[URBAN NOTE] "Massive new park at Ontario Place will open next summer"

[rfmcdonald]

blogTO's Derek Flack reports on the exciting plans to renovate Ontario Place in time for next summer.

There's life at Ontario Place. Aside from the peek that we got at the dilapidated grounds for the in/future festival, there's been little news about the site's future outside of delays to the opening date of the urban park that will make up phase one of the revitalization efforts.

Provincial representatives gave tours of the construction site today, which is slowly starting to reveal the shape of the park to come. The new opening date is now pegged at next summer, a more realistic goal based on the amount of work that's been done thus far (the original target for phase one was 2015).

The 7.5 acre waterfront park will have a variety of features when it opens to the public, including granite rock faces that'll provide skyline views, a central fire pit, a waterfront trail, a boardwalk and an open-air pavilion. It all looks very promising, even as the rough outline is only coming into view now.