Towered
Senior Member
They also opened Echo Beach just last summer for free concerts. The closing is mysteriously sudden. I do agree though that when it gets an extreme makeover that it shouldn't cater to kids.
- Thread starter vistaway
- Start date
They also opened Echo Beach just last summer for free concerts. The closing is mysteriously sudden. I do agree though that when it gets an extreme makeover that it shouldn't cater to kids.
CanadianNational
Senior Member
I agree. Embracing the adult would sharpen it's edge.
I think BIG should be approached about the revitalization of Ontario Place. It would seem like a natural fit - sexy, fun, innovative and spashy stuff.
I think BIG should be approached about the revitalization of Ontario Place. It would seem like a natural fit - sexy, fun, innovative and spashy stuff.
J
Josef
Guest
Glass condos please 
calimehtar
Active Member
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1180717--can-sad-empty-ontario-place-become-magical-again
Pretty much sums up my own opinion on the subject.
Micallef, part of the demographic poised to make future family memories, hopes Ontario Place is turned into a 24-hour, all-season space free to enter and a continuation of the public waterfront. The lagoons should stay, and potentially some amusements that might need updating.
People should live at Ontario Place, he says, in well-designed buildings ensuring there is always life on the site. Above all, he says, the province must save the pods — the great, white, water-crab buildings squatting over the lagoon — and the geodesic dome Cinesphere they seem to protect.
“They're stunning pieces of unique Toronto architectural heritage that no other city has. Losing them would be a crime.â€
People should live at Ontario Place, he says, in well-designed buildings ensuring there is always life on the site. Above all, he says, the province must save the pods — the great, white, water-crab buildings squatting over the lagoon — and the geodesic dome Cinesphere they seem to protect.
“They're stunning pieces of unique Toronto architectural heritage that no other city has. Losing them would be a crime.â€
Pretty much sums up my own opinion on the subject.
coolcanadian
Banned
I agree that we need to think BIG here -- keep the original architecture, but add on and transform OP into a world class attraction!
Automation Gallery
Superstar
The whole waterfront is being taken over with residential development, i disagree with people living at a future Ontario Place...keep it a public space
MetroMan
Senior Member
I don't want to see any residential at Ontario Place. There are plenty of neighbourhoods surrounding it to keep it active with people. Otherwise, my opinion is similar: open the grounds to the public and charge for individual attractions -- which should not be run by the province but privatized instead.
- Make the Cinesphere an actual IMAX movie theatre. When it was opened, IMAX movies were generally documentaries filmed specifically for these types of venues. Today, mainstream IMAX movies are released regularly. The Cinesphere would make a killing as a movie theatre. Perhaps smaller spheres could be built around it to add a few more theatres for regular films. I'm sure Cineplex or AMC would be eager to take over the screens and lease the property.
- The Pods are an excellent location for the Science Centre. The current location is inaccessible. Sell that property and use the proceeds to transform the Ontario Place pods into a 21st Century Science Centre on the waterfront.
- The Waterpark should also be privatized. Lease it to an amusement park operator. From what I recall, the waterpark was the most used attraction at Ontario Place. I believe there would be no shortage of bidders.
- The parking lots in front of Ontario Place are the perfect location for a Casino/Hotel. This is being discussed in the Casino thread so I won't get too much into it, but MGM is willing to spend billions to build and run a casino on Toronto's waterfront. The solution to Ontario Place is staring us right in the face. A casino can be urban and beautiful. It doesn't have to be gaudy and tasteless.
Finally, connect Ontario Place over Lakeshore Blvd. with the upcoming Festival Plaza @ Exhibition Place. Decking over Lakeshore for a short section, creating a park shouldn't be too expensive. Bring the streetcar line down one more stop to Lakeshore. Continue building up the new neighbourhoods along Lakeshore and in Liberty Village. An open -- no gates -- Ontario Place would no doubt become a desirable place to spend a day or just to walk the dog or to have dinner or to watch a movie.
Like John Tory said, let's make something doable. This doesn't need to be as ambitious as the original Ontario Place project. What we have there just needs to be adapted to the 21st Century.
- Make the Cinesphere an actual IMAX movie theatre. When it was opened, IMAX movies were generally documentaries filmed specifically for these types of venues. Today, mainstream IMAX movies are released regularly. The Cinesphere would make a killing as a movie theatre. Perhaps smaller spheres could be built around it to add a few more theatres for regular films. I'm sure Cineplex or AMC would be eager to take over the screens and lease the property.
- The Pods are an excellent location for the Science Centre. The current location is inaccessible. Sell that property and use the proceeds to transform the Ontario Place pods into a 21st Century Science Centre on the waterfront.
- The Waterpark should also be privatized. Lease it to an amusement park operator. From what I recall, the waterpark was the most used attraction at Ontario Place. I believe there would be no shortage of bidders.
- The parking lots in front of Ontario Place are the perfect location for a Casino/Hotel. This is being discussed in the Casino thread so I won't get too much into it, but MGM is willing to spend billions to build and run a casino on Toronto's waterfront. The solution to Ontario Place is staring us right in the face. A casino can be urban and beautiful. It doesn't have to be gaudy and tasteless.
Finally, connect Ontario Place over Lakeshore Blvd. with the upcoming Festival Plaza @ Exhibition Place. Decking over Lakeshore for a short section, creating a park shouldn't be too expensive. Bring the streetcar line down one more stop to Lakeshore. Continue building up the new neighbourhoods along Lakeshore and in Liberty Village. An open -- no gates -- Ontario Place would no doubt become a desirable place to spend a day or just to walk the dog or to have dinner or to watch a movie.
Like John Tory said, let's make something doable. This doesn't need to be as ambitious as the original Ontario Place project. What we have there just needs to be adapted to the 21st Century.
khris
Senior Member
Metroman, I agree with basically everything you said. Casinos can be beautiful and Montreal did it right:
calimehtar
Active Member
For what it's worth, I think there should be residential near Ontario Place, but not *in* Ontario Place, though.
The area around it is currently inaccessible on foot, and I think that's a major problem that will get worse unless it's addressed somehow. The scale of the entire Exhibition Place and Ontario Place area is designed for automobiles, but as congestion inevitably increases, that becomes less of an advantage all the time.
The amount of time required to walk to Exhibition Place from the nearest residential area (if you can find the underground walkway you can get from Liberty Village in about 20 minutes according to Google.. and the nearest waterfront condos east are the same distance), and sheer banality of the spaces in-between make Ontario Place just barely accessible on foot for the people closest to it. For everyone else it might as well be in Markham.
Putting appropriate residential and commercial developments nearby would fix that problem, and could even turn it into a year-round attraction.
The area around it is currently inaccessible on foot, and I think that's a major problem that will get worse unless it's addressed somehow. The scale of the entire Exhibition Place and Ontario Place area is designed for automobiles, but as congestion inevitably increases, that becomes less of an advantage all the time.
The amount of time required to walk to Exhibition Place from the nearest residential area (if you can find the underground walkway you can get from Liberty Village in about 20 minutes according to Google.. and the nearest waterfront condos east are the same distance), and sheer banality of the spaces in-between make Ontario Place just barely accessible on foot for the people closest to it. For everyone else it might as well be in Markham.
Putting appropriate residential and commercial developments nearby would fix that problem, and could even turn it into a year-round attraction.
Torontovibe
Senior Member
I agree with much of that but not the residential. I can see a hotel but I would not want regular condos on that park. I'm also not so comfortable about a casino at Ontario Place and the negative aspects that come with them. (dead space)
Ontario Place should be a public, 24 hour, all year FREE public park. Only the attractions should be ticketed. It would also make a great venue for many of Toronto's festivals. More and more festivals are created every year, so why not use Ontario Place and its amenities to hold them, including the Cinesphere, for film festivals? The park needs to build more indoor spaces, nightclubs, nice restaurants and large scale attractions. If they could rebuild the old Children's Village, that would be a huge plus because that place was AWESOME! I got more exercise there in one day, that I did in a week in North York. (and yes, it was FREE!) A privately run water park is something to be explored. Even right to the end, the water park was quite popular. I noticed that when I was there last summer. It was the most popular part of the park.
The downfall of Ontario Place started, for me, when they turned the pod spaces over to a private company (Atlantis) and stopped the general public from having access. It took away amusements like the baseball museum and the large entertainment shows like the disco dance challenge. (I forget what it was called) Those pods hosted entertainment and educational attractions. Closing the Forum was also a HUGE loss. The shows there were incredible. Then you had all the central area drinking establishments and independent restaurants (near the Forum) that adults used to put to good use. Many of those bars were packed full most nights.
Also the west stage (with the waterfall) was a good entertainment district, for nightly music and concerts. That whole area was surrounded with cool bars and huge outdoor patios built surrounding the west stage. Once they stopped the nightly entertainment and closed down all the bars and night clubs, the west stage lost it's reason for being. All the night clubs were closed to make way for fast food restaurants and useless stores. It became a very quiet area.
Even Ontario North Now was watered down after the few first years. It seemed that when displays or computer screens broke down, they were not repaired, they were just removed. It was death by neglect. If you don't maintain the attractions, there is no way to go but down.
I've been going to OP since the year it opened and I can say that back in the 70's it was a great place for children and adults to enjoy. In the later years, it became a park for young children only and that was a huge mistake.
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dt_toronto_geek
Superstar
I'm with everything MetroMan states above. To add to that, remove the existing streetcar loop and extend the track in a loop around the Exhibition grounds to the west and then eastbound so that an Ontario Place stop can be added to the south on the way back into the city.
Putting residential in or near an amusement park with a concert venue is just bad planning. Parkdale residents complained for years about the concerts at the Grandstand and since then the airshow for 4 days, not to mention traffic chaos during the CNE. Imagine all the problems of new nearby condo residents with concerts at the 16,000 seat Molson Amphitheatre and if Ontario Place moves to a more year round venue - possibly with more noisy rides that operate spring through fall along with pedestrian and traffic chaos, this will be a year 'round nightmare for the local Councillor.
Putting residential in or near an amusement park with a concert venue is just bad planning. Parkdale residents complained for years about the concerts at the Grandstand and since then the airshow for 4 days, not to mention traffic chaos during the CNE. Imagine all the problems of new nearby condo residents with concerts at the 16,000 seat Molson Amphitheatre and if Ontario Place moves to a more year round venue - possibly with more noisy rides that operate spring through fall along with pedestrian and traffic chaos, this will be a year 'round nightmare for the local Councillor.
adma
Superstar
I'm not so sure about the "moving the Science Centre" part; sounds to me like robbing Peter (or Ray) on behalf of Paul (or Eb)
MetroMan
Senior Member
The Science Centre is headed towards the same fate as Ontario Place with declining attendance and relevance. It can't survive on school field trips alone. Walk ups and tourist dollars would revive it. Moving the Science Centre to Ontario Place would solve two problems in one. Do you really think Scarborough is benefitting from having the Science Centre? All 10 of the surrounding strip mall businesses? I think the pods @ Ontario Place would make the perfect home. Montreal has their Science Centre in the Old Port and I see tourists walking up all the time. I too visited it my first time in Montreal because I stumbled on to it. If it were out in the boonies, there's no way I would have gone.
CanadianNational
Senior Member
I think the original Science Centre building is a Toronto icon - I'm not sure I'd want to see the Science Centre move out of it. It had a big renovation a few years back. How's it been doing since in terms of attendance?
That said, if any place was going to be a new home, Ontario Place would be a natural fit. Not only would the pods be a good fit, the Cinesphere would be a natural - even indispensible - complement.
It would also be a place where the science centre could expand - on the the Ex side, attached to the enclosed bridge over the lagoon, alongside the main entrance.
I think the idea of the site becoming a public park with separately ticketed attractions is an excellent one. Also, the idea of the streetcar loop being brought south through Exhibition, then back east.
If any residential was going to go in at Ontario Place, I'd like to see mixed/heavy use live/work only. So you could have artisans working on site with metal, glass, welding and industrial-strength materials and the like, alongside artists and performers.
That said, if any place was going to be a new home, Ontario Place would be a natural fit. Not only would the pods be a good fit, the Cinesphere would be a natural - even indispensible - complement.
It would also be a place where the science centre could expand - on the the Ex side, attached to the enclosed bridge over the lagoon, alongside the main entrance.
I think the idea of the site becoming a public park with separately ticketed attractions is an excellent one. Also, the idea of the streetcar loop being brought south through Exhibition, then back east.
If any residential was going to go in at Ontario Place, I'd like to see mixed/heavy use live/work only. So you could have artisans working on site with metal, glass, welding and industrial-strength materials and the like, alongside artists and performers.
jje1000
Senior Member
Things could very much change once the Eglinton LRT gets to it. That being said, the Science Centre needs to keep on renovating- the new parts are nice, but there's still quite a bit that hasn't been fixed up yet.