A vacant heritage building that once housed an incinerator for the city’s garbage will soon have a second chance at life. Known as the Wellington Destructor, the roughly 40,000 square foot brick building — located on the west side of downtown Toronto — was built in 1925 before it stopped operating in the mid-1970s.

Two California-based companies have been selected by the city to develop and operate a new $250 million film, television and digital media hub along Toronto’s waterfront.

The door rolled up, and the grey light of day spilled across a floor of pockmarked wooden blocks. City Councillor Joe Cressy held up the door with his umbrella, and we took in the vast space in which we were standing: brick-walled, high-roofed, waiting for a new purpose.

While the lack of affordable homes in Toronto has been prevalent for years, COVID-19 has shone a light on how dire the situation is, including for front-line workers who have struggled to access safe housing throughout the pandemic.

The Wellington Destructor, the old garbage incinerator in downtown Toronto, is set to undergo a full blown trash-to-treasure transformation.

The Wellington Destructor site at 677 Wellington St. W. is centred around its namesake 3,700 square metre vacant heritage building: a 1925-built garbage incinerator that has sat idle since solid waste burning was banned in the mid-1970s.

Production was already increasing in the Canadian province prior to the pandemic, but unprecedented demand during the recovery from major streaming platforms has ignited a soundstage boom: “We’re busier than ever.”

Let’s make a deal. The city of Toronto is doing that, in the best way, in the downtown King-Spadina neighbourhood.

The City of Toronto announced plans for a park in the downtown core that will be part of a new development on City-owned property which also includes more affordable housing units.

A white sand beach, an elevated viewing platform and nature trails that hide the city’s noise are all part of the proposed plans for a new waterfront park in Toronto.