TORONTO - Volunteers are busily preparing to welcome the Dalai Lama to Toronto, working to transform a former factory into a grandiose cultural centre and promising culinary delights from Oprah's chef for the modest Tibetan leader.

"He's such a simple person," said Kevin Fitzsimons, a designer -- and also a Buddhist -- who, despite the Dalai Lama's austerity, has been "scrambling" to turn the Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre into an area worthy of a visit from the exiled leader.

"His tastes are very, very simple."

The Dalai Lama arrives in Toronto on Friday. During the three-day visit, he will give a major address at the Rogers Centre, where organizers anticipate more than 30,000 people will attend.

But for many Tibetans in the city, excitement is brewing over the Dalai Lama's visit to the cultural centre, a 4,600 square-metre building which will eventually become the cultural hub for the community.

"No, it's nowhere even close (to finished)," laughed Fitzsimons, who said the original plan was to have the old lighting factory 80 per cent complete by the time the spiritual leader arrived.

The project faced a hiccup four months ago, when workers found lead in the walls and had to fix the problem. It's now expected to be completed by March 2011.

"The sense here is rush," Fitzsimons said days ahead of the Dalai Lama's visit. "The sense here is to make everything as perfect as we can."

The building, when complete, will have a regulation-sized basketball court, a prayer hall, a banquet space and a second floor exclusively for the Dalai Lama's use.

"It's a meeting room. It's a living room for him. It's a room, like a bedroom he can do meditation in," said Fitzsimons, who said in the meantime, a replica will be created on the first floor for the leader's visit.

Last Friday, three massive Buddhist statues were placed outside the building.

"We had a crane that came to the back of the building on Friday and hoisted the 16-foot (five-metre) statues onto their thrones," said Fitzsimons.

But what's inside the statues illustrates the amount of work that went into preparing for the visit. About 300 volunteers took four weeks to roll up mantras to fill the statues. Three monks from India then spent a week filling each statue with the thousands of numbered scrolls.

Woeser Jongdong, one of the executives of the Canadian Tibetan Association of Ontario and a media spokesman for the Dalai Lama's visit, said Tibetans have banded together for this visit.

"People are very excited, people are very energized. They're all there," said Jongdong. "They're coming every day to the centre to help with the cleanup, the renovations," he said, adding the community has been working "24-7."

While the centre lacks a full-time cook on staff, Fitzsimons revealed that Oprah's former chef, Art Smith, will prepare a meal for the Dalai Lama on Sunday.

The Dalai Lama may also find a piece of home when he visits Toronto, some say. According to Jongdong, more than 5,000 Tibetan-Canadians live in Toronto.

"In the last 10 years, there has been a surge of Tibetans moving into Canada," said Jongdong, adding that after 9-11 some countries removed their "welcome mats," but not Canada.

"Canada definitely could be another home for a large chunk of the Tibetan population in exile," said Jongdong.

The Dalai Lama has lived in exile in India since staging an uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet in 1959.

Chinese officials view him as a political agitator and a separatist.

The Dalai Lama has visited Canada before on several occasions. Paul Martin became the first prime minister to meet with him in 2004, and last fall he visited Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver.

For Tibetan Buddhists, this visit is no less exciting.

"This visit is not only good for the Tibetan community, and Buddhism, but it is important for everybody, every human being," said Lama Tenzin, from the temple Karma Zonam Dargye Ling in Toronto.

"All the messages and teachings that he's passing is about compassion, loving kindness, harmony and kindness."