Ontario Science Centre to open up temporary satellite locations months after sudden shutdown

The Ontario Science Centre is set to launch two temporary satellite locations in other parts of Toronto, which could let visitors access some of its interactive exhibits while a full interim location remains at least a year away, CTV News has learned.

The two sites, which are in Etobicoke’s Sherway Gardens and the Harbourfront Centre on Queens Quay West, would amount to less than a quarter of the exhibit space in the building on Don Mills Road that was dramatically shut down in June.

“Bringing some science to different parts is probably a pretty good idea. But it doesn’t change the fact that we need a full-sized, properly funded institution here on Don Mills Road,” said Floyd Ruskin of the group Save Ontario Science Centre in an interview.

In a sudden and controversial move, the building was closed to the public in June after the provincial government claimed an engineering report highlighted the urgent risk of a roof collapse.

However, that engineering report gave other options than closure. City inspectors also didn’t find any outstanding issues. And in the days after that, the building hosted a wedding.

The exhibits have been wrapped up, and many are headed for storage in Guelph, according to photos that show the labels of their destinations.

The “Circus!” and the “Towers of Tomorrow” exhibits are headed for a 25,000-square-foot location in Sherway Gardens, which will be open from November to March.

Meanwhile, the “KidSpark” exhibit will head to the Harbourfront Centre from December to May in 12,000 square feet of space.

That’s under a quarter of the 160,000 square feet of exhibition space in the original building, Ruskin said.

Provincial officials are hunting for a formal interim space, expected to open in 2026. The planned final location for the Ontario Science Centre is on Toronto’s waterfront at Ontario Place, which would open years after that.

That’s where hundreds of trees were felled this week to make way for construction on Wednesday and Thursday.

Facing multiple freedom of information appeals, the province publicly released this week its contract with Austrian company Therme, which is set to build a spa and renovate a public park.

In the lease, rent for the island is expected to begin at $1.95 million in 2032 and will be indexed with inflation, totalling $1.1 billion over the 95-year term.

The company is also expected to provide a portion of maintenance payments, which over the term of the lease are expected to add up to $855 million.

The lease also requires the province to provide a parking garage for Therme, with 1200 dedicated spaces. If that’s not built, the province would pay Therme $5 per dedicated space per day, which amounts to about $2.2 million a year.

If the parking lot is not built, for a portion of the lease term, the contract indicates Therme could receive more in parking payments than it would pay in rent.

The province is investing hundreds of millions of dollars into revitalizing Ontario Place, and the parking garage itself would cost hundreds of millions of dollars – provisions so generous Prof. Wayne Smith of the Ted Rogers School of Management likened it to what cities give professional sports teams.

“When NFL teams are looking for stadiums getting built in communities, when you’re looking for Major League Baseball teams, this is the same thing you’re seeing,” Smith said in an interview.

The temporary locations for the Science Centre are going to give a reprieve for some workers whose contracts were set to expire on October 31. They will be extended to February. The workers will have no access to the Don Mills building by the end of the month.

None of the players in the deals to start the temporary locations returned calls from CTV News on Sunday. Cadillac Fairview, which operates Sherway Gardens, had previously said in an email that they are “exploring opportunities to continue to work together, but at this time have no commitments in place.”

CTV News got a screen grab of one text between a supporter of the Ontario Science Centre and a number we know to be the cell phone of Premier Doug Ford.

The supporter wrote, “We want the full Ontario Science Centre where it is, and we want it now.”

The premier wrote, “Be happy you are getting a new one.”