Metrolinx and IST to convert building in Thorncliffe Park to new Islamic Centre

TORONTO — An existing Islamic Society of Toronto (IST) building located at 20 Overlea Blvd. in Thorncliffe Park will be converted into a new Islamic Centre with significant additional community benefits as part of the Ontario Line project, Metrolinx announced recently on its blog.

The new centre will include larger and more extensive prayer spaces; new religious services and facilities; a mezzanine area that will provide bigger and better prayer spaces for women; areas for educational and schooling programs; a business centre for local community-based organizations and businesses to relocate; and new gymnasium facilities to play sports.

The new centre realizes the IST’s vision for a new, expanded mosque with new facilities that can serve the communities in Thorncliffe Park and Flemingdon Park, which are steps away from the future Thorncliffe Station on the Ontario Line subway, indicates the blog.

The plans include:

• a facility approximately five times larger than the current facility at 4 Thorncliffe Park Dr.;
• a range of new facilities that will provide space for youth activities;
• up to 24,000 square feet of additional business centre space dedicated for as many as 19 other businesses and organizations from the community whose properties are impacted by Ontario Line plans; and
• facilities that, for the first time, enable the mosque to provide an Islamic funeral service in the Thorncliffe Park community.