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Toronto-based developer Philip Garforth plans to bring the tropics to Sault Ste. Marie with construction of North America’s first domed tropical rain forest.
Architecture
Toronto-based developer Philip Garforth plans to bring the tropics to Sault Ste. Marie with construction of North America’s first domed tropical rain forest.
The Borealis tourist attraction is the centrepiece of an ambitious waterfront development that includes a hotel and spa, retail and restaurant facilities, a theatre and even an ice hotel.
Garforth’s firm, Legacy Quest Developments Inc., is gearing up to start construction early next spring on the estimated $85 million Gateway project. That figure includes tenant fit-out costs.
“It’s a very unique project,” Garforth told Daily Commercial News. “We’re going to have to search high and low for some of the trades that we are going to need.”
The project team includes lead consultants Design International, construction manager PCL Constructors Canada Inc., structural engineers Atkins Vangroll Inc., and electrical and mechanical engineers CBM Group.
The mixed-use development is being constructed on a 20-acre site. In all, the project will boast more than 300,000 square feet of space.
At its heart is Borealis, which combines various forms of interactive exhibits and entertainment and revolves around the importance, vitality and sustainability of the world’s forests.
It was inspired by the Eden project in Cornwall, England, a large-scale environmental complex.
BELOW: The Gateway development encompasses a hotel, shopping and dining concourse, railway station and the iconic Borealis dome at the right.
A massive, 35,000-square-foot facility will house towering forests and plants in exotic, climate-controlled domed environments.
The domes are said to be unlike any other on the continent, allowing microcosms of ecosystems to flourish indoors.
The facility will incorporate a transparent roof system technology, engineered in Germany.
Garforth, president and chief executive officer of Legacy Quest, said the Borealis project is being designed to meet LEED standards.
“It’s about the environment — and man’s interaction with it,” he said. “So it is essential that we build it in an environmentally friendly manner.”
Garforth, who developed the Borealis concept in conjunction with Design International, said the project will be a “showcase” tourist attraction in northern Ontario.
The Northern Ontario Heritage Fund is providing $15 million to help fund the project.
Demolition is to get under way this fall on the site.
“We’re hoping to get a building permit early next year.”
Garforth expects prequalification of subtrades will be carried out late this year.
“It’s important that we have the right companies working on the project,” said Garforth, who has been involved in construction and development projects internationally.
The entire project is to be completed in 2008.
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