1.3K 
With excavation of the first phase office component progressing swiftly, we continue to learn more details about the mixed-use Daniels Waterfront - City of the Arts, a new development that will enrich Toronto's waterfront with new residential, commercial, and public spaces. Last night, The Daniels Corporation hosted an event at the presentation centre for the new waterfront community featuring food, drink, music, and some major announcements about the future of the project.
The event brought together several big names in Toronto's development and art communities, including Tim Jones, Artscape CEO; Dr. Sara Diamond, OCAD University President; Rebecca Carbin, Waterfront Toronto Public Art Program Manager; and Tom Dutton, The Daniels Corporation Senior Vice-President, visible from left to right in the photo below.
After some time for guests to mingle and sample hors d'oeuvres, Senior Vice-President of The Daniels Corporation Tom Dutton took to the podium to announce some big news about plans to contribute $3 million towards public art in the community. Two-thirds of those funds will be allocated towards public art for the Daniels Waterfront site itself, while the remaining $1 million will be put towards funding the broader East Bayfront Public Art Master Plan managed by Waterfront Toronto as part of the City of Toronto’s Public Art Program.
This public art plan has already been approved by The City of Toronto’s Public Art Committee, and Daniels is now moving forward inviting artists to compete for the commission, including California-based Ned Kahn and Canadian firm Public Studio. The winning submission will be selected by a panel of judges from the arts and design community including Tom Dutton of The Daniels Corporation, Luigi Ferrara of George Brown College, David Liss of the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Gaetane Verna of The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Tim Jones of Artscape, Dr. Sara Diamond of OCAD University, acclaimed landscape architect Claude Cormier, and Rebecca Carbin of Waterfront Toronto.
“Daniels Waterfront – City of the Arts is a neighbourhood in which the arts play a central role as a social, cultural and economic driver. It has been proven that art has a positive effect on our lives, well-being and even economic development, which is why we include arts components in every single community we build,” said Dutton.
The major public art contribution announcement was followed by the unveiling of plans for a new creative incubator space from Artscape, to be called 'Launchpad'. Occupying approximately 30,000 square-feet of the development's office component, this space will be custom designed to serve as a resource for artists and design professionals, offering vital tools, training and mentorship. This will be the third Toronto development from The Daniels Corporation to include space for Artscape.
Keeping with the "City of the Arts" theme, Daniels Waterfront will also include space for OCAD University, to be called 'Campus for the Connected World'. In addition, The Daniels Corporation is currently in talks with George Brown College, working towards securing a potential home for a state-of-the-art School of Design within the development.
“OCAD University brings our history of leadership in the fields of digital media, electronic visual art and industrial design,” said OCAD U President Dr. Sara Diamond. “Our collaboration with Daniels Waterfront - City of the Arts advances that legacy, provides tremendous synergies for our students, faculty, industry and not-for-profit collaborators through learning, creation and research, and provides an injection of youthful energy and imagination to the project.”
As new details emerged about the large-scale redevelopment within the confines of the presentation centre, early stage construction was progressing on the office component, just across Richardson Street to the west. Excavation of the southern portion of the Daniels Waterfront site, the future home of Artscape, OCAD U, and many more businesses, is now roughly 40% completed.
We will continue to track the construction of the office phase, and look forward to the official launch of Daniels Waterfront's first residential component, Lighthouse Tower. In the meantime, additional information and renderings can be found in our dataBase file for the project, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum threads, or leave a comment using the space provided at the bottom of this page.
