OSEG aims for fewer cars, more people at Lansdowne square

The partnership behind Lansdowne Park has closed off a section of Princess Patricia Way to cars as part of a plan to create a "social meeting space" at a revamped public square.

Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG) announced Tuesday it would make changes to the space known as Aberdeen Square, including creating a portable stage, more shaded seating areas and closing off part of the road to add to the useable space in the square.

Despite high-profile events like the Grey Cup and the NHL outdoor game in 2017, the partnership posted a loss of $7.9 million. 

OSEG has said while its working on a strategic plan to attract more people to Lansdowne Park, the revamped square is not necessarily about raising revenues directly.

"It serves a different purpose," said Mark Goudie, the CEO of OSEG, during an interview with Alan Neal, host of CBC's All in a Day.

"This serves at bringing people to the site, giving them a reason to want to come down to Lansdowne and hang out, particularly on our off-hours."

Renamed 'Casino Lac Leamy Plaza at Lansdowne'

"It's about comfortable meeting space, shade in the summer time, it's about lighting at night, plug-and-play kind of performance areas," Goudie said.

Goudie says there will be a $250,000 capital investment in the newly-named Casino Lac Leamy Plaza at Lansdowne coming from the sponsorship.

A city memo says OSEG is paying the city $143,521 for the naming rights and managing a $25,000 annual dedicated programming fund.

The city memo says plans also include a Christmas Market in the plaza starting in November 2019, projected to attract 25,000 visitors.

Councillor welcomes change

Coun. Shawn Menard welcomed the proposed changes from OSEG and said the reduction of traffic will make the park easier to navigate by bike or on foot.

"Once we get the cars off the site it'll be much more intuitive, so we're going to keep pushing for that and more change there," he said.

He said consultations with his constituents showed an interest in more free events, wintertime community events and less driving on the site.

Menard said he's looking forward to continue working with OSEG on the site and he wants to keep the public parts of Lansdowne public.

Car traffic was banned by the Aberdeen Pavillion Tuesday, but the installation of the stage infrastructure and shaded seating areas is expected for spring 2020.

OSEG said it would be presenting an updated strategic plan for Lansdowne in June. Goudie said that has been delayed until November.