uoft landmark project parking

Toronto parking garage called 'waste of money' but there's more than meets the eye

The University of Toronto's Landmark Project has turned a corner with the completion of its largest element with the opening of a new underground garage below King's College Circle — but some are calling this addition to the campus a colossal waste of money.

The new parking garage below the front campus, which ran a bill in the millions of dollars and took three years to construct, accommodates just 263 vehicles and 88 bicycles in a densely-populated area of the city just steps from multiple subway stations and streetcar lines.

A parking garage is, somewhat ironically, the centrepiece in the Landmark Project's bid to lower carbon emissions at the U of T's St. George Campus, as the structure was built as the capstone in a massive geothermal energy field that stretches deep underground.

Harnessing thermal energy far below the surface to heat and cool buildings, this project is expected to cut down on carbon emissions at the campus by 30 per cent.

It accomplishes this through almost 375 boreholes that stretch an astonishing 240 metres below ground — about as deep as the Commerce Court West and CIBC Square office towers are tall.

The geothermal field is anticipated to help the campus slash carbon emissions by approximately 15,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases annually.

Despite the geothermal energy project's contributions to a cleaner environment, the seven-figure price tag and the choice to cap it all off with infrastructure that will support more polluting vehicles on campus—a stone's throw from transit—have some calling the project a waste of money.


"Absolute waste of money especially in downtown Toronto where real estate is at a premium," says another user. 

"For a city that advocates on climate change blah blah blah, encouraging driving is the last thing you should do."

"I am embarrassed as a UofT grad student in transportation, and many of my colleagues are too," reads one comment on X. "My prof and most others commute by bike or public transit (GO Train, TTC)"

Others echoed this sentiment, arguing that the garage should have been used to store more bikes versus cars.

"City needs to up the bike minimums," reads another comment, adding, "In the core it's crazy to be building anything less than 1:1…especially for students and given the ebike surge."

Luckily, nothing is ever really permanent in this city. And with enough complaining, the masses could get their way and have this parking lot converted into an enormous bicycle storage area in the years or decades to come.

Lead photo by

University of Toronto


Latest Videos



Latest Videos


Join the conversation Load comments

Latest in City

Highly-resistant 'super lice' are taking over Canada and here's what you need to know

New Toronto neighbourhood will have a street where cars are banned

Toronto ranks among the wealthiest cities in the world

There are two species of ultra-rare cactus actually native to Ontario

TTC will shut down an over 7km stretch of subway track this weekend

The empty space that replaced Toronto's waterfront skating rink is now open

Record-breaking Ontario-U.S. border bridge closing in on biggest milestone yet

Massive 'glacial-pace' line at Toronto bike share station raises questions about system