A visitor's centre for Toronto's historic Fort York that's expected to be up and running in time for the bicentennial of the War of 1812 is going to cost a lot more than city officials originally anticipated.
According to a report approved without debate by Toronto council at its meeting last month, the city needs to find about $4 million to cover what has swollen into a $23-million project. City staff admit they underestimated the original $18 million cost for the visitor centre when it was first proposed because the designers hadn't yet found a location for it on the Bathurst Street and the Gardiner Expressway site.The city ended up selecting a site adjacent to the Gardiner, which increased the cost. The city is also waiting for financing from the provincial government - to the tune of $5 million - to cap off the project. That hasn't yet been announced, although the city has requested it.And the federal government reduced its funding by $1.1 million, which has further pinched the project. The federal government will now pay $5 million.There's also a tight timeline.In order to make the 2012 opening date, work on the centre has to begin in early 2011. So council approved, without debate, putting just more than $4 million more into the project, culled from Section 37, money paid for by condominium development in the area. And the Fort York Foundation has increased their fundraising target by just more than $4 million.Local Councillor and mayoralty candidate Joe Pantalone, who also chairs the city's committee planning for 1812 celebrations, said it makes sense to put the extra cash into the project."It's a unique project in a place that really has been called the birthplace of Toronto... in a place that has defined Canada being able to stay as a country," Pantalone said. "Toronto was able to emerge as the city it is as opposed to the city it would have been if the Americans were successful in their invasion - a city like Rochester or Buffalo."Pantalone said the centre would also provide a community benefit so using Section 37 money to help pay for it makes sense."It will be a community centre, too. There will be meeting rooms, a cafe there. I'm sure everybody in the Fort York neighbourhood will be showing their visitors this place," he said.