Toronto’s Pan Am athletes’ village construction done

TORONTO—Construction of the CIBC Pan Am/Parapan Am Athletes’ Village is now complete.

The Village will be home to 7,100 athletes and team officials during the Games, which take place in July. It will also be home to 3,200 athletes and team officials during the Parapan American Games.

Located on an 80-acre site next to the Don River in Toronto’s waterfront district, the province invested $709 million to build the village, $514 million in capital costs and $195 million in site preparation and transaction costs.

Dundee Kilmer Developments was selected to design, build and finance the development, with architects Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects, architectsAlliance, Daoust LeStage, TEN Arquitectos and MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects designing the Village. It was constructed by EllisDon Ledcor PAAV Inc., states Infrastructure Ontario.

TO2015 will now begin the final preparations to ensure the Village is Games ready.

Within the Village at Games time, there will be: A YMCA, banking, coffee shop, general store, a dining tent and an 18 acre park, a prosthetic and wheelchair repair centre and a site where First Nations will be carving a canoe, states a release from the province.

The Village, known as the Canary District, spans 35 acres, is built to LEED Gold certification with an accessible barrier-free design, reads a release.

After the Games are over, this district will be transformed and feature up to 100 affordable ownership condos and townhouses and 253 affordable rental condos and townhouses.

It will feature approximately 800 market housing condos and townhouse units, the Cooper Koo Family YMCA that will serve more than 8,000 people; a residence for 500 George Brown College students and the college’s new English as a Second Language and Digital Gaming location; a new streetcar line connected to King Street;  a 40,000 square foot retail promenade along Front Street; and a new Aboriginal Community Health Centre.

During peak construction 780 tradespeople worked on site, including 15 apprentices who were part of the Hammer Heads program – a Games Promotion, Celebration and Legacy initiative.

This particular development has garnered several awards including the 2014 BILD community of the Year, 2012, the 2013 CUI Brownie Award and the 2012 Canadian Architect Award of Excellence.