Former Lake Ontario coal-fired power plant to be “destination waterfront”

The vacant site of a coal-fired power plant on Lake Ontario is set to sprout 8,000 homes, 200,000 square feet of retail and 1.8 million square feet of offices under a plan to transform it into “destination waterfront.”

Lakeview Village, which would accommodate as many as 20,000 residents, is being led by a group including Argo Development Corporation, according to the Globe and Mail. The power plant’s former pier — the longest on Canada’s side of the lake — will be turned into a publicly accessible promenade.

(Source: Cicada Design, Inc.)

The site, on 177 acres in Mississauga, would replace the remains of a plant demolished by the provincial government in 2006. Ontario initially planned to build a gas-fired power plant, along with one in nearby Oakville, but officials ultimately abandoned those plans in the face of opposition.

The redevelopment team was chosen in 2018. They submitted a plan to the city that year and received approval this November.

“It’s going to be a destination waterfront,” said Argo Development Vice President Brian Sutherland. “Our starting point is to take the foundations of a polluting power plant and turn it into the foundations for a green, coastal conservation area.”

The developers plan to incorporate environmentally friendly infrastructure including a central vacuuming system for garbage collection that’s been used in Sweden. They also want to cool and heat the development using lake water, using a system similar to one in downtown Toronto.

They’ve also donated around 200,000 tons of rubble and 5,000 tons of rebar to the Credit Valley Conservation Authority for use in the foundation and breakwater of a 64-acre conservation area along Lake Ontario.

The group aims to break ground next fall and complete the project in time for residents to move in sometime in 2025.

[Globe and Mail] — Dennis Lynch