Premier Doug Ford unveiled plans on Tuesday for a five-storey, $400-million parking garage on prime Toronto waterfront land at Ontario Place, attracting new criticism for his controversial redevelopment of the provincial site.
The government also released new designs for fountains, elaborate playgrounds and public gathering places as part of a promised additional 50 acres of park and public amenities at Ontario Place, where its previously announced marquee plans include a massive spa-and-waterpark complex and the relocated Ontario Science Centre.
The government’s moves to sign a 95-year lease with the Canadian arm of Austrian waterpark builder Therme Group, and its sudden shuttering of the existing science centre last summer, have faced vehement criticism. Local activists and opposition politicians have said Ontario Place should be parkland and not handed to a for-profit foreign firm.
The province’s handling of the site, a former amusement park mothballed in 2012 amid dwindling attendance, has been controversial since Therme Group was named a winning bidder in 2021. In a report last year, the province’s Auditor-General said taxpayer costs to prepare the site had skyrocketed to $2.2-billion, $1.8-billion more than originally predicted.
The audit also concluded that the process used to select Therme was unfair and that the province had failed to verify that the company only directly owned and operated one of the six European spas using its concepts that it had cited in its bid.
The requirement that the government pay for a parking garage for Therme – originally planned underground – has long been a bullseye for activists opposing the spa, and a source of spiralling cost estimates. The province’s lease with Therme obligates the government to provide 1,600 dedicated spaces for the facility.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday that the revamped Ontario Place will include a five-storey parking garage that will cost $400-million. Renderings show a large structure between Lakeshore Boulevard and the waterfront, but Ford says it will blend in.
The Canadian Press
Talks with the City of Toronto on building a new above-ground parking facility to the north, on the grounds of the city’s Exhibition Place, appeared to have fizzled earlier this year.
City planners had criticized the proposal to build thousands of new parking spaces at the site, saying it was not “transit supportive.” Ontario has since used its powers to override the city planning process and exempt the site from some environmental policies.
Now, the province has decided to build a 3,500-space garage, much larger than previously discussed, on its own Ontario Place property, where there is currently a surface parking lot. Renderings released Tuesday show it right on the waterfront, a wall of glass adorned with an Ontario Place logo.
The Premier suggested the structure would become a tourist attraction itself, like the illuminated Toronto sign at the city’s Nathan Phillips Square. Mr. Ford said the garage could have an event space on its roof and that it would be “blended in” with its surroundings with a “landscape berm.”
“You watch, it’s going to be probably the No. 1 place where people take pictures,” Mr. Ford told reporters at the site on Tuesday. “They’ll take pictures all over the place, but they are going to be standing in front of that massive, beautiful sign, similar to the Toronto sign at City Hall, but larger, more colourful.”
Mr. Ford dismissed concerns about the $400-million cost, saying the facility would remain in public hands and would generate $60-million a year.
The government’s conceptual designs for the public areas unveiled Tuesday also include an Indigenous cultural pavilion, a public beach and green spaces. (Therme is also paying for new publicly accessible space, including a beach, that will surround its facility.)
Renderings displayed in front of Ontario Place show how it will look after its redevelopment.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
The government did not reveal a cost for its new public areas at Tuesday’s announcement. Lyle Robichaud, a spokesperson for Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma, said in an e-mail to The Globe and Mail that Infrastructure Ontario has estimated the price tag at between $200-million and $499-million.
Local NDP MPP Chris Glover said it was wrong for the government to aim to make money from the parking garage, arguing Ontario Place should be made more accessible to the public. He also said it should showcase local businesses, not a foreign-owned spa.
The Premier and Ms. Surma did not rule out adding new bars or restaurants to the public spaces unveiled Tuesday, or at Ontario Place’s marina, which is also set to be revitalized. When asked Tuesday, both said any future contracts would be subject to a competitive bidding process.
The government last year abandoned a move, announced by the Premier himself in 2023, to hand the site’s future restaurant and bar businesses to a consortium called Ontario Live. Among its backers was the Laborers’ International Union of North America, a prominent supporter of the Premier.
Ontario Live was also led by Zlatko Starkovski, the operator of the former Muzik nightclub event space at Toronto’s Exhibition Place, whose business provided alcohol for the Ford family’s annual political barbecues more than a decade ago.
“You watch, it’s going to be probably the No. 1 place where people take pictures,” Mr. Ford told reporters at the site on Tuesday. “They’ll take pictures all over the place, but they are going to be standing in front of that massive, beautiful sign, similar to the Toronto sign at City Hall, but larger, more colourful.”
Premier Doug Ford unveiled plans on Tuesday for a five-storey, $400-million parking garage on prime Toronto waterfront land at Ontario Place, attracting new criticism for his controversial redevelopment of the provincial site.
The government also released new designs for fountains, elaborate playgrounds and public gathering places as part of a promised additional 50 acres of park and public amenities at Ontario Place, where its previously announced marquee plans include a massive spa-and-waterpark complex and the relocated Ontario Science Centre.
The government’s moves to sign a 95-year lease with the Canadian arm of Austrian waterpark builder Therme Group, and its sudden shuttering of the existing science centre last summer, have faced vehement criticism. Local activists and opposition politicians have said Ontario Place should be parkland and not handed to a for-profit foreign firm.
The province’s handling of the site, a former amusement park mothballed in 2012 amid dwindling attendance, has been controversial since Therme Group was named a winning bidder in 2021. In a report last year, the province’s Auditor-General said taxpayer costs to prepare the site had skyrocketed to $2.2-billion, $1.8-billion more than originally predicted.
The audit also concluded that the process used to select Therme was unfair and that the province had failed to verify that the company only directly owned and operated one of the six European spas using its concepts that it had cited in its bid.
The requirement that the government pay for a parking garage for Therme – originally planned underground – has long been a bullseye for activists opposing the spa, and a source of spiralling cost estimates. The province’s lease with Therme obligates the government to provide 1,600 dedicated spaces for the facility.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday that the revamped Ontario Place will include a five-storey parking garage that will cost $400-million. Renderings show a large structure between Lakeshore Boulevard and the waterfront, but Ford says it will blend in.
The Canadian Press
Talks with the City of Toronto on building a new above-ground parking facility to the north, on the grounds of the city’s Exhibition Place, appeared to have fizzled earlier this year.
City planners had criticized the proposal to build thousands of new parking spaces at the site, saying it was not “transit supportive.” Ontario has since used its powers to override the city planning process and exempt the site from some environmental policies.
Now, the province has decided to build a 3,500-space garage, much larger than previously discussed, on its own Ontario Place property, where there is currently a surface parking lot. Renderings released Tuesday show it right on the waterfront, a wall of glass adorned with an Ontario Place logo.
The Premier suggested the structure would become a tourist attraction itself, like the illuminated Toronto sign at the city’s Nathan Phillips Square. Mr. Ford said the garage could have an event space on its roof and that it would be “blended in” with its surroundings with a “landscape berm.”
“You watch, it’s going to be probably the No. 1 place where people take pictures,” Mr. Ford told reporters at the site on Tuesday. “They’ll take pictures all over the place, but they are going to be standing in front of that massive, beautiful sign, similar to the Toronto sign at City Hall, but larger, more colourful.”
Mr. Ford dismissed concerns about the $400-million cost, saying the facility would remain in public hands and would generate $60-million a year.
The government’s conceptual designs for the public areas unveiled Tuesday also include an Indigenous cultural pavilion, a public beach and green spaces. (Therme is also paying for new publicly accessible space, including a beach, that will surround its facility.)
Renderings displayed in front of Ontario Place show how it will look after its redevelopment.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
The government did not reveal a cost for its new public areas at Tuesday’s announcement. Lyle Robichaud, a spokesperson for Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma, said in an e-mail to The Globe and Mail that Infrastructure Ontario has estimated the price tag at between $200-million and $499-million.
Local NDP MPP Chris Glover said it was wrong for the government to aim to make money from the parking garage, arguing Ontario Place should be made more accessible to the public. He also said it should showcase local businesses, not a foreign-owned spa.
The Premier and Ms. Surma did not rule out adding new bars or restaurants to the public spaces unveiled Tuesday, or at Ontario Place’s marina, which is also set to be revitalized. When asked Tuesday, both said any future contracts would be subject to a competitive bidding process.
The government last year abandoned a move, announced by the Premier himself in 2023, to hand the site’s future restaurant and bar businesses to a consortium called Ontario Live. Among its backers was the Laborers’ International Union of North America, a prominent supporter of the Premier.
Ontario Live was also led by Zlatko Starkovski, the operator of the former Muzik nightclub event space at Toronto’s Exhibition Place, whose business provided alcohol for the Ford family’s annual political barbecues more than a decade ago.
Sorry the budget is 5.5 times higher than estimated?
What the fuck? That’s fucking massive incompetence
Exactly as planned, with Doug’s buddies walking away with a big payday and the average people of Ontario worse off with every day of Doug’s leadership
Of course, put the 5-storey parking garage right on the waterfront.
The parked cars will be able to enjoy the view while they wait.
He sounds like Trump ffs.
People will take pictures so they can remember where they parked. Remember that episode of Seinfeld?