Festival Plaza (Exhibition Grounds revitalization)

http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/local/article/1269612--plans-for-plaza-move-forward

Plans for plaza move forward

ERIN HATFIELD|Dec 27, 2011 - 7:00 AM

The idea is a multi-use space that could hold 100,000 people or a small fair, still accommodate the Canadian National Exhibition and the Honda Indy, and drastically improve a now barren corner of the Exhibition Grounds.
It is being called "Festival Plaza" and at their last meeting, the board of governors at Exhibition Place voted to take the next step in seeing this space come to life.

Festival Plaza would occupy a large parcel of land on the grounds, currently a parking lot south of BMO Field and the Direct Energy Centre, immediately south of Princes' Boulevard down to Ontario Place.

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"We need a space where we can have 100,000 people for very large events," Berridge said, adding the space could be broken down for large concerts and then down again for smaller fairs. It would be landscaped, serviced and would have a permeable parking pad to absorb rainwater.

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It would also be designed to make for a more pleasant pedestrian walk from the transit stop through the Exhibition Grounds to Ontario Place, with the anticipation that Ontario Place will become more active in the future.

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The plans also include an ambitious bridge from the Exhibition Grounds to Ontario Place, which would be designed, most likely through a design contest.

Next steps in creating the plaza would include leveling the site and improving the eastern face of the Better Living Centre, and then work on landscaping would begin, he said.

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The full cost of the plan is estimated at $11.3 million, which includes costing for the bridge to Ontario Place at $4.8 million and a covered walkway from the GO station to Festival Plaza, which would come later.

The first phase, which would include the leveling, installing electrical, water and drainage below the area, resurfacing and relining the parking area, upgrading landscaping and the construction of an amenity area, is estimated to cost about $3 million.

The first phase is anticipated to be completed by 2015.

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The board voted to issue a request for proposal for a design-build contract for the first stage of work, which would be completed by the spring of 2015 in time for the Pan Am Games.

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Festival Plaza master Plan - Next Steps

Report to Exhibition Place Board of Directors:

http://www.explace.on.ca/database/rte/files/Item%2030(1).pdf

Another legacy project of the 2015 Pan Am Games.

Louroz

Thanks for the link:

Wonder why these guys arent going with underground parking to free more pedestrian space

LRT for Lakeshore? Interesting!

Interesting redevelopment of an otherwise underutilized part of our waterfront

The parking needs to go underground. I know that is expensive but it will allow the CNE to make a much better public space. It's worth the added cost and revenue from the parking can help to pay off the added costs.

Torontovibe said:

The parking needs to go underground. I know that is expensive but it will allow the CNE to make a much better public space. It's worth the added cost and revenue from the parking can help to pay off the added costs.

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I agree, my goodness... a plaza with a clutter of parked vehicles.
We're not in the suburbs here.

Agreed - all the surface parking simply MUST GO.

They're playing it pretty safe here. The models surprise me - they look like they jumped right out of the '70's. The renderings are downright awful.

Although the brief notes that the foundations of the former grandstand lie just below the existing parking lot and interrupt any attempt to install new infrastructure, I think the Ex Board should bite the bullet and have them taken out. Then not only could parking be moved underground en masse, but the configurations of the landscaping above ground could also have a chance to be more flexibly and engagingly designed than what is being shown here. Although obviously preliminary, the bits of design details that are being shown are extremely boring, and the vaunted green feature is remarkably tepid.
This presentation shows us less of a landmark celebration space than a prettied-up parking lot that, all in all, still doesn't look like it's resolving the vast and balky issues of boredom that has made it such a problem for Ontario Place and the area to begin with.

With parking moved underground, room could be made for the kind of architectural attractions that would blur the line invitingly between the Ex grounds and Ontario Place.
Real architectural development and innovation around the space that contained mixed uses - along with some worthy new attractions - would all be of benefit. It would also help to have more improved north/south connections than shown here (with transit as well) to get Ontario Place finally hooked into the system

The landbridge is a great idea, though it looks a bit small and amateurish here.
I'm guessing that since all these plans are extremely preliminary, we could see huge improvements by the time it starts getting down to anything actual. Let's hope so. As it stands, the plan shown here looks like it could have been hatched out on a bad day in the 1970's, itself.

I agree that the surface parking should go but the question is what it should be replaced with. As can be expected in this city, the focus of the governing body of the Ex is on incremental improvement. Incremental improvement does not make sense given that the Ex (at least on its east side) is encountering dramatic change, and is a very large chunk of land in an area that is no longer some no-man's-land south of the Gardiner and the tracks. It needs to be much more than it is given the value of the land it sits on. The board appears to be overly pre-occupied with its historical use as a big fair for two weeks of the year. Their view appears to be that they need a large block of asphalt for the CNE midway for two weeks of the year, and so they might as well keep earning what revenues they can by using this space as a parking lot for the other 50 weeks that will be periodically busy with the remainder of the trade show schedule and TFC games. My view is that if the Ex wants to keep a large open space that can be covered in midway rides 2 weeks of the year, the rest of the time a grand square with retail/restaurants/hotels/etc. along the sides would be a tremendous addition to this area. The Ex has a lot of good individual buildings and the trade centre is okay -- not Hong Kong good, but probably as good or better than Javitz in NY. But a comprehensive plan that brings the whole grounds together in a way that makes it an appealing place to go 52 weeks of the year is essential in this location given the growth of the City, the high density in the neighbourhood and how central this area has become. Done properly it should also make the City some money, but maybe that's too much to hope for.

I notice the diagrams say "BMO Field expansion"... Is that just a placeholder in case BMO Field is expanded some day or are there real plans for expansion?

I have a hard time believing there will be an LRT there by 2015.

I don't understand the reasoning in spending a tiny amount of money to make small, superficial changes. If you're going to do it, do it right. If we are too poor of a city to really make serious changes, then just leave things alone and save us the 11.3 million. I don't go for half measures when what is really needed is an overhaul.

With a new hotel going up and the huge improvements promised for Ontario Place, this is probably our best opportunity to do a rethink of that whole area. We need some serious study in how to best integrate The CNE, Ontario Place, The Gardiner and public transit. We need to decide what the future of the CNE is. Once this is all decided, then we need to spend some serious money and redevelop the area as one huge project. I hope it stays leisure/amusement/tourist oriented. I want to see Ontario Place become a year round tourist attraction. What's Dalton waiting for? And YES, we need an LRT that goes directly to Ontario Place.

Good lord, the Direct Energy Centre is getting even larger?