Ottawa Senators make a major announcement today

The Ottawa Senators and the National Capital Commission (NCC) announced today that they have purchased 11 acres in the LeBreton Flats area of downtown Ottawa and plan to build an arena-led district with housing, retail, and hotels.

“We are pleased to reach an agreement of purchase and sale with the NCC to take the next step in this process,” Senators president and chief executive officer Cyril Leeder said in a statement.

“There are still many more hurdles to clear, and we look forward to working with the NCC and other stakeholders to achieve our shared vision of creating an event centre at LeBreton Flats that can be enjoyed by our Ottawa-Gatineau community.”

There's no date yet for construction, but the team has released some preliminary photos of potential arena design.

Check it out:

The Senators have been at Canadian Tire Centre, formerly named Corel Centre and Scotiabank Placce, since 1996. The problem with the Canadian Tire Centre is that it's in the Ottawa suburb of Kanata, ON about 30 minutes from downtown Ottawa.