City of Toronto unveils design plan for new Leslie Slip Lookout Park

The City of Toronto and CreateTO, a municipal real estate agency, have turned to the designers of Sugar Beach and Berczy Park to come up with a vision for the new 1.9-acre Leslie Slip Lookout Park.

Located on the Martin Goodman Trail on the west side of Leslie Street, just south of Commissioners Street and the TTC’s Leslie Barns facility, the new park was billed as one that will be a year-round destination with a public beach that will have forested dunes.

“Leslie Slip Lookout Park embraces the look and feel of its industrial context, reidentifying the landscape of labour and work into one of play and recreation,” Claude Cormier, the founding partner of Claude Cormier + Associés (CC+A), said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The park will aim to deliver an unfamiliar vantage of being immersed in a landscape that is oversized, brutal, and surreal.”

CC+A won a design competition with the firm’s vision for the park.

A highlight in the plan is an elevated, 360-degree viewing platform that will allow visitors to see down the ship channel and take in views of the downtown Toronto skyline and nearby Port Lands. It’s envisioned that events, concerts and public art will all be accommodated at the site.

CreateTO is beginning a public consultation for the project in February.

Leslie Slip Lookout Park is the latest revitalization in the community. A $1.2-billion flood protection project is currently underway on the western side of the Port Lands.

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