OverDrive - Garrioch on the Senators' agreement at LeBreton Flats, the timeline of building and the impact to the team

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

Postmedia Senators Columnist Bruce Garrioch joined OverDrive to discuss the sign agreement of purchase for arena at LeBreton Flats, the timeline for the building of the arena, the impact on the fanbase for the team, Brady Tkachuk's role on the roster and more.

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Intact Insurance, your auto service ace. certain conditions apply. Bruce Garriac is with us from Post Media Sentence columnist. Bruce, welcome. Your thoughts on that headline. Well, I think if you ask anybody in Ottawa, Jim, they tell you it's about time, right? You know, this has been going on. It feels like for a lifetime, but the first time the Senators made a real bit on LeBretton was in 2014.

And since then, there have been stops, there have been starts. and a lot of fall starts, but I feel like this time there is finally momentum to make an agreement. You know, one of the things that happened last, I think it was in April, the NCC said they hoped to have an agreement by the end of 2025. I don't think that made anybody happy that they felt that they could drag their feet till the end of 2025. and there really was haggling over what was fair market value. But I think a third-party assessment made everybody agree on the fair market value of this land, which I've reported is just north of $30 million. And once that hurdle was completed, I think they were finally able to get to the point where,

you know, the dream now looks like it could be reality. And for people in Ottawa, this is a very major step. because while LeBretton Flats is in downtown, it's two kilometers from downtown, it has two stops on the light rail transit, and, you know, I think that this is something, it gives them better proximity to the fans in Gatno. I think this is something that the city and the region wants. Well, Bruce, like, what's the timeline for a project like this? Like, how long before sense fans will actually get to watch?

the Senators playing in the LeBretton Flats arena? The timeline is I will be retired by the time this arena is built. That much I can guarantee you. I think you're probably looking at anywhere from five to six years. I think that the reality is there has to be clean up on that land. It is contaminated. The land needs to be remediated. that is, I am told that process can take anywhere from a year to 18 months to clean that up.

And then you're at the point where you can get shovels in the ground. But there's not only, you know, I think you have to look at the timeline. I think they could probably build the arena itself in two years, but it's when are they going to get to the shovel, get shovels in the ground. And obviously, so I think that's why they're making up. upgrades to the Canadian Tire Center right now because they know they're going to be there for another five years. You know, the Canadian Tire Center will celebrate its 30th anniversary in January of 2026. And my guess would be that if you put me on the spot right now, my guess would be that opening night at the new arena would probably be in 2031 or 2032. So the obvious question is, what happens to the Canadian Tire Center?

I was recently in Calgary and the Saddle Roman, it was built. built was state of the art and it's on the way out. I mean, these things just don't last that long, do they? No, and, you know, like I said, it'll be 35, 36 years old then. I mean, that's the question. I mean, do they, I know that Eugene Melnick had some plans for it. I think, you know, his thinking was maybe it could be turned into a casino with a hotel. I don't know where Ann Lauer's head is at on that front, but that's a fairly valuable

piece of real estate, and it's sitting on, think about it, they bought 11 acres at LeBretton's lots today. Right now they currently have 75 acres that it surrounds the arena, right? And so that's going to be a very, very valuable piece of real estate when they put it up for sale. And I don't know what they get per acre. I'm not in the real estate business, but I think that they get a pretty pretty penny even if they decided to just take it down. I do think that

you know, there's a new casino in kind of the south end of the city, the hard rock is, I could totally see a situation where that's turned into some kind of casino with hotel to maybe make it, one of the things they talked about is maybe making it some kind

of destination for people in the west end. Bruce, as you look at this news, coming today. I mean, I cannot imagine the number of bylines and the number of words you have written about this over the years as it's coming. Now that you're talking to people, especially on the team side,

what do you sense for a lot of the folks involved? I assume there has to be an incredible amount of relief at this point, but what are those feelings you're getting from people involved here? Well, you know, I mean, Cyrilater, Bruce Firestone, Cyrilater's been there since beginning, and Bruce Firestone went to the NCC in

1990 when the senators were awarded a franchise, and while you build his rink at at Labretton Flats and he was told in no uncertain terms by the late head of the NCC then Gene Piggott that there

just there was no chance. And, you know, really since 2013 14, they'd been chasing this. And I think that while they looked at other options, every time they looked

at LeBretton Flats, they felt like was this, the place they should be. My sense would be, they feel relief, right? They feel relief that they're able to get this agreement in place. Michael Ann Lauer has a number of partners in his ownership group who are developers, not the least of which is the Malhulcher family of Clareich Holmes. And Paul and Michael Poletta of all any of holdings who are Burlington-based,

who've done a lot of development in that area. And I think those will be the people who help lead this project. You know, Mike Langlower has been pretty frank with me about the fact that I'm not a developer. I'm a business person, you know, I own a healthcare company, and the idea that he wanted the experts on this. And I think that's why I got across the finish line the first time because of because of the Malhulcher family, the leadership of the Malta family and the input from the people at

Alenia Holdings, and I think that this time people here feel pretty confident that this is going to happen. Bruce, just a couple of minutes left, we'll squeeze this one, and Brady Chuck, I mean, these trade rumor talks, or I guess just leave them at rumors, but not quite as long as the search for land for a new arena, but they've been around for a number of years, and he obviously put

some water on that fire. What are your thoughts on that? Well, I think that Brady Kachuk has committed to the city of Ottawa, and the city and the city of Ottawa certainly loves him. I look at Kachuk and I say, you know, I think it was important for them to make the playoffs last year. I, you know, or I think some, some frustration would have grown in that camp. But obviously now, and I think that, and I think that, You know, Kachuk has always wanted to do it here. He's very tight with Thomas Shabbat and Tim Stutzler, and he was obviously very tight with Josh Norris before he got traded.

But I think, you know, Kachuk wants to get this done here. He really, you know, I spoke to him at the end of the season, and he really felt like they had just made one step, now they want to make the next step. But for that to happen for them next season, Jim, the growth is going to have to come over with him. because I think the teams around them have improved. And I think everybody's looking at the Florida Panthers right now

and Sarah saying, you know, can we be as good as the Florida Panthers? And I think that Ottawa and Toronto in that department of their work cut out for them. Bruce, appreciate your time. Thanks very much. Good to talk to you guys. Have a nice day. Thank you. Bruce Garriak, Post-Media, Sends columnist. Seasoned gamer or just video game curious, This Week in Gaming is the podcast for you.

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