Lansdowne 2.0 price tag jumps to $419M, 3rd tower dropped

The city, in partnership with Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), has made some changes to its Lansdowne 2.0 proposal, including dropping the number of highrise towers from three to two, removing the green roof from the proposed new arena and hiking the cost of the project by $86 million to $419 million. 

That will be partly paid for through air rights for the new residential towers and government funding that has not been secured, but also requires more than $310 million from new debt. 

The city and OSEG released the executive summary of their new report this morning, promising that this new phase will be fiscally responsible, but it has dropped the term "revenue neutral" from its revised plans.  

"Unfortunately for many years we let Lansdowne slide backwards," said Mayor Mark Sutcliffe. "We need to continue to invest in Lansdowne."

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The latest vision for Lansdowne 2.0 has two highrise towers of 40 and 25 storeys with up to 770 residential units, down from 1,200.

The city re-evaluated its approach to providing affordable housing at the site and decided that, given the cost and delay in construction, the equivalent value would be added to a reserve fund to pay for affordable units located elsewhere.

Sean Moore, the city's director of the Lansdowne Park Redevelopment Project, said there will also be a new plaza outside the Aberdeen Pavilion. 

The complicated waterfall financial system, which was the focus of a city audit, remains but will be simplified. It dictates how money collected through the Lansdowne project is paid out.

There have been no payouts from the Lansdowne Park redevelopment to either the city or OSEG since it was launched, said deputy city treasurer Isabelle Jasmin.

In terms of cost to the taxpayer, Jasmin said the city will pay $5 million per year to service its new debt. That will continue for the next 40 years. 

North side stands, arena in disrepair

Despite the high costs, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said it will be more expensive to wait, because the existing Arena at TD Place is so plagued by mould, leaking and accessibility issues that it is unsuitable to host world-class events. 

He told reporters Friday morning that the cost of doing nothing would be $400 million or more, based on the price tag for maintaining and eventually disassembling the aging infrastructure. 

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The first phase of the project still includes building a new facility to host the OSEG-owned Ottawa 67's and the Ottawa BlackJacks basketball team, as well as a new and yet-to-be-named women's professional hockey team.

But it's set to look a lot different. 

When the project was unveiled, staff produced renderings that suggested the arena's design would blend seamlessly into the existing Great Lawn. The plan was to build it under the existing berm and top it with a grass-covered roof. 

That roof is now a stark white. 

Sutcliffe noted that the green roof was only ever an "option," and proved to be be too costly. There's also the added complexity for the operator, including difficulties with finding leaks. 

Councillors vote on proposal next month

Capital ward Coun. Shawn Menard has said he will not support the proposal until it addresses the concerns raised by people in the community — and across the city. 

He also doesn't buy the mayor's assertion that shelving the plan will cost more in the long run, saying he believes that statement stems from fear of what will happen if OSEG leaves the partnership because it is not viable. 

"I think there is an option there to maintain and invest in what we've got. That will be much cheaper," Menard said yesterday.

"We're not going to throw good money after bad."

But Sutcliffe said the success of a project needs to be evaluated by how much it is "used and enjoyed."

"It's already better than it was before, now we have an even better plan for an even better Lansdowne." 

Mark Goudie, the president and CEO of OSEG, told reporters: "We need to finish the work we started."

The report heads to a joint finance and planning committee meeting next month, with a final vote set for Nov. 10.