Or some smart leaders who understand what actually makes cities pleasant and prosperous. Ontario is a place, right now, that has neither. Kelly Nestruck in the weekly Nestruck on Theatre newsletter. Sign up today. Follow Alex Bozikovic on Twitter: alexbozikovic Opens in a new window. Report an error. Editorial code of conduct. Skip to main content. Alex Bozikovic Architecture Critic.
Specific designs and plans for each of the amenities are still being finalized and will depend on a series of forthcoming assessments and public consultations. The acre waterfront attraction first opened in , but was closed in after years of declining attendance.
Still, the province said it will be preserving many of the "key heritage and recreational features" of Ontario Place, including the Cinesphere, the pod complex, the marina, Trillium Park and the William G. Davis Trail. The government said it is committed to working with the Ontario Science Centre to have science-related tourism and educational programming at the Cinesphere and pods.
Therme will build an "all-season destination offering something for all ages, including pools, water slides, botanical spaces to relax, as well as sports performance and recovery services," per the release. Details about costs to visitors are still being finalized, a representative from Therme said at a morning briefing for the media. There will also be roughly eight acres of "free, publicly accessible" gathering spaces, parkland and gardens on the part of the property being leased by Therme, the province said.
The new adventure park will include about a dozen "aerial courses" with options for visitors of all ages. The province said it eventually expects the reopened Ontario Place to welcome up to five million visitors per year. The old theme park will be replaced by, well, two new theme parks.
One will be a water park and spa built by Austrian company Therme Group. Much of the rest will stay. The iconic Cinesphere and pod structures will remain in place, as will the recently-constructed Trillium Park and William G.
Davis Trail — hallelujah. As plans go, it could have been a lot worse. Tacky and cheap, with everything sold to the highest bidder. Like with the old theme park, access will come at a cost. Ford told reporters admission to the new theme parks would be roughly equivalent to admission to the Toronto Zoo, which is 28 bucks a person. And Ontario Place looks like it will remain disconnected from the rest of the city. Maps showing how the land will be split between the successful bidders still show large surface parking lots, suggesting this will be a place that most users are expected to arrive at by car.
Steep admission costs and access challenges are a recipe for a place people visit infrequently. A formal government announcement could come as early as this month. The Globe is not identifying its sources, who have direct knowledge of the bid process, because they are not authorized to speak publicly.
Provincial Tourism Minister Lisa MacLeod, who in recent months has promised big news soon on Ontario Place, offered no comment when reached on Wednesday evening. But even if the overall vision gets public approval, the lack of community input into the process has raised hackles.
Kavanagh and other local activists say they want more of Ontario Place turned into parkland and kept open to the public, without visitors necessarily having to pay to enjoy the site. The three winning firms did not respond to inquiries about their plans. The future of Ontario Place has largely been kept under wraps as the province put the moribund amusement park space — which opened in and closed in — up for bids from the private sector.
As Premier, Mr. Ford has taken an active interest in Ontario Place.
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