Latest news with #Therme
Hamilton Spectator
7 days ago
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
What's happening with Ontario Place's taxpayer-funded parking garage? City staff say they're in the dark
City of Toronto officials are awaiting the Ford government's decision on a massive taxpayer-funded parking lot for Therme spa customers after talks about building it at city-owned Exhibition Place paused last autumn. The possible location and cost of the garage, with at least 1,600 spots for Therme's privately owned spa resort and water park to be erected at neighbouring Ontario Place , has been one of many controversial aspects of the province's waterfront redevelopment plan. Premier Doug Ford's government originally envisioned a multi-level underground lot on Ontario Place grounds, which will also host an expanded Budweiser Stage concert venue and relocated Ontario Science Centre. Amid alarm over the cost of building underground on lake-surrounded landfill, however, provincial officials started talking to city staff about building the parkade — above or below ground — at city-owned Exhibition Place. Toronto city council heard Thursday that city staff are not clear on the province's parking lot intentions but expect to know some time in 2025. A 'technical table' of provincial and city representatives met a number of times in 2024, most recently last fall, and now 'the province is doing due diligence on its options and a decision is expected some time later this year,' David Stonehouse, directory of the city's waterfront secretariat, told city council on Thursday. Coun. Parthi Kandavel said some of his Scarborough Southwest constituents want to know if the city can say yes or no to a parking lot at Exhibition Place. Stonehouse replied: 'Any decision to utilize land at Exhibition Place for parking would be a council decision and the subject of a future city council report.' Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma's office had not replied, at publication time, to the Star's inquiries about Ontario Place initiatives, including the parking garage. A report to councillors outlining the province's Ontario Place moves so far, however, illustrates that it can and will overrule Toronto to move the revamp forward, with sweeping powers granted through a ministerial zoning order and the Rebuilding Ontario Place Act of 2023. For example, when city hall delayed approval of transfer of 16 acres of city land at Ontario Place — six on land, 10 on water — Queen's Park simply transferred ownership from the city to the province. The legislation requires the province to pay the city 'fair market compensation,' the report says, with the city expecting to learn what it will get later this year. Even with construction underway at the waterfront site, the location, size, cost and form of the parking garage remain undecided. Even with construction underway at the waterfront site, the location, size, cost and form of the parking garage remain undecided. Toronto often negotiates public benefits, such as parkland, with developers seeking approvals for large redevelopment projects within city borders. The Ford government, however, withdrew the city's ability to conduct a Planning Act application review of provincially owned Ontario Place. No review means the city has no mechanism to negotiate public benefits. The Rebuilding Ontario Place Act states that city and provincial officials should negotiate provincial use of municipal services and right-of-way access during redevelopment — but if they fail to reach agreement, Ontario's infrastructure minister may order the city to provide services and access on the minister's terms. However, Infrastructure Ontario has said that it will put redevelopment plans through the city of Toronto building permit process. Provincial dictates are not the only factor limiting Toronto's say over the Ontario Place revamp. As part of a 2023 'new deal' between Toronto and the province, rescuing the city's pandemic-ravaged finances, Mayor Olivia Chow and city council agreed to not fight Ford's Ontario Place vision. A provincial auditor general's report released last December pegged the parking garage's expected cost at $280 million for a four-level, above-ground parking structure at Exhibition Place, or more than $400 million for three levels above ground at Exhibition Place and one level below the Science Centre at Ontario Place. The auditor general said the process that led to the Ford government awarding Austria-based Therme a 95-year lease on the West Island site was not fair or transparent. Undeterred by critics, Ford said last month that 'we're moving forward on this, and we're going to go as quickly as possible.'
National Post
06-05-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Adam Vaughan: A bold new vision for Ontario Place
My love for Lake Ontario began when I was young. Like many people, my parents were not born in Canada. We didn't have a family cottage up north to escape to every summer. Our family stayed in Toronto and the waterfront was our playground. It's why I've spent my career fighting to make the waterfront an even better place to live, work and play. I've represented this part of Toronto at city hall and in Parliament. Article content Article content Article content I see Therme — which is developing a public park and beach, along with a water park and spa at Ontario Place — as a great addition to the work I've done. This is why I've joined their team. Article content Article content Over my career, I've helped lead movements to build waterfront parks and improve transit. I served on Harbourfront Centre's board and, while in politics, helped create new cultural facilities on Queen's Quay. I also worked to deliver the budget for Waterfront Toronto, to naturalize the Don Valley and move a vision for the Port Lands forward. Article content But more importantly, I've made sure we didn't just protect affordable housing along the shore of Lake Ontario, I helped build new social housing in the area, to make sure Toronto really does have a clean, green waterfront for all. Article content Critics have thrown everything at Therme's project. It's too big, too exclusive, too foreign, too expensive, too this and too that. It's too bad. Article content You have to wonder what these protesters would have said about the original Ontario Place. Imagine the push-back to dumping contaminated landfill in the lake to make artificial islands and then surrounding them with acres of surface parking lots on the water's edge. How would they have responded to a ticketed regional tourist draw with futuristic architecture, a luxury yacht club and fast-food outlets? Article content Article content To be clear, Therme is not doing any of this. But that's how the original Ontario Place was built in the 1970s. Article content Article content Therme's new facility is different. Plans include indoor water slides and pools, as well as places to indulge yourself with a massage or a sauna. It will be a place to bring kids or hang with friends or just relax on your own and have fun. Article content I've been to Therme's locations in Germany and Romania. Therme is not elitist or an expensive experience. It's affordable, popular and entirely in keeping with what Ontario Place used to be. Article content There is, however, one key departure from the original design. The admission gates to the grounds are being removed. Accessing the waterfront and the new green space the size of Trinity Bellwoods Park will be free at Ontario Place. You won't need a ticket to have a picnic or watch the sun set over Lake Ontario ever again. Article content One thing I hope everyone can agree on is that ever since the pods closed, free access to the water's edge has proven to be a good thing. The success of Trillium Park needs to be celebrated and expanded. Therme is excited to deliver around 16 acres of publicly accessible green space along the water's edge, with more shoreline habitat and over 3,000 new trees planted next to the lake. Building more parks is good for the people of Toronto.
CBC
05-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Adam Vaughan joins Ontario Place spa developer Therme
Former city councillor and ex-MP Adam Vaughan, long one of the sharpest critics of Doug Ford's plans for Toronto's waterfront, is now working for Therme Canada, the company developing a luxury spa at Ontario Place. In an interview with CBC News, Vaughan revealed that he has been hired as a senior adviser to Therme, the Austrian company granted a 95-year lease to build a destination spa and indoor water park on the west island of Ontario Place, the provincially-owned site on the city's lakeshore. Vaughan describes his job with Therme as "speaking to the public about what an incredible project this is" and heaped praise on Ontario's premier for the overall vision. "I'd be the first person to criticize Doug Ford if I thought he was doing a bad thing in Toronto," Vaughan told CBC News. "This is a good project and I'm totally wholeheartedly in support of it. When new facts, new ideas, and more importantly, great ideas appear on the waterfront, I'll be the first to champion them every single time." As recently as 2019, when he was still the Liberal MP for Trinity-Spadina, Vaughan made a statement in the House of Commons criticizing the plans Ford was floating for Ontario Place, and said the provincial government had "put a for sale sign on the site." Vaughan went on to say that Ford's Progressive Conservatives were "talking about a mall or worse — a casino on the waterfront." "What a waste. What a terrible deficit of imagination. The people of Ontario, the folks of our city, the Toronto Liberal caucus want to keep Ontario Place a public place." When CBC News showed Vaughan that statement during his interview, he responded: "They abandoned the idea of a casino. They're not building a mall. What they're building is a park." "It's a blend of paid attractions, ours being one of them, but it's also an amazing set of new green spaces with restored habitat, and beaches that you don't need hiking boots to get to," he said. Last December, Ontario's auditor general criticized the provincial government's handling of the Ontario Place redevelopment, a project that has ballooned to cost the public purse $2.2 billion. The auditor called the process for selecting new tenants at the property neither transparent nor fair. The auditor's report found that Therme Group, the international parent company of Therme Canada, did not own and operate five of the six spas cited in its bid submission to Infrastructure Ontario. Those findings got renewed attention in April as a result of a New York Times story that questioned whether Therme exaggerated its credentials in its pitch, including whether the company had the $100 million in equity the province required as a minimum qualification. Critics react to allegations that Therme misrepresented itself to get Ontario Place deal 18 days ago Duration 2:40 Ontario's government plan to build a luxury spa on the former site of Ontario Place is under the microscope again after allegations that Therme falsely presented itself to secure the 95-year deal. CBC's Shawn Jeffords has the story. "The reason the bid won was because we met the criteria," said Vaughan. "We have three major investors that are part of our consortium," he said. "That's part of our financial structure. That's what was presented to the government." 'We're listening and the province is listening' The auditor also criticized the province for failing to hold any public consultations on the overall vision for Ontario Place until after its anchor tenants were selected. But in his interview with CBC News, Vaughan said there have been "a tonne of public consultations." "We're listening and the province is listening." He said the consultations called for such things as an accessible path to the waterfront, public beaches people can swim at and the rehabilitation of contaminated soil on the site. "All of those good things are happening and they're happening for the public and they're going to be free," Vaughan said. Therme is investing $500 million to build its facility and another $200 million in the 6.5 hectares of public space around the spa, according to the business case made public by the province. While the business case claimed Therme would pay nearly $2 billion in lease and maintenance payments over the 95-year term, the auditor pointed out that figure doesn't account for inflation, and estimated the net proceeds to the province at $153 million in today's dollars. "When you look at the park, when you look at the new beach, when you look at the change, on balance, I think it's an idea that we have to get behind in Toronto," said Vaughan. As for supporting a project so staunchly backed by Ford, one of his fiercest political opponents, Vaughan said he's "never been afraid to disagree with him."
New York Times
16-04-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Ontario Premier Orders Review of Major Toronto Waterfront Lease
The premier of Ontario on Wednesday said that he had asked his government to look into a deal that the province signed with a European wellness company to develop and operate a spa and water park off Toronto's coveted waterfront. Premier Doug Ford's request that the lease be re-examined came after a New York Times investigation found that the company, Therme, had overstated its experience during the bidding process. After the yearslong process, the province signed a nearly century-long lease last year with the Austrian-based company to develop an artificial island just off the coast of downtown Toronto in Lake Ontario. 'When I heard this, this allegation, I went directly to the minister and to the deputy and said, 'Here, look into this',' Mr. Ford told the news media in Toronto on Wednesday. 'I just want to double- and triple-check the contract,' Mr. Ford said. 'We'll look into it, make sure everything passes a smell test.' The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. During the bidding process, the company owned and operated only one wellness facility, in Romania, outside Bucharest. But the Times investigation found that it had claimed to be running four to six facilities in Europe in its submissions to the Ontario government. The misstatement of Therme's actual experience was first raised in an in-depth audit of the deal by Ontario's auditor general that was released late last year. The Times investigation found that the company had, over the course of several years, presented itself as one and the same as a bigger, older, well-known German firm by the same name that does operate several water parks. The two companies both told The Times that they had a 'knowledge-sharing agreement.' A representative for Therme said that its wording could have been more precise, and that references to its success in Germany were meant to communicate that the plan's concept had been successful. Therme's statements about its experience weighed significantly in Ontario's decision to grant it the Toronto lease, The Times investigation found. Therme bought one of the German spas late last year. 'I understand they're all one company, so one bought the other company,' Mr. Ford said on Wednesday. 'So I guess they're a larger, stronger company, but they're going to look into this allegation.' Therme did not buy the German Therme, they are not one company, and the acquisition of the single German spa happened well after it submitted its bid to the Ontario government and won the lease. The project on Toronto's high-value waterfront has been an ongoing saga for the Ford government, which has faced resistance from local residents who wanted to preserve the space as a public park. In October, the province cut down more than 800 trees on the land to prepare it for handing over to Therme. Therme is contractually obligated to begin construction by next spring; it has not yet secured outside financing for the project. The development has been long criticized by Ontario opposition parties. Marit Stiles, the opposition leader in the Ontario legislature, called for the agreement to be canceled. 'I think it's better to get this over with now and cancel the deal, and we've been saying that since Day 1,' Ms. Stiles said on Wednesday. She added: 'Look, Ontario never asked for this. That land was being put to good public use.' Mr. Ford said canceling the contract was not on the table. 'This is going to be something spectacular at the end of the day,' he said. 'It'll be the No. 1 one tourist attraction, I say in the country, next to Niagara Falls.'
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ford seeks answers after firm accused of misrepresentation in Ontario Place bid
Premier Doug Ford is seeking answers following an explosive report Wednesday that alleged the European company selected to develop the land at Ontario Place into a world-class spa misrepresented itself during the bidding process. According to the New York Times, Therme Group exaggerated its track record of building and managing luxury spas throughout Europe to secure the deal from the Ontario government. 'When I heard this allegation I went directly to the Minister (of Infrastructure) and to the deputy and said, 'Here, look into this,'' Ford told reporters Wednesday. He added, 'they're going to look into this allegation and find out. Make sure that all the t's are crossed i's are dotted.' According to the report, the Austria-based firm claimed it was involved in as many as half a dozen spas in Europe when it was one of 34 companies that submitted a bid to redevelop Ontario Place. However, the report alleged the wellness company had only built and operated just one, near Bucharest, Romania, in 2016. 'Therme Group has proven the success of its concept with six globally placed facilities under operation,' the company said in its 2019 bid. The paper cited corporate filings in three countries and spoke to a dozen people involved with the company's operations. Therme's finances appeared to be on shaky ground when it bid on the Toronto lakefront property after auditors noticed it was bleeding money and had less than 1 million euros ($1.58 million) in equity. The Ontario Place deal involves a 95-year lease of the artificial island following an unusual process that required bidders to sign nondisclosure agreements. People involved in the bids revealed that the NDA allowed the province to select the company it wanted whether it met the requirements or if a proposal was even filed. The government also exempted the development from specific environmental reviews and classified it as a real-estate transaction. Infrastructure Ontario said in a statement to the Times that the bidding process needed to be flexible while still being 'infused with some of the best practices from more formal procurements.' Ford said on Wednesday that Therme's development of Ontario Place is part of a larger vision for Toronto's waterfront. 'We have Live Nation, the public realm, we have the marina there, they're going to have restaurants and events all around the public realm,' Ford said. 'This is going to be something spectacular at the end of the day. It will be the number one tourist attraction I say in the country next to … Niagara Falls.' Ford didn't confirm whether there would be an investigation into Therme's bid but did reiterate that the government will 'double and triple check' to make sure that 'everything passes the smell test.' However, it appears Therme's claims of building and running spas in Europe gave the Ontario government the belief at the time that the firm had 'a proven track record in delivering similar projects,' government staffers evaluating the bid noted. According to the report, the company's logo — based on Italian artist Sandro Botticelli's Venus painting — is similar to another European spa company with the same name at the time. Therme's founder, Robert Hanea, told the Times that he was seeking inspiration for land he owned near Bucharest, which was located on top of geothermal springs. He toured spas and water parks in Europe beginning in the mid-2000s and visited the thermal baths of Erding, Germany, close to Munich. Hanea said he became friends with owner Josef Wund, whose company was called Therme. The German businessman and architect built and owned several spas throughout the country beginning in the 1990s. Inspired by Wund's waterpark, Hanea opened his Romanian spa nine years ago and called it Therme Bucharest in what appears to be an homage to Wund's business. A year later, the 79-year-old Wund was killed when his private plane crashed in Germany. The Times reported that while Hanea did not inherit Wund's company, he allegedly incorporated the German business into his story. That appears to have helped him when he submitted his bid to the Ontario government, the report alleged. In December, Hanea's company bought the German spa company with a $335 million loan secured from Sydney-based investment firm Macquarie Capital. Plans are also in the works to build additional spas in Manchester, England, Dubai, Washington, D.C., and Dallas. Ford government fires back at critical AG report that targets Ontario Place, Ontario Science Centre Ontario Place redevelopment costs grow by $1.8 billion, AG alleges unfair process Ontario promises 1,600 dedicated parking spots for Therme spa at Ontario Place: lease
