the partnership for another 10 years.
OSEG introduced a first edition of the Lansdowne 2. 0 plan more than a year ago, promising a tax-neutral solution to recurring profit issues.
It was based on the creation of 3 residential towers, which would surround the new grandstands on the north side.
When the most recent edition of the plan was unveiled, a tower fell, along with any promise to be profit-neutral.
The total value also jumped from $86 million to $419 million, with taxpayers offering $5 million a year.
The key to commercializing the plan is the suggestion that, if approved, OSEG could simply withdraw from the partnership.
Officials also recommend that failing to replace the aging grandstands and stadium on the north side will result in a drain on municipal coffers as costly occasions to move their activities elsewhere.
The plan includes $3. 9 million for housing, which will no longer be built on-site.
That’s well below the 25% the city intends to allocate when it sells municipal land or air rights, and the report notes that it “reduces negative effects on the overall monetary model. “
Journalist
Elyse Skura is a journalist founded in Ottawa. Since joining CBC News, she has worked in Iqaluit, Edmonton and Thunder Bay. Elyse spent 4 years in Tokyo, where she also worked as a consulting manufacturer for NHK World Japan. You can succeed in it in elyse. skura@cbc. ca.
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