Archinect - News

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...

An Obama-era renewable energy project is finally about to break ground in Southern California

2022-06-17T19:05:00-04:00

The massive plot of land reserved for renewable energy production by an aging federal policy in Southern California’s Inyo County has finally gotten the go-ahead for development years after its initial announcement by the Obama Administration.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) finally approved the start of construction of the two first projects contained in the 10.8 million-acre Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) after an elongated environment review and years of political toggling. The photovoltaic arrays are said to be capable of powering up to 130,000 homes and generating $5.9 million in what the Bureau calls “annual operational economic benefits” to the landlocked region.

Previously on Archinect: California to build solar panels over canals following UC graduate’s research

Construction will begin as early as the week of June 13 and could soon be followed by a potential third project pending BLM approval. The agency estimated that the plan requires a total invest...

Even after improved plan, Lucas Museum still mired in legal and financial problems

2016-04-20T13:00:00-04:00

this plan creates a new complication all its own: a financing scheme that involves borrowing nearly $1.2 billion and extending five taxes beyond their expiration dates: Tax dollars collected in 2066 still would be paying off a deal cut a half-century earlier, in 2016. [...] By law both proposed museum sites are submerged lake bottom and have special protections. [...] If you're a citizen, you own what's called a fractional beneficial interest in this public trust land. You can use it.

Get caught up on the rocky development history of Chicago's Lucas Museum of Narrative Art: