Leslie Lookout Park

Project History

The Leslie Lookout Park will be a new destination in Toronto’s Port Lands located on the Martin Goodman Trail at the entrance to Tommy Thompson Park. The park, which is on track to be completed by the end of 2023, will include a public beach, distinguished by forested dunes that will create a new multi-use community destination in Toronto’s east end.

The centrepiece of Leslie Lookout Park will be a 1.9 acre open space at 12 Leslie Street that will connect the public to the water’s edge with views of the entire length of the Ship Channel. The open space will include a viewing platform that will provide the public with dramatic views of the Toronto skyline.

The park recycles an industrial landscape into a new recreational hub. The beach and grassy dunes topography provides opportunities for ecological restoration, reforestation, and naturalization. This new destination will offer opportunities for year-round programming, including pop-up events, concerts and public art, as well as a unique lookout experience with a west-facing view of the downtown core, and a stunning 360 degree view of the Port Lands.

Claude Cormier + Associés (CC+A) was awarded the contract to design and construct the park through a design competition. The firm is known to have designed some of the most memorable public spaces in Toronto, including Sugar Beach and Berczy Park.

In March 2023, a mural depicting the Great Anishinaabe Migration, created by Indigenous artist and architectural designer Dani Kastelein-Longlade of Brook McIlroy, was installed on the construction hoarding surrounding the site. The artwork depicted on this mural interprets the path of travel through the seven sites of the chi-bi-moo-day-win’, the Great Anishinaabe Migration and is part of Brook McIlroy’s Indigenous placemaking strategy for the park. It will be on display at 12 Leslie Street until the park opening and then relocated to a yet-to-be-determined site in the Port Lands for a further 18 months.

For further information, please contact LeslieSlipLookout@createto.ca

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