Massive new park at Ontario Place will open next summer

There's life at Ontario Place. Aside from the peek that we got at the dilapidated grounds for the in/future festival, there's been little news about the site's future outside of delays to the opening date of the urban park that will make up phase one of the revitalization efforts.

Provincial representatives gave tours of the construction site today, which is slowly starting to reveal the shape of the park to come. The new opening date is now pegged at next summer, a more realistic goal based on the amount of work that's been done thus far (the original target for phase one was 2015).

Happy to provide an update on the progress at Ontario Place's urban park and trail. This new green space will anchor revitalization efforts! pic.twitter.com/0lMrtcIz2i

— Eleanor McMahon (@EMcMahonMPP) November 16, 2016

The 7.5 acre waterfront park will have a variety of features when it opens to the public, including granite rock faces that'll provide skyline views, a central fire pit, a waterfront trail, a boardwalk and an open-air pavilion. It all looks very promising, even as the rough outline is only coming into view now.

About 1,200 trees and plant species still need to be planted to fill the park in and to provide shade in the future. It will be sometime before the next phases of the revitalization effort take place, but it will certainly help when people can use this highly valuable waterfront site again. Ontario Place officially closed at the end of the 2012 season.