Toronto's newest park celebrates its official opening on Saturday, September 14, and blogTO got a sneak preview of the impressive new Leslie Lookout Park in the burgeoning Port Lands area.

The 1.9-acre park was built for a cost of approximately $8.5 million, with the majority of the funding coming from project lead CreateTO, with support from the City of Toronto and FedFev Ontario.

Construction for Leslie Lookout Park began in February 2022, at the east end of the Ship Channel next to the foot of the Leslie Street Spit. After two and a half years and delays to the timeline, the CCxA-designed project is finally complete and ready for the public to enjoy.

The green space offers the public an artificial beach and lookout tower that builds on the legacy of similar urban beaches in the city, like HTO Park and Sugar Beach.

While not a swimmable beach, the new public space offers a sandy refuge from the hustle and bustle of the city, where parkgoers can relax on the beach's 1,200 cubic metres of silica stone sand imported from Ohio.

Seven trees of the eastern cottonwood and black willow variety planted directly into the sand offer some shade for the otherwise sun-drenched space.

Visitors can soak in the rays on any of the park's 25 Muskoka-style chairs, benches, and picnic tables.

However, it's the park's signature lookout tower that will truly make this new public space a destination, drawing in visitors from across the city.

Designed by architects gh3, the park's lookout tower ascends to a height of 13.5 metres, and features portals opening up to the four cardinal directions and to the sky above.

Standing on this viewing platform gives visitors an impressive view of the CN Tower and Toronto skyline approximately five kilometres to the northwest.

The cylindrical form and concrete medium of the lookout tower read as a clear reference to the surrounding industrial infrastructure of the Port Lands, evident in views of the tower set against nearby silos.

The hardscaped surfaces of the beach and lookout tower are softened by a Miyawaki-inspired forest — the largest of its kind in Canada and the first in a Toronto park.

It features roughly 5,000 plants of 45 different species, including 2,470 trees and 2,473 arborescent shrubs, in addition to approximately 1,260 forbs and grasses.

In another first for a Toronto park, Leslie Slip Lookout is entirely cut off from the city's sewer system, and features porous asphalt and sand that provide stormwater management for the space.

Leslie Lookout Park officially opens at 12 Leslie Street on Sept. 14. To break in the new beach and lookout, the City will host an opening ceremony at the park from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., with the public invited to enjoy activities, including a DJ and a popsicle cart offering refreshments.