Ontario’s lease for the Ontario Science Centre building allows the city to end the agreement early and leave the province on the hook for demolition costs if the building is no longer fit for use, a new City of Toronto report says.
City council had asked staff to look into what legal requirements the province may have to operate the science centre, after it announced it was abruptly closing the facility, citing structural concerns.
The city and its conservation authority leased the land to the province in 1965 for 99 years, and a staff report that was due to go before council’s executive committee Tuesday said that while a science centre is the only permitted use for the site under the lease, it doesn’t require Ontario to operate one.
If Ontario wants to get out of the lease early, the province, the city and the conservation authority would have to negotiate, and if Toronto wants to end it early due to a state of disrepair, it could require Ontario to restore the site to its original condition at its own expense, the report said.
It estimated demolition costs at about $25 million. That is in the range of what provincial infrastructure officials have said it would cost to fix the science centre’s roof, but they have said the closure was necessary due to not just the roof, but also various other critical repair needs.
The Ford government says a peer review of engineering reports about the Ontario Science Centre justifies the building’s abrupt closure. The new report supports findings in the prior engineering reports, which found issues in the building’s roof. Neither report recommended shutting down the science centre. CBC’s Lorenda Reddekopp has more.
The city report noted that the abrupt and permanent closure of the science centre was not explicitly recommended in the engineering report received by the province.
“While the [science centre] requires significant state of good repair (SOGR) work, including some that is critical and urgent, other options beyond the immediate full closure of the [centre] were available to the province,” the staff report said.
A motion from Coun. Josh Matlow asking for the staff report also requested the city look into the feasibility of taking over operations of the science centre, but staff concluded it would not be possible largely due to financial reasons.
The science centre had been receiving an operating grant from the province of more than $19 million, which city staff said is more than the total operating budget for Toronto’s existing 10 museums and historical sites.
The province is looking for a home for a temporary science centre until a relocated science centre can be built at the waterfront Ontario Place attraction in 2028, but that interim location isn’t expected to open until 2026.
Ontario’s decisions both to relocate the science centre and to close the current facility have come under heavy criticism.
Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma has not said whether the province intends to do any of the needed repairs at the current building. She has said the priority now is to get exhibits and staff out of the building before winter snowfalls create further roof risks.
“No decisions have been made on the future of the site,” a spokesperson for Surma wrote in a statement Tuesday.
“As part of the new deal, the province and city will discuss future partnership opportunities, including for science-based programming and education…. Those conversations are only at a preliminary stage and need to be completed before any decisions are made.”