Toronto and Vancouver enhance waterfronts for sports

The city of Vancouver is showing the public its plans for phase one of the Southeast False Creek project this week.
Southeast False Creek is the last remaining large tract of undeveloped waterfront land in the downtown area. The first phase of redevelopment is to use city-owned lands to build the Olympic Athletes’ Village for 2010. There are also plans already for other infrastructure such as parks, streets, bikeways, community energy systems, etc. After the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, the buildings on the site will be used for affordable and market housing, and a neighbourhood community centre.
Last month, the city issued a call for proposals for the design and construction of the buildings in phase one and is currently reviewing the submissions. Five developer teams have submitted expressions of interest: Concert Properties, Concord Pacific Group, Millennium Group, Wall Financial, and Windmill Development Group.
Meanwhile, across the other side of Canada, the city of Toronto has begun construction of a $27-million watercourse in Toronto’s Western Beaches. The watercourse is to be built by June 2006 in time for the city to host the International Dragon Boat Federation Club Crew World Championships. However, it will be a permanent city-owned facility to be used for training in sports such as rowing, canoeing and kayaking, as well as for competitive events.
The president of the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation, John Campbell, said the project is the first large-scale improvement to Toronto’s central waterfront, and promised “more will follow in short order.”
The 600-metre watercourse is located west of Ontario Place, fronting on Marilyn Bell Park. Construction of the course means building a break wall about 135 metres from shore. It will rise up to three metres out of the water. Over 200,000 tonnes of stone will be used to build the breakwater, of which 85% will be recycled stone and will include concrete from an existing break wall.