Lansdowne Park Revitalization | N/A | N/A | Proposed

[AuxTown]

Just something I cooked up this morning for what phase 1 of the project could look like. It would be two lanes one-way counter-clockwise around the Aberdeen Pavillion, two oposing lanes of traffic on the smaller roads, and two lanes each direction entering from and leaving onto Bank Street.



The stadium would look something like BMO Field in TO except the stands will look a little more permanent and would integrate some form of retail into the side facing Bank Street. The parking structure doesn't have to look completely horrid and I think the one at the airport is a good example of this. The left over parcels of land could be developed in phases with all kinds of uses that have been mentioned in this thread previously.

[Aylmer]

I wouldn't mind having the sens play in a new arena there...

Make Glebe the center of the universe (after Aylmer).

[FFX-ME]

Sens just got a new arena

[AuxTown]

New Stadium Needed for CFL Kick Off
Josh Pringle
Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Frank Clair Stadium is the main opponent for a CFL franchise returning to Ottawa.

The Canadian Football League has awarded a conditional expansion franchise to the group headed by Ottawa 67's owner Jeff Hunt.

CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon told reporters in Ottawa the stadium is a "condition" to the return of football to the Capital.

Hunt says his group hopes to have some "meaningful discussions" with the City of Ottawa about the future of Frank Clair Stadium.

The lower-tier of the southside grandstand will be demolished this spring over structural concerns.

Hunt says there is no other place his group wants a football team to play than at Frank Clair Stadium.

Mayor Larry O'Brien is a supporter of the return of CFL Football, but insists the City of Ottawa will be prudent with city dollars.

O'Brien told reporters using taxpayers dollars to bring CFL football back is "not-on for me personally."

He adds he doesn't see a situation where the City of Ottawa would have to make an investment.

Please tell me that they're going to tear down that horrid structure and not just the lower stands on the South side. Those stands are a real eyesore for Ottawa and it would be great to see them demolished and replaced with something lower and less brutalist. Just give the Hunt team the contract for Lansdowne and I bet they will do something great with the site. They are all business men from Ottawa who understand the Glebe and it's neighbourhood dynamic as well as it's connection to the Rideau Canal. Having that competition is just a waste of money if we're going to lose any chance of having a CFL team in the process.

If people are serious about wanting a CFL team here in Ottawa we need to start lobying to our councillors to get things moving on the redevelopment of Lansdowne. Clive Doucet seems hell-bent on having a useless city-owned parking lot and dilapidated (and condemned) stadium instead of a privately owned Lansdowne with a new stadium, condos, grocery stores, townhouses, a hotel, etc. The city needs to get their priorities straight, either step up and do something with Lansdowne or step aside and let Jeff Hunt et al do so.

[Aylmer]

It would be cool it they had a two level stadium;
Sens Hockey arena on the bottom, an indoor football stadium on top!

[Acajack]

The Frank Clair Stadium North Side (sucks!) stands/Civic Centre structure may not be pretty but it’s still in pretty good shape. So it wouldn’t make financial sense to tear down the whole thing.

And the Senators have invested too heavily in their arena in Kanata for them to ever consider moving to Lansdowne.

The Frank Clair Stadium playing field was actually replaced not too many years ago and a new scoreboard was installed I believe.

The south side stands are the real problem, in that they have been deemed unsafe and may have to be torn down and rebuilt. This is going to be what makes or breaks this new CFL foray since half of the football stadium’s seating capacity is in the south side stands.

A circular, bowl-type design would be cool, but it’s not really needed when your maximum number of spectators (25,000-30,000 in this case) can be seated between the goal lines, which is the optimal place to sit when watching Canadian football.

[harls]

Originally Posted by Acajack

The Frank Clair Stadium North Side (sucks!)

I got that one, Mister GeeGee.

[Acajack]

Actually, I was on the other side during the Panda Games. One of the rare francophones on the “dark”, Ravens side. Actually, I was more of anglo at the time to be quite frank...

But you should remember that the “north side sucks” chant is from the Rough Riders/Renegades games.

The Panda chants were something like “What the f****’s a Gee Gee?” or “Na Na Na Na Na Na, Hey Hey-ey, F*** the Ravens”.

And the “pro-Canadian unity chant”, voiced by Carleton students: “Jacques, Jacques, suck my...” You get the picture...

[Rathgrith]

The U of O is trying to build their own stadium near the Rideau river so that they have full control over who plays when.

[AuxTown]

Originally Posted by Rathgrith015

The U of O is trying to build their own stadium near the Rideau river so that they have full control over who plays when.

It would be great if they had their own stadium in Sandy Hill. They would get so many more fans out to soccer and football games than they do currently. It would really make U of O feel more like a real university.

Interesting survey results I read on the CFRA website tonight:

How should the city react to the CFL's condition that Frank Clair Stadium be redeveloped with a minimum of 25,000 seats?

The city must replace the south side stands it is tearing down and recover the "mortgage" costs through rent & parking revenue
12.5%

Fast track approval of a private development proposal including private lease or ownership rights for most of Lansdowne Park
28.8%

Don't rush into anything. It would be nice to have a team in 2010 - but don't put public fund or public access to Lansdowne at risk
55%

Other
3.52%

What is it exactly that the public is worried about losing access to at Lansdowne???? This really puzzles me. It's just a giant parking lot, some of it not even paved. It's not like we can wander around the stadium or arena anytime we want and the perimeter of the entire park if fenced in. People are retarded (in my opinion).

[AuxTown]

An update from the City today:

Results of public consultations
In preparation for a Design Competition, the Planning Branch undertook public consultation from January to March of this year. The findings from these sessions are now available online.

Project timeline
The timing of the competition has been delayed as the awarding of a Canadian Football League franchise to an Ottawa business consortium has raised a number of questions related to the future of Frank Clair Stadium and the Civic Centre. A status report will be presented to Planning and Environment Committee on July 8th that will provide options to move forward with the Design Lansdowne process and that will seek direction from Council on this project. At this time, therefore, no date has been set for bringing the Design Brief to Committee.

This survey specifically has some very interesting data

[Acajack]

Can’t find the article online but LeDroit was reporting this morning that one of the options being considered by the City of Ottawa was to relocate Frank Clair Stadium, preferably somewhere along the Transitway.

Maybe I've missed something, but that’s the first time I’ve heard that one…

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Can’t find the article online but LeDroit was reporting this morning that one of the options being considered by the City of Ottawa was to relocate Frank Clair Stadium, preferably somewhere along the Transitway.

Maybe I've missed something, but that’s the first time I’ve heard that one…

They'd better not mean a part of the Transitway all the way out in the Burbs...

[AuxTown]

Hopefully Bayview

[eemy]

Originally Posted by O-Town Hockey

Hopefully Bayview

That would be a fantastic location for a sporting complex. It's far more accessible and would fit well with the Lebreton Flats redevelopment as well as the resurgence of Mechanicsville and surrounding areas.

What would happen to Lansdowne Park though? To be honest, I'm loath to the typical suggestion of some sort of residential development.

[the capital urbanite]

scary...

Build a CFL stadium in Kanata

The Ottawa Citizen

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

I'd like to propose a solution to several of City Council's current problems.

The solution is to move Frank Clair Stadium from Lansdowne Park to the City's Maple Grove Road municipal works property. Cut to the chase: Invite the Canadian Football League franchise owners to do a public-private partnership with the city on this property.

The stadium would thus be going from the 40-acre Lansdowne site to the 69-acre Maple Grove location. Build a new fleet services garage (if required to replace the existing facilities) in the basement of the new stadium. Use some of the Scotiabank Place parking lots for stadium events.

This would solve a number of the city's problems.

It would give focus to the light-rail debate -- running a rail line west to service Scotiabank Place and the stadium complex would become the priority (and not a tunnel).

It would allow the re-development of Lansdowne without a stadium, continuing the current design competition there. It would solve the conflict-of-interest situation over the Kanata West development by taking the city lands out of the mix. It would challenge the CFL group to demonstrate that public-private partnerships can indeed work to everyone's benefit.

And for synergy, possibly also move the Ottawa SuperEx to the Maple Grove location.

Of course, it would be three to four years before everything could be completed and built. But if the city and the CFL owners want to do things right, then start with a good concept and make it better. All this solution needs is a champion or two on council.

Anyone there looking for a legacy project?

L.E. Mitchell,

Ottawa

[Acajack]

How much land does Mr. Mitchell own near Maple Grove Road?

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

That's a terrible idea!

We've already seen the problems about getting people out to Scotiabank Place and the fact that nearly everyone agrees that it sucks that it's not more urban like in other cities, which would allow for the after-game celebrations and partying to continue...

Building it at Bayview would be ideal, but I have a hunch that Council will never be smart enough or brave enough to suggest such a thing...

[c_speed3108]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Can’t find the article online but LeDroit was reporting this morning that one of the options being considered by the City of Ottawa was to relocate Frank Clair Stadium, preferably somewhere along the Transitway.

Maybe I've missed something, but that’s the first time I’ve heard that one…

Two come to mind:
Bayview (as already mentioned)
Hurdman

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

I'd hardly call Hurdman an Urban area, but it's definately better than Kanata or Orleans or Borehaven...