Fifty new trees were planted in Silva Cell growing chambers, each tree having 30 cubic metres of soil provided for its roots to grow. The park officially reopened on June 28, 2017.

“I love Toronto,” Cormier enthuses. “I find it extremely dynamic. It’s true that getting anything done is difficult here, but there’s a fresh energy in this city. What I’m trying to do is create new types of landscape architecture. I did that at Sugar Beach and now at Berczy Park. I have to say, the public consultation process with this project was the best ever. The dog owners wanted a place to walk their dogs, parents wanted a place their kids could play and the BIA (Business Improvement Association) wanted a place for tourists. We brought those three groups together.”

The story of Berczy Park is the story of Toronto. It starts with a small downtown space carved out of a neglected site left over from the 1800s [when most of the area dissapeard in a great fire] and ends with a 21st-century facility that forms the centre of a diverse high-rise community.

No one could have imagined how things would turn out on Front St. east of Yonge; the market, theatres, shops and office buildings are still here, but now they have been joined by condo towers and the thousands of people who inhabit them. Historic façades now sit beside structures so new the paint is barely dry.