Therme shows off design of Ontario Place water park

Its new design is half the size of the original 65,000 square metre proposal

Therme’s controversial spa project has shrunk once again, leaving more room for public parks around the still-sprawling facility.

On Tuesday, Therme released new renderings of the inside of its planned Ontario Place spa and waterpark, showing off a tangle of more than 20 water slides, 14 saunas and 10 pools spread across acres of glass and tile.

Outside, on the West Island, a multi-use path will wrap around the spa, part of a public area about the size of Ramsden Park, according to Therme.

The public park will be free to use, while tickets for inside will cost about $40 for a day pass, which will include access to the pools, saunas and water slides, Therme spokesperson Adam Vaughan said, adding that the company isn’t targeting a ritzy crowd.

For example, a day pass for Thermea Spa Village in Whitby, which is not associated with Therme, is $119.

“This notion that it’s a luxury, elitist spot — we’re not generating the numbers that we’re talking about if we’re only serving affluent parts of the population. This is — this is fun,” he said.

Construction will start next year, hopefully when the ground thaws in spring, Vaughan said. The spa company said Premier Doug Ford’s hope for a 2029 opening date seems realistic.

Inside: from family fun to ‘a rave vibe’

The new spa facility has a 33,000 square metre footprint, roughly one-quarter the size of Trinity Bellwoods Park.

That’s a big change from the original proposal that came in at 65,000 square metres. Therme’s architects went back to the drawing board in August 2023 after Toronto city staff criticized the facility, arguing it “overwhelmed the public realm, heritage features and overall size of the West Island landform.”

In response, the company reduced the overall size of the project and split it into several smaller buildings arranged in a “campus-style layout,” a spokesperson said at the time.

The revamped facility will also include nine steam rooms, cold plunges and a wide mix of restaurants, bars and cafés scattered throughout.

Visitors will be able to choose from different zones depending on the kind of experience they’re after — whether that’s family-friendly fun, quiet relaxation or something more lively.

“Kind of a rave vibe on Saturday night to Tuesday morning, seniors’ dancercize in the pool,” said Gary McCluskie, a principal at Diamond Schmitt Architects.

Partying may not be the only adult-oriented option — at Therme’s Munich property, “in one of the floating pools, they have a big screen behind it … and you watch films in a floatie,” Vaughan said.

Outside: free swimming and events

Last month, the Ford government released renderings for the Ontario Place East Island and the future five-storey parking garage.

On Tuesday, the company outlined its plans for the spa itself and the West Island that will house it.

The West Island will have 16 acres of public space, including one beach, several areas to swim, and two pavilions that can host events. A multi-use trail that connects to the Martin Goodman trail on the mainland will run on top of and encircle the spa and will also connect to the East Island.

Changing facilities, including showers, will be open year-round, Vaughan said.

“Say you want to ride to work, and you’re coming in from Etobicoke, and you want to take a dip in the lake and take a shower before you get to work, you can do that at this beach,” he said.

The pavilions were designed with Indigenous principles in mind, said Terence Radford, a landscape architect with Trophic Design.

For instance, the “Wintermaker” constellation, which many will know as Orion’s Belt, “walks” across the roof of one of the pavilions as the night goes on, he said. If one stands inside during the winter solstice, the stars will line up in the perforations in the roof.

Unlike the East Island, which is more of a “park park,” the West Island will be more focused on events like Nuit Blanche or Luminato, Vaughan said.

Journalists have noted that under Therme’s lease agreement with the province, the company has the right to “conduct commercial activity” on 30 per cent of the public area. Vaughan said that will only be to support free arts events.

“For example, if they need food service, or if they need headphones to rent for a light show, or whatever it is, that gives us the ability to do it, but only with permission from Infrastructure Ontario,” Vaughan said. “It’s not for us to set up a kiosk here and start selling hot dogs. It’s more to accommodate the cultural festivals that operate.”

Despite the hot dog comment, if a free event wants to have a food truck on standby, the commercial portion of the lease will also allow for that, he said.

Therme won’t use the 30 per cent commercial allowance to set up exclusive, ticketed zones, Vaughan said.

“It’s explicit in the lease that the park must be maintained as an open, publicly accessible, free park,” he said. “It just allows us to stage events in the park that may or may not have commercial components to (them).”

While Therme plans to spend $200 million to build the West Island Park, Infrastructure Ontario will be on the hook for maintaining it, Vaughan said.

“Not the city — we want the fountains to run,” the former Toronto councillor said.

Therme expects to hit the ground running. By 2034, the fifth year of operation, the company anticipates 2.5 million annual visitors with an average weekend attendance of 7,000 people, up to 15,000 on peak days.

By Aidan Chamandy and Jack Hauen, TorontoToday.ca