Downtown Toronto will soon have an impressive new 2,600-square-metre park at 229 Richmond St. W., set to replace a former parking lot that currently hosts the enormous RendezViews patio in the Entertainment District.

The land was acquired by the City of Toronto in 2019 as part of a land acquisition deal involving the nearby City-owned firehall at 260 Adelaide St. W., which will be relocated to Metro Hall.

The City kicked off a two-stage design competition in 2023 seeking concepts for the new $10 million-budgeted park that will ultimately replace RendezViews.

Concepts from a group of five shortlisted teams have since been revealed by the City, which is now seeking public feedback to select a winning team that will move forward with the park's design.

Here are the five finalist design concepts:
 

Wàwàtesí Park

West 8 Urban Design and Landscape Architecture, hcma Architecture and Design, Native Art Department International, MinoKamik Collective

Electric Forest

Public City Architecture, Sook Yin-Lee, Seán Carson Kinsella

oneSKY

PMA Landscape Architects and SLA, Gow Hastings Architects, Ned Kahn Studio, Tàmmaro Art/Design, Ridge Road Training and Consulting

Nookomis Garden

DTAH Architects, Paul Raff Studio, Trophic Design

River Park

O2 Planning and Design and OLIN Studio, Omar Ghandi Architects, Michel De Broin, Re:imagine Gathering

The City is asking the public to explore all five of the finalist designs and share thoughts via a survey that will remain open until October 29.

Once a final design is selected, construction of the new park is anticipated to begin in 2025 and open to the public in 2026.