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On September 14th, the City of Toronto welcomed Leslie Lookout Park as a new landmark tucked into a corner of the immense Port Lands. Mayor Olivia Chow, alongside Councillor Paula Fletcher and representatives from CreateTO, inaugurated this much-anticipated public space on Saturday morning. Led and financed by CreateTO, the park is part of the City’s Port Lands regeneration efforts.
To honour the site’s Indigenous significance, attendees gathered in a circle around a sacred fire for the opening invocation and song. Mayor Olivia Chow reflected on this, stating, "Leslie Lookout Park marks the dawn of a new chapter in the continued development of our beautiful city. This thoughtfully designed space invites visitors to immerse themselves in a harmonious blend of breathtaking views and serene landscapes." She further highlighted the park's future role, envisioning it as "a cherished retreat that will invite everyone to pause, take in the view and rejuvenate."
Councillor Paula Fletcher spoke of the park as “more than just a new addition to our community; it’s a breathtaking spot with panoramic views that offers a rare opportunity to escape the hustle and bustle of daily life.” Similarly, Vic Gupta, CEO of CreateTO, emphasized the park’s role as a transformative project, remarking, “CreateTO is honoured to deliver Toronto’s newest park for the people of the city to explore and enjoy... This project has transformed an underused parcel of industrial land into a year-round multi-use destination.”
Located at 12 Leslie Street, the park acts as a gateway to the eastern waterfront's natural and recreational spaces, including Tommy Thompson Park. Situated directly on the Martin Goodman Trail, this 1.9-acre park offers access to the water’s edge, providing views down the length of Toronto’s Ship Channel. The Montréal-based CCxA, formerly known as Claude Cormier + Associés for its celebrated, late founder, worked with Toronto-based gh3 on park's design.
Environmental features of the new park include a pioneering use of porous asphalt, a first in Toronto’s park developments, which naturally filters runoff water, lightening the load on the city's stormwater systems. Surrounding the area is a dense mini-forest, planted using the Miyawaki method — a Japanese technique that uses native plants for greater density — and introduces biodiversity with approximately 5,000 plantings, including 2,470 trees, 2,473 shrubs, and 1,260 forbs and grasses.
The park’s centrepiece is a 13.5m-tall lookout tower that, from its viewing platform about a third of the way up, provides a 360-degree panoramic view of the surrounding Port Lands and downtown skyline. Designed to resemble the concrete silos and chimneys that have been landmarks themselves in Toronto's — until recently, nearly entirely industrial — Port Lands across the decades, the cylindrical tower is reached via a bridge from a newly constructed hill. While a path winds up the landscaped hill to the bridge, visitors can also enjoy stadium seating built into the hill that also offers a way to climb up the hill to the lookout.
While Leslie Lookout Park's design is intended to respect the area's Indigenous heritage throughout, the lookout tower’s design embodies Indigenous architectural principles through openings to the sky and the four cardinal directions.
At the tower's base, visitors find a public drinking fountain and a bike repair station, with 50 designated bike spots nearby. The park also features numerous picnic tables and seating, an artificial sandy beach dotted with Muskoka-style chairs. Sunsets over the distant downtown skyline are reported to be great from here.
Returning to the lookout tower for a personal touch from the city to the beloved designer of many of our recent public spaces, a heart-shaped plaque serves as a tribute to CCxA’s Claude Cormier, with this past weekend marking one year since his passing.
Moving forward, the park is designed for year-round activity. The park's planners have envisioned a space where the community can engage with a variety of pop-up events, concerts, and public art installations throughout the year. Located near the park are Toronto Bike Share docking stations at the corners of Leslie and Commissioners streets, and at Tommy Thompson Park.
You can learn more about the park from our Database file, linked below. If you'd like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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| Related Companies: | CCxA, gh3, Greenloc Environmental Hoarding |
