Archinect - News

Legal challenge to block Toronto's controversial Ontario Place redevelopment fails in court

2024-06-24T17:06:00-04:00

The Art Newspaper is reporting on the failure of a legal challenge that would have blocked Toronto’s controversial plans to realize a massive spa complex on the site of Ontario Place after the provincial Superior Court of Justice’s June 11th decision.

The project is contentious on both heritage and environmental grounds and has likewise drawn ire from its reported costs north of $650 million CAD ($476 million USD) to taxpayers. Therme, the company behind the plan, had previously signed a 95-year lease with the city government.

The removal of Raymond Moriyama's Ontario Science Centre, which is at the heart of the issue, is also stirring debate after it closed abruptly last week over fears of collapse stemming from the flawed RAAC concrete materials used in its roof. All this is "based on a faulty business case" says a closer analysis from Elsa Lam.

Toronto’s proposed Ontario Place redevelopment is getting even more contentious

2023-01-10T14:43:00-05:00

New details are emerging in the controversial plan to redevelop Toronto’s mostly decommissioned Ontario Place after the exclusive Toronto International Film Festival unveiled further plans for a partnership with Therme Group, the Austrian entity behind the proposed $350 million project.

Local website blogTO has more details on the community’s negative response to the partnership, which will “promote the role of art and film in creating more human cities” through a series of talks spread over a ten-year period.

The online responses are only the latest thorn in the side of the provincial Ontario government and Premier Doug Ford following last summer’s harsh responses that eventually yielded a revised plan which reclassified a mere 12-acre segment of beachfront property for public use while retaining the original plan to have more than one-third of the site be developed privately.

Previously on Archinect: Toronto reveals still-contentious revised plan for proposed Ontario Place redev...

Toronto reveals still-contentious revised plan for proposed Ontario Place redevelopment

2022-12-14T12:10:00-05:00

Revised plans for the proposed Ontario Place redevelopment in Toronto are once again drawing critical attention after being submitted to the city’s planning officials at the end of November.

Storeys has the details on the updated scheme, which still calls for one-third of the 155-acre site to be privately developed — a contentious provision that has led many Torontonians to call for the plan to be rejected outright in place of something more in tune with its original use as a public attraction. The revision also reclassified a 12-acre swath of beachfront land for public use in what appears as the only slight concession.

Previously on Archinect: Torontonians aren't happy with the city's planned Ontario Place overhaul

The update also includes details for a five-level underground parking structure to be enacted between the Therme Group’s nine-story private spa and the renovated Live Nation amphitheater at the cost of over 800 trees, which is about 40% of the current iteration's total c...

Torontonians aren't happy with the city's planned Ontario Place overhaul

2022-08-30T17:46:00-04:00

Toronto residents are expressing their concerns over the Diamond Schmitt-designed plan for a massive new aquatic theme park at Ontario Place they say is “tone-deaf” and exclusionary of their basic needs.

Spurred on by the recent release of updated renderings and other details of Therme Group's second North American project, opponents say the city's Waterfront Toronto Design Review Panel needs to consider a full-tilt reassessment of the scheme on the basis of accessibility, environmental impact, and a distressing lack of free public amenities.

“This seems like another plan to take away space, livable space that we are already so short on demand of down here,” a concerned area resident recently told the CBC.

The proposed Therme Toronto development. Image courtesy of Therme.

The new development is scheduled to stand on the site of a 155-acre public park and entertainment venue from renowned local architects Michael Hough and Eberhard Zeigler that has sat mostly abandoned since closing i...

High Line developer Robert Hammond joins Therme as the company unveils a $350 million wellness theme park for NYC

2021-10-27T13:51:00-04:00

Luxury spa designer Therme Group is making a big splash as it looks to expand into the U.S. for the first time.

The megaspa makers are back with a new design that would add a “wellness theme park” to the city as part of a $350 million development proposal. That effort will be overseen by former High Line developer Robert Hammond, who has officially joined Therme according to reporting yesterday in Crain’s and the New York Post.

Hammond noted the public’s demand for spaces that come in the form of “a park and a botanical garden and a gathering place and programming,” adding that, like the High Line, Therme “combines nature, community, well-being, and art together.”

“As someone who understands firsthand the healing power of nature and the importance of mindfulness, I believe everyone needs a place where they can comfortably and affordably reconnect with themselves, nature, and the environment around them,” he added.

The group is actively searching for waterfront space in Manhattan an...

Africa-themed water park coming to central Texas

2019-06-06T13:24:00-04:00

A year ago, Kalahari Resorts and Conventions broke ground on what they billed as "America's largest indoor water park" in Round Rock, Texas.

A new convention center, hotel, and indoor water park complex slated for Round Rock, Texas, a suburb of Austin, is reportedly designed to be an "authentically African-themed all-under-one-roof experience."

Kalahari Resorts, the group behind the effort, bills the forthcoming complex as "state-of-the-art facilities and vacation-style activities [that] go way beyond your expectations." According to a project website, the new 300,000-square-foot convention center complex will feature 975 hotel rooms, a full service spa and salon, as well as "America's largest indoor waterpark," among other amenities. A Marrakesh-themed market hall and South African-themed buffet will be included among the center's dining options while a coffee shop specializing in a Rwanda-grown coffee will roast handpicked coffee beans on-site.

Kalahari Resorts already operates convention centers in the Wisconsin Dells, in Sandusky, Ohio, and in Pocono Mountain, Pennsylvania. Construction on the Texas location is well...

Selling residents on a water park during a drought

2015-08-18T12:40:00-04:00

Dublin is building a water park — in the middle of the worst drought in California’s modern history. [...] “It just looks bad, frankly ... It looks like we are out there thinking, ‘Let’s just go out there and build a water park,’ when the rest of the state is suffering.” [...] “Even if the drought weren’t to end,” said Lori Taylor, a spokeswoman for the city, “there will be a need for places where kids need to learn how to swim.”