U of T’s existing athletics facilities are already bursting at the seams, and the need for more athletics space can only grow over the next several years. The need to refurbish the former Varsity Stadium site at the corner of Bloor St. and Devonshire Place is urgent. Two ambitious development plans for the site have collapsed in the last four years; the urge to do something-anything-that will make productive use of the site is understandable. Understandable but misguided.
This spring, U of T was working on salvaging some sort of development scheme for Varsity field, and in April, unveiled a modest plan calling for a new running track, a playing field, bleachers to seat 5,000 spectators, and, later, renovations to Varsity Arena. The plan also tentatively calls for an inflatable bubble dome to be added later so that the field can be used year-round.
We urge Governing Council to reject this plan.
It pains us to say this: we want to see something built on the Varsity site; we want to increase the quantity and quality of space for athletics on the St. George campus; we want to see it happen sooner rather than later. But the current concept is unbefitting Canada’s best and largest university.
Take a look at the neighbours: The Royal Ontario Museum, just down the block, will soon complete a multimillion-dollar renovation by one of the world’s top architects; some people already hate Daniel Libeskind’s building, and others love it, but there’s no doubt that it will be an instant landmark. One door west is the Royal Conservatory of Music, which has just begun an ambitious renovation designed by the premier Canadian architecture firm, KPMB. It will include a new recital hall which is already expected to be a destination for the world’s best musicians. Stroll a little further west and are we to find that U of T has pitched an inflatable tent on the corner? It positively reeks of cheapness.
But keeping up with the Joneses isn’t really a good enough reason for scrapping the plan. In the end, we should say “no” to this design because it’s simply a half-arsed effort which appeases development-phobic neighbourhood NIMBYists without substantially adding the facilities which are so badly needed.
The running track is a welcome addition, but other than that there is little of substance here. The 5,000-seat stadium is a nice idea but out of date: it is much too large for the number of people who regularly watch games at the field, and too small to make it of any use for larger sporting events that would be ideal to host there, like the FIFA soccer championships. A later phase of the project calls for a “three or four-storey” building to house the Faculty of Physical Education and Health at the south end of the site. The inflatable dome is also to be added as a later phase (you’ve seen such structures before, lurking beside freeways like gigantic maggots).
The Bloor St. frontage of the site remains undeveloped, which we believe is a serious mistake; construction of any indoor athletics facilities are years away at the earliest, part of the distant “Phase Three”; plans for classrooms, offices, club space, restaurants or cafes, and other sorely-needed amenities are absent or, at best, vague. And to top it off, the most ambitious construction will, under the current plan, be funded by selling the naming rights to a wealthy benefactor-likely a corporate sponsor. Will U of T athletes compete on the Adidas running track or the Gatorade field? Apparently, our institutional self-respect does have a price after all.
After huge development plans failed to materialize before, U of T has lowered its expectations, and it shows. How can the largest university in Canada settle for such an anemic and uninspired scheme, especially when exciting and visionary building is going on all around us, much of it on our own campus? U of T has roughly $800 million worth of construction and renovation now underway and planned for the future-why the sudden stinginess on the Varsity site? This was-and still is-an opportunity to add significantly to the quality of student life on the downtown campus, something which the university’s administration has stated is a priority. Give campus athletics the stature and respect it deserves.
It hurts to say “no” to a project that is so urgently needed, but it’s better to wait and build the right facility later than build the wrong one now. There is still time to fix this. We urge the Governing Council to send the Varsity plan back to the drawing board.
