Waterfront Development named semi-finalist in Heroes Competition

January 8, 2010 - The votes are in and ‘Waterfront Development’ was named a semi-finalist in Torontoist’s Heroes and Villains of 2009 competition. Launched by popular website Torontoist in late December, the contest asked readers to vote for the very best and worst people, places and things in Toronto during 2009. The ‘Waterfront Development’ category, which featured a wonderful illustration of the Simcoe WaveDeck, was nominated thanks to what Torontoist called the 'palpable turning point' in waterfront development during 2009. Torontoist highlighted the opening of the Simcoe and Rees wavedecks, groundbreakings at Sherbourne Park and Canada’s Sugar Beach, and Toronto’s winning PanAm bid as evidence of momentum on the waterfront.

Of the twenty four Heroes selected by Torontoist for the competition, Waterfront Development easily moved on to the second round of voting after earning more votes than The Power Plant Gallery in the first round of voting. In the second round, Waterfront Development surpassed Scramble Intersections to make it to the semi-finalist round where after a close battle, Wildlife triumphed and moved on to the finals. More than 30,000 votes were cast during the competition whose ultimate winner was the Toronto Public Library.

2010 promises even more activity on the waterfront with groundbreakings for Don River Park and Underpass Park in the West Don Lands planned for this spring. Canada’s Sugar Beach and Sherbourne Park will open later this summer and both parks will be connected by a new 19 metre wide stretch of water’s edge promenade. Construction is also about to start in the Central Waterfront where Waterfront Toronto and Harbourfront Centre are replacing a 1.4 hectare surface parking lot with an underground parking garage — this will free up the surface area for future public space and a thriving cultural/retail village.