Toronto's popular indoor obstacle course is closing this weekend

One of the city's most popular spots for unique indoor play is closing its doors this weekend, at least temporarily, as it works to relocate over the next few months.

Pursuit OCR has held ground at 444 Dufferin Street for the past several years, but like the other tenants in the old warehouse building, it must find a new place to call home. 

The company's owners got word last November that the landlord and developers were looking to transform the space into a series of residential buildings.

"This was definitely a choice that was made for us to a degree," said Zach Kieri, a Kettlebell Coach at Pursuit.

"The redevelopment of the space was not something we were consulted on, and in my experience this is not often what you can expect."

The company has been successful over the years, amassing a loyal following of patrons who enjoy the experience of an indoor obstacle so close to both West Queen West and Parkdale.

For a business that needs the kind of square footage that Pursuit does, the odds of finding another downtown location that could accommodate the large and customized obstacle courses proved slim, and it eventually landed on a new spot in Rexdale.

Kieri notes that "as much as a new development like this is often needed, if consideration for services and small businesses isn't taken into account, the city is going to look a lot different from the one we're used to."

Climbers, ball-pit lovers, and kids at heart alike can look forward to the new facilities opening up sometime this summer.