Ford vows Ontario Place parking lot will offer 'massive return on investment'

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The Ontario government unveiled Tuesday the final designs for the new Ontario Place public space, including a new 3,500-spot parking lot that will cost $400 million.

Artists’ renderings also showed 50 acres of public beaches, trails, parks, playgrounds, interactive fountains, event spaces, an updated marina, a state-of-the-art Ontario Science Centre, Live Nation’s revitalized year-round amphitheatre and Therme Canada’s waterpark and wellness destination.

Premier Doug Ford said the transformation of Toronto’s waterfront will create 5,000 jobs in the construction and tourism sectors.

But despite his unrelenting positive spin on what has been a controversial project for the city since it was announced three years ago, Ford was questioned about the parking lot in particular, given it will be five storeys high and doesn’t seem to blend with the lakefront scenery.

“It’s going to beautiful,” Ford told reporters. “We’re going to have (a large landscaped) berm at the front. You’ll barely even see a parking lot. We’ll have stuff like, maybe, a fountain. We’re going to have a massive sign that says Ontario Place. You watch, it’ll probably be the No. 1 place where people will take pictures. They’re going to be standing in front of that massive, beautiful sign similar to the Toronto sign at City Hall, but larger, more colourful. It’s going to be spectacular.”

Ford said they needed to expand the parking lot from the original 2,500 spaces on the CNE grounds, given that six million people are expected to visit Ontario Place annually. But he touted what he said will be $60 million in revenue generated annually by the parking lot.

“It is a jewel for the people of Ontario,” said Ford. “That’s a massive return on investment. We’ll have it paid off. And then $60 million or more, I predict more, that will be going right into Ontario coffers to pay for health care, education, infrastructure. It’ll be absolutely phenomenal. And you can get creative. On the top floor (of the parking lot), other people have come up, ‘Well, why don’t we have a venue up there? Let people lease the top floor overseeing Ontario Place, having a party, maybe a band here and there.”

Ford was also questioned about the new Ontario Science Centre after the current facility on Don Mills Rd. was suddenly closed a year ago with the government citing safety concerns about the roof.

“We’re in the market to find the appropriate builder for the science centre,” Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma told reporters.

“We anticipate to have results in the fall. And then construction can start shortly thereafter.”

Ford says he hopes to have the entire Ontario Place open by 2029 with Surma adding some things will open, “sort of, in stages.

“Therme can start their construction as early as spring of next year,” she said. “Construction on the public realm and the science centre could possibly begin in the spring and summer of next year. The final component, of course, would be the wonderful Budweiser Stage and they are working on those designs of what the final stage will look like.”

Missing from the renderings, said Surma, was a new marina that will serve food and beverages and include a marina clubhouse.

“We’re looking forward to sharing that information very shortly,” said Surma.

“Wherever you are at Ontario Place, there will be a place for you to grab a snack with your family.”

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