Lansdowne’s sad story– can we stem the losses?

Lansdowne’s sad 17-year history – can the dollar hemorrhage be stemmed?
Lansdowne’s sad story– can we stem the losses?
By June Creelman
Seventeen years ago, in January 2008, the Glebe Community Association (GCA) put out a press release applauding the City of Ottawa for its approach to planning the future of Lansdowne Park. The City had announced that it would hold public consultations to guide an international design competition for this important civic space. At the time, I was chair of the GCA’s Lansdowne Park Committee. I was optimistic about the upcoming revitalization of Lansdowne. Little did I know that by the end of the year, public consultations and the design competition would be quashed in favour of a sole source proposal from the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG). And never did I dream that Lansdowne’s redevelopment would still be on the agenda in 2025, and I would still be involved.
Many people are not aware of just how controversial the sole sourcing of Lansdowne’s redevelopment to OSEG was back in the day. There was a huge citizen mobilization to fight the handover of this prime public land to private interests. From 2008 to 2012, there was intense activity that included rallies, meetings, presentations, debates, protests and performances. Thousands of people from every part of the region joined the fight for a better Lansdowne Park plan. Hundreds of volunteers worked tirelessly for years to protect this public treasure.
Some of the highlights of that period include:
- The creation of a city-wide coalition calling for a competitive design process. This included such diverse organizations as the Rural Council of Ottawa Carleton, the Ottawa Regional Society of Architects, CUPE 503 and the Glebe Business Group. Community associations in every corner of the city – Kanata, Orleans, Manotick, Vanier and Rockcliffe – supported an open procurement process.
- More than 200 individuals and organizations made delegations to a special City Council meeting on Lansdowne. The meeting ran into the evening and over the next day.
- A new non-profit organization, the Friends of Lansdowne (FOL), was formed to keep the public informed of developments. I was the president; our vice-president was from Kanata. After the City failed to follow its own policies regarding procurement and leasing of public land, FOL launched a legal challenge with the Ontario Superior Court.
- To cover the legal costs, FOL undertook a major fundraising campaign. With support from local businesses, artists and residents, we staged a series of public events. Perhaps the most memorable of these were the Lansdowne Follies at the Mayfair Theatre. Who will forget the sight of our city councillor, Clive Doucet, doing the can-can? This entirely volunteer fundraising effort raised $330,000 to cover the legal fees.
- We drew on the expertise of supporters to conduct in-depth studies and analyses of various Lansdowne issues – financial, environmental, transportation, heritage, architecture, urban planning, governance and more. Many professionals volunteered hundreds of hours to prepare background papers to counter the City’s rosy projections.
We all know how the story ended. Friends of Lansdowne lost the legal battle. Basically, the courts ruled that an elected City Council could make decisions about city-owned land, even if it violated the City’s own policies and practices. After the decision, FOL disbanded.
And so the Lansdowne Partnership Plan was implemented. The site was divided in two, with a commercial portion near Bank Street and a public park facing the Canal. The City of Ottawa agreed to spend $127 million to renovate the stadium and the arena and to lease them to OSEG for $1 a year. With interest charges, the cost to the City was estimated at about $225 million.
In addition, the City of Ottawa spent over $46 million to hold an international design competition and build a public urban park that included the Aberdeen Pavilion, Horticulture Building, Aberdeen Square, Great Lawn and park space. The City also leased 10 acres of land for $1 a year for retail and residential development. The redeveloped site opened in 2014.
The Lansdowne Partnership Plan was a 30-year agreement; the retail portion included options to extend the arrangement for two 10-year terms. Ottawa taxpayers were told that the arrangement meant that Lansdowne was settled once and for all, and that the deal would not only recoup the City’s investments but would also be profitable for both the City and OSEG.
But of course, as FOL had predicted, the financial plan did not work. Less than five years after Lansdowne’s grand reopening, OSEG was back to the City, cap in hand, asking for a better deal and brand new sports facility; and the City had earned nothing on its $127 million stadium and arena investment.
So here we are in 2025. The City has given preliminary approval to spending half a billion dollars to create Lansdowne 2.0. even as the city faces a financial crisis. There has been no accountability for the financial failure of the original Lansdowne Partnership Plan, and there have been no meaningful public consultations on the proposed changes. The City’s own evaluation of its consultations on Lansdowne found that 69 per cent of participants had no confidence that public input would be taken into account.
And here I am in 2025 once again the chair of the Lansdowne Committee for the GCA. I don’t regret the thousands of hours I have personally invested in trying to keep the public interest paramount in decisions about Lansdowne’s redevelopment. To me, due public process and investing in the public good are fundamental values. And through this work, I have discovered a wonderful fellowship of smart, engaged, caring people who want the best for their city’s future.
This coming year, the City will make a final decision on Lansdowne 2.0. If it goes ahead, the City will have half a billion dollars less to spend on public transit, affordable housing, social services, recreation facilities and everything the city does. And this investment is unlikely to make Lansdowne successful because of the fundamental transportation challenges getting to and from the site, competition from the new sports and entertainment district around the proposed Senators arena at LeBreton and an unrealistic financial model that relies on retail revenues. And many of the things we enjoy about Lansdowne – the green space, sunny patios, the toboggan hill – will be lost. How many of Lansdowne’s businesses will survive the 10 years of construction?
I know that many people across Ottawa care deeply about the future of Lansdowne Park. For the good of the city, and to avoid the mistakes of the LRT project, could we take a pause to review priorities and return to good solid planning and proper consultation? It’s not too late to make Lansdowne better so that everyone can enjoy this exceptionally rare city-owned property in the heart of the city.
June Creelman is a long-time Glebe resident who has an abiding interest in the health of Lansdowne. She is chair of the Glebe Community Association’s Lansdowne Committee.