Toronto built a multimillion-dollar parking garage and nobody is using it

The new St. Lawrence Market North Building opened to much fanfare this spring after nearly a decade of construction, but one component of the $128 million landmark at Front and Jarvis is still sitting largely unused.

The Toronto Parking Authority's (TPA) recently opened Carpark 72, located in the underground levels of the new market building at 92 Front St. E., added what was believed to be much-needed parking capacity at one of the city's biggest tourist draws. 

On the contrary, new data reveals that the 250-space parkade is, in fact, one of TPA's least-used parking lots.

TPA released quarterly usage data on its 465 off-street parking facilities in Toronto in response to a June request from Paul Ainslie, Councillor for Scarborough-Guildwood Ward 24.

Coming as somewhat of a surprise, the new lot at St. Lawrence Market North proved one of the least busy in Toronto in terms of average daily peak occupancy.

The data has been neatly compiled by Matt Elliott in his weekly City Hall Watcher newsletter, with the 92 Front St. E. lot standing in 10th place for lowest average daily peak occupancy.

The garage and market building were mired in years of planning and construction, complicated by archaeological discoveries during preliminary excavation, and further hampered by labour disputes and skyrocketing construction costs.

Throughout the years of planning, design changes, construction, and other challenges, the price of the redevelopment increased by more than $50 million and eventually totalled a staggering $128 million by the time all was said and done.