Senators’ founder weighing in on LeBreton Flats dispute
Posted Nov 26, 2018 09:36:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The founder of the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club believes there will be ripple effects if it's ever officially announced that the LeBreton Flats development project will not move forward.
Bruce Firestone thinks the deal could be dead in the water after a lawsuit was launched by Senators' owner Eugene Melnyk's organization, Capital Sports Management Inc., against Trinity Group.
He told 1310 NEWS' The Rick Gibbons Show, both residents and investors were very interest in the possibility of a new NHL arena coming to downtown Ottawa. And now, if it's officially announced the project won't be going forward, it will be hard to glue the pieces back together at the arena in Kanata.
“All the people that you depend on to invest their time, money and passion in your team [were] saying, 'I can't wait. I'm going to save my money and invest in the new arena,'” Firestone explained. “So now to go back on that — it's much tougher.”
Listen to the full conversation:
There is a slight chance the dispute between CSMI and Trinity could be resolved by January, which is the deadline given by the National Capital Commission to resolve their internal issue.
But Firestone added, lawsuits of this magnitude usually take years to settle.
“Lawsuits, whether you're 100% right or feel you're 100% right, it doesn't matter, it takes two to five years, six, seven years, maybe even longer to resolve,” he said.
At this point, the city has no choice but to wait and see what happens in the new year.
