2022 - 2023

Jan.25, 2023

From Livia Ambros: There was lots of places to put on skates both inside and outside.

No sign about skate rentals and the one staff member told me that there will be no skate rentals at all here and only city hall has them

There were three or four people there but no one skating when I was there because there was too much snow on the ice

Dec.19, 2022

The rink is open now. A different zamboni driver said there was a leak in an unspecified pipe,and that the whole system had to be drained and then they had to start all over. They began with hose floods on Saturday and intended to use the zamboni today. There were lots of skate marks on the thin ice already. Lots of danger tape up too, with gaps in between. The change room was unattended but nice and warm. There was a bunch of sanitizer and an open first aid kit on one of the benches, plus a big covid sign.

Dec.14, 2022

A city zamboni driver said he heard that there's a problem with the new compressors at College Park. The cooling is done by CO2 instead of brine. He said they are waiting for new parts, hopefully to arrive any day.

Dec.9, 2022

Listed as closed because of "mechanical issues."

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Rink diaries for earlier years

2021 - 2022

Nov.27, 2021

Opened for the season

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2020 - 2021

COVID-RELATED RESTRICTIONS: To find out how to book a skating time, go to the city's outdoor rinks web page.
All shinny hockey has been removed except for Greenwood (and only children and youth are allowed there). The city's opening rules are described here and our rinks blog is here.

Nov.29, 2020

At 3.15 p.m. College Park was well-used. The two staff said that although the trail is long, they were told to treat it as a single pad. They clear the rink every 45 minutes, and also take names and phone numbers of all participants, including drop-ins. They said it was not easy since skaters can get on anywhere and not all the parts of the skating trail can be seen from the rink house.

Many of the skaters were not masked and many looked pretty pleased to be skating.

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2019 - 2020

Dec.8, 2019

Quite a few people were skating on the ample new trail. Inside, a pleasant young woman was sitting at a long table with a census sheet. Behind her, off to the side, a silver automated door to a single washroom, impressively large. During the 10 minutes we were there, three different couples came in asking to rent skates. The building attendant had to tell each of them that there are no skates to rent. That can't be fun -- watching the disappointment over and over. The Delta Hotel is across Gerrard Street, and there must be many people there who would be happy to get a little fresh air and a glide.

A little history:

College Park with skate lending

On April 13, 2016 CityRinks' editor Jutta Mason made a deputation to the City of Toronto Community Development and Recreation Committee. It included some photoshop examples of including skate lending in the College Park renovation.

Sequel: Regarding the CELOS proposal for incorporating skate lending into the new version of this rink, city management was not interested.

December 7,2019, from the BIA:

*Editor's note: the library doesn't lend out skates. The skates came from the skate lending collection that CELOS donated to Parks and Rec last year.

Dec.7, 2019 City Of Toronto news release

TORONTO, Dec. 7, 2019 /CNW/ - Councillor Mike Layton (Ward 11 University-Rosedale) and Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam (Ward 13 Toronto Centre) were joined by Mark Garner, Executive Director of the Downtown Yonge BIA, this afternoon to officially open the Barbara Ann Scott Ice Trail at College Park in downtown Toronto.

The trail is named after figure skater Barbara Ann Scott, an Olympic gold medalist who received the Lou Marsh Trophy three times as Canadian athlete of the year.

The five-metre-wide trail, designed to be a walking loop in summer, is the first exterior skating path in North America to incorporate state-of-the-art carbon dioxide technology in its refrigeration system. This environmentally friendly technology is natural, non-toxic and non-flammable, with no net greenhouse gas effect.

Adjacent to the trail, an architectural construction of wood, glass and stainless steel has been designed as the new rink house/warming station/Zamboni station. Additional park features include a water fountain and large frog sculptures.

Funding for the College Park redevelopment was secured through Canderel Stoneridge, with additional funding provided by the City of Toronto. The College Park redevelopment project is the result of the City collaborating with partners including the Downtown Yonge BIA, MBTW Group/Watchorn Architect and Project for Public Spaces.

On the Urban Toronto website, April 2019: finishing touches

Rink Diary

2019 - 2020

2918 - 2019

The original rink and rink house have been demolished and have been replaced by a skating trail and a new changeroom. The city's webstie has some older project information here

Opening date unknown: the city's construction web page said "park completion 2018" but the rink never opened that season, reasons not stated

Feb.4, 2019

It's clear now that this rink will not open this season. The tarps and heating hoses are still covering the skating trail and the designer change room is obviously not done.

January 13, 2019

The heater hoses are still going (over a month now, something must be really wrong) and the rink house is not done.

Dec.19, 2018

The construction company's website emphasizes safety and the company's honorable behavior. From a City of Toronto engineer: "I have worked with Roman and Rob Jankowski on a number of projects over the last 10 years and they have always stuck by their word. Any verbal agreement has always been followed through on." The writer implies that this is unusual.

The rink heaters are still going, with tarps laid on top. The rink change house is half uncovered, but also with heaters still going. There are workers working on a high light standard, using scaffolding rather than a cherry picker.

The rink change building is very curvy, but it has no place for skate lending. Astonishing.

Dec.13, 2018

There are hoses running along the skating trail surface. They have hot brine in them to thaw out the water that turned to ice in the pipes when the system was being tested. Workers say the rink was going to open on Dec.21, but nobody knows, really. The change house is completely covered with tarps, to keep in the heat from the propane heaters that are being used to speed the concrete drying inside.

Nov.23, 2018

This morning this rink has reappeared as "College Park" on the city's website, listed for "delayed opening."

Nov.5, 2018

This rink has been closed for five years. It looks like the redesigned park is about ready to open, with grass still green and flowers still blooming despite the lateness of the season. A big tent is up: to hold the reopening celebration? But there's no listing on the city's website, nor on Councillor Wong-Tam's website. And the rink changeroom has no windows yet, and an unfinished roof.

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earlier rink diaries

2017 - 2018

Nov.13, 2017

Oct.15, 2017

On the city's College Park website, an announcement says that construction will finish in 2018.

"PFR's Landscape Architecture Unit in Planning, Design and Development Section of PFR is supervising the revitalization, which includes planning and design work from the MBTW Group/Watchorn Architect and Project for Public Spaces."

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2016 - 2017

There seem to be lots of problems with Aura, with a largely empty mall underneath, water leakage in the 70-story condo, and frequent elevator malfunction. Will this perhaps mean the developer won't be able to fulfil his commitments to building the new park? We asked Eric Stadnyk, the city's project coordinator. His answer: "College Park construction, including the skating trail, is planned to proceed in 2017. We expect it to be open for the '17/'18 skating season."

However, in December 2016 the project coordinator sent an update: "The park will begin construction as planned this spring; however, it will not be complete until spring/summer 2018. We expect it to be open for the '18/'19 skating season....Canderel is the developer who have hired landscape architect consultants (MBTW) to design and oversee the construction of the park, of which the rink and building are a part."

Meantime Canderel is being sued by the Aura condo corporation for $31 million for "negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract and construction deficiencies."

Excerpts from the April 6, 2016 budget committee minutes: The committee recommended that

City Council authorize deferral of cash flow from 2016 to 2017 within Parks, Forestry and Recreation’s approved 2016 Capital Budget in the amount of $2.000 million for the College Park Artificial Ice Rink (AIR) sub-project in the Arena project, funded by $1.000 million in donations and $1.000 million from the Section 42 Alternate Rate (AR) Cash-in-lieu (CIL) for 460 Yonge Street (XR2213-4200658).

.....

At its meeting on February 17, 2016, City Council approved the 2016 Capital Budget for Parks, Forestry and Recreation through item EX12.2 (28b and 29). The College Park Artificial Ice Rink (AIR) sub-project was approved with a total project cost of $2.5 million, funded from $1.000 million from the Section 42 Alternate Rate Cash-in-lieu for 460 Yonge Street (XR2213- 4200658), $1.000 million in donations, and $0.500 million from South District Local Parkland Development Cash-in-lieu reserve fund (XR2209).

A major revitalization of College Park and its entire open space is being undertaken by a Developer responsible for the Aura development at Gerrard and Yonge Streets. The Developer has entered into Section 37 and 45(9) agreements with the City of Toronto and has agreed to provide $3.0 million in improvements to College Park, including public consultation, design services and construction. The project will be implemented by the Developer on behalf of, and under the supervision of Parks, Forestry and Recreation (PFR) Division.

The $3.0 million budget for improvements to College Park, to be delivered by the Developer, does not include a new artificial ice rink/skating trail and rink house components. Through the 2016 PF&R Capital Budget, Council approved $2.5 million Staff report for action on Adjustments to PF&R’s 2016 Capital Budget 4 sub-project of the Arena project for the artificial ice rink/skating trail and rink house components. Of the $2.5 million, $1.0 million is to be funded from the Section 42 Alternate Rate (AR) Cash-in-lieu (CIL) for 460 Yonge Street (XR2213-4200658), $0.500 million is coming from PF&R reserve funds, and $1.0 million from donations. To date, only $0.250 million of the $1.0 million donation has been identified from the Downtown Yonge BIA.

Due to related agreements needed for: 1) the leasing of adjacent lands to be added to College Park and 2) the re-waterproofing of the garage roof membrane underlying the entire park by the tenant of the garage, the project has been delayed from initial timelines. Although the existing park will be demolished in early 2016, the rest of 2016 will be dedicated to allowing the tenant of the underground garage to do their waterproofing. The park will then be re-built in 2017.

This report seeks authority from Council to defer $2.0 million in cash flow from 2016 to 2017, including $1.0 million in donations and $1.0 million from Section 42 AR CIL.

April 13, 2016

CityRinks' editor Jutta Mason made a deputation to the City of Toronto Community Development and Recreation Committee. It included some photos of possible inexpensive improvements to existing rink buildings, and also a suggested way of including skate lending in the College Park renovation.

Sequel: Regarding the CELOS proposal for incorporating skate lending into the new version of this rink, city management was not interested.

2015 - 2016

After various local consultations and external design consultants, it has been announced that the current pond-shaped rink and rink house change room/warming room will be replaced with a skating trail and a "service building." From the city's information web page:

Correspondence

E-mail from cityrinks, March 13, 2016, to Eric Hess, Parks, Forestry & Recreation, City of Toronto, Etobicoke Civic Centre

Response from Mr.Hess, March 14, 2016

Response from cityrinks, March 14, 2016

2014 - 2015

November 11, 2014

The rink is still not demolished, nor is the prize-winning-design rink house gone. Only abandoned, with cracked concrete and weeds growing on the roof. What a waste.

2013-2014

Tuesday November 12, 2013

The Aura condo tower is enormous, still with a crane on top. It dwarfs the rink, but the rink has not yet been torn out. However the City website marks it as closed.

This rink was a little jewel with lots of potential for a social space (e.g. if there had been skate lending and coffee/hot chocolate). A partnership with the Delta Chelsea Hotel across the street would have brought more skaters. But this rink was treated as an orphan from the time of amalgamation onward. Too bad.

Somebody must have complained about the look of the equipment-and-materials storage area that the rink became last year. This year there's a very nicely planted fall garden, and no more rickety chain link and piles of construction rubble. Who planted that garden? Surely not the Parks staff, who seem to have been told to neglect this site for years

2012-2013

January 30, 2013

This rink is closed because there's a giant condo being built to the south. The building is under construction but the bottom two floors are already running as a bed&bath store. There is no construction near enough to the rink to hurt anyone, but there's a small supply depot on the north side of the rink house -- rented by the condo company for convenient storage spot?

Diary 2011 - 2012 Diary 2010 - 2011, Diary 2009 - 2010, Diary 2008-2009, Diary 2007-2008, Diary 2006-2007, Diary 2005-2006, Diary 2004-2005, Diary 2003 - 2004

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Content last modified on February 09, 2023, at 07:20 PM EST