Here’s the latest on the province’s plan to move the Science Centre to Ontario Place

The Ontario government has big ambitions for two iconic Toronto provincial properties that have seen better days.

The government’s plan to transform Ontario Place into a “world-class year-round destination” and move the science center to the waterfront of the former theme park was the talk of the town this week.

But despite a big announcement on Tuesday in which Premier Doug Ford and other members of his government laid out their latest vision, there are still many unanswered questions about the future of the controversial plan.

Here’s what we know, what we don’t know, and where things could go from here.

how did we get here

The province announced in July 2021 that it would work with three private companies to build an indoor water park and spa complex, a revamped concert hall, and an “adventure park” as part of its plan to redevelop Ontario Place.

Three companies were selected: Austria’s Therme, specializing in water parks and spas; Quebec outdoor recreation company Écorécréo; and Live Nation, which operates the existing on-site music venues, Budweiser Stage and Echo Beach.

On Tuesday, Ford, members of its government and company officials unveiled the next stage of this recovery plan. The latest vision includes a new home for the science center, an expanded amphitheater, a public beach, bars, restaurants, a new marina, pier and a massive spa.

Under the proposed plan, the current science center building at the corner of Eglinton Avenue East and Don Mills Road in northeast Toronto would eventually be demolished and replaced with apartments.

Why is the province moving the science center?

The science center building first opened in 1969 and is in need of repair, according to John Carmichael, chairman of the center’s board of trustees.

Carmichael said a pedestrian bridge between two buildings at the center has been closed for several months awaiting repairs and the building is not equipped with Wi-Fi internet.

One of the front entrances is currently closed for maintenance, requiring visitors to take a shuttle to the back entrance to access the exhibits.

“We know it’s expensive. We know there’s a lot of work involved, as you can imagine with any building of this age,” Carmichael said in an interview with CBC radio on Wednesday Metro morning.

CLOCK | Ford says current Science Center site “doesn’t cut it”:

Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma says a business case showed it would be more cost-effective to build a new science center at Ontario Place than invest in improvements at its current site.

But when pressed through for actual numbers in an interview Wednesday Metro morning Innkeeper Jill Dempsey, Surma, declined to give details.

“We check all the numbers,” Surma said. “Before we share this information with the public, we want to triple check all information.”

Ford said Tuesday the province will work with the city of Toronto to build housing on the science center site, though he couldn’t say how many or what type of units it would include.

“There will be thousands of units there,” he said.

The science center is currently located on approximately 36 acres of mostly canyon land owned by the city and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. It was leased to the province in 1965 for a 99-year term at $1 a year, the city of Toronto told CBC.

The city says the terms of the lease only allow the science center to demolish and rebuild buildings to function as a science center. That means the province would have to renegotiate the lease to build anything else, including apartments.

What do the residents of the Science Center think?

Ford’s proposal has met with opposition from some in the community living near the science center.

Ahmed Hussein, CEO of the Neighborhood Organization, said newcomers, young people and those on low incomes in the Flemingdon Park and Franklin Park boroughs have all benefited from their proximity.

“We’re really disappointed because this is a gem in our neighborhood,” Hussein said. “We need attractions in the suburbs. We don’t have to move everything downtown.”

Moving the science center downtown will make access more difficult for people in Flemingdon Park and Franklin Park because it will incur additional costs, Hussein said.

“We have to understand that there are people who cannot go downtown,” he said.

Ahmad Alam, a 10th grade student in the area, didn’t mince his words.

“I got mad when they said they’re going to postpone it. I thought it was pretty stupid,” he told CBC radio Here and now. “The science center here on Don Mills [Road] is like the only thing we have.”

HEAR | Kids at Flemingdon Park say they need the Science Center to stay:

Paromita Roy is an 11th grade student and student council president at the nearby Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute.

“I think it would affect the neighborhood a little bit because now you don’t have the attraction that kids can look forward to,” she said.

Hussein would like to see more consultations with the community about the future of the science center as there have been none so far.

“We just heard the news, as did everyone else,” he said.

What will the new Science Center look like?

The simple answer is: we don’t know yet.

No detailed design plans have been released, though the province says the science center will find its new home in a “bespoke, state-of-the-art facility,” as will the cinesphere and pods that were part of the original Ontario plaza.

A development proposal currently pending with the city refers to “a one-story building… to host science-based programs, possibly in partnership with the Ontario Science Centre.”

An image included in this application shows a Science Center building on the mainland.

The province says further details will be released “at a later date”.

Ford’s office confirmed to CBC Toronto that the new science center will be about half the size of the previous one.

The current six-story building is approximately 568,000 square meters, while the new center will be approximately 25,000 square meters, with the new building occupying approximately 18,000 square meters and the Pods and Cinesphere 7,100 square meters.

Construction of the new center will begin in 2025, with opening planned for 2028, the science center said in a statement this week. The current facility will remain open in the meantime.

What needs to happen before construction begins?

The provincial proposal must make its way through the city’s building application process and eventually be approved by city councils.

Infrastructure Ontario submitted a development application on behalf of the Department of Infrastructure in November 2022, the centerpiece of which is Therme’s 65,000-square-foot, seven-story private “spa” and water park.

City officials released a status report in late March with some of their initial feedback on the application. They emphasized that the planned 22,000 square meter and 26 meter high entrance building, which would connect the mainland to the West Island (where the spa is to be built), is so large that it “overwhelms the public space”.

Staff also concluded that a five-level underground parking lot would contradict established city and provincial planning policies that emphasize public transportation over private vehicles. (Ontario Place is one of the terminuses of the Ontario Line, a 15.6-kilometer subway line that would run from Ontario Place on the west to the current Science Center on the east).

On Thursday, councilors on the city’s government committee voted to defer a decision on whether to exchange land with the province to facilitate redevelopment until the city council approves the planning application and the province provides the council with a copy of the lease agreement with Therme .

The city says the staff is continuing to engage Infrastructure Ontario on issues raised in its report and from public consultations.