Ontario Place Refresh To Include Expanded Role For Live Nation

By David Farrell

Three companies, including a Quebec outdoor recreation firm and a European spa and water park provider, have been chosen to revitalize Ontario Place after a closed-door bid process that has dragged on for years, sources have told The Globe and Mail.

The Ontario government plans to give Quebec’s Écorécréo the reins for part of the 63-hectare site on Toronto’s waterfront, along with Austrian company Therme, the sources tell the newspaper. Live Nation, which runs the performance venue at Ontario Place, will have an expanded role.

Provincial Tourism Minister Lisa MacLeod, who in recent months has promised big news soon on Ontario Place, offered no comment.

Ontario Place, opened in May 1971 and sits on three artificial islands south of Exhibition Place. The 155-acre park is operated as an agency of the Government of Ontario and through 2019 has consistently posted deficits, leading to In an announcement that year from the Government of Ontario, calling for proposals to redevelop the park with a set of restrictions that any future development must not include residential units, a casino and must not require a specific monetary outlay or subsidy by the Government of Ontario,  and must preserve the existing amount of parkland included in the Trillium Park, and preserve the existing 16K-capacity Budweiser Stage amphitheatre.

Assets affiliated with the park beyond the Budweiser Stage include the 600-person capacity IMAX and IMAX3D Cinesphere, the 5K-capacity Echo Beach concert venue, a marina with 240 boat slips, and the 7.5-acre Trillium Park that connects to the 56-kl Martin Goodman multi-use Trail.

Entire story here.