$120M destination pier moves one step closer to reality in southern Ontario

A $120-million destination pier in Mississauga’s south end that’s expected to become “an extraordinary landmark and a major tourist attraction” is one step closer to reality now that project partners have decided how they’ll pay for it.

The City of Mississauga and Lakeview Community Partners Limited, the group behind the huge new Lakeview Village mixed-use development in southeast Mississauga, will chip in $30 million apiece while the provincial government has agreed to contribute some $55 million.

Peel Region will put up the remaining $5 million, regional council decided on Thursday in bringing to an end a couple of months of haggling over how the plan would be funded.

An initial funding model had each of the four project partners paying $30 million, but that notion led to contentious debate the past two months between regional councillors from Mississauga and their Brampton and Caledon counterparts.

Peel’s share of the project became an issue

At issue was how much the upper-tier Peel municipality should contribute to the $120-million pier plan; some regional councillors felt spending tens of millions of dollars on the project wasn’t in the best interest of all Peel taxpayers.

As the process continued, it was determined Peel Region would come to the table with $5 million. The province then agreed to cover the remainder of what would have been Peel’s contribution under the initial funding proposal.

The matter had been deferred twice by regional council since mid-May prior to Thursday’s resolution.

Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish said in an earlier motion at the region that a restored and upgraded Lakeview pier would serve as “an extraordinary landmark and a major tourist attraction” for all of Peel, “attracting local residents and tourists to the waterfront.”

Rendering shows a completed Lakeview Village Pier that’s expected to revitalize the waterfront in Mississauga. (Photo: Lakeview Community Partners Limited)

Mississauga Ward 1 Coun. Stephen Dasko, in whose area the pier is located, said at an earlier city council meeting such attractive financial deals — “these are 25-cent dollars that we’re getting” — don’t often come along.

Parrish echoed the councillor’s sentiments, noting a revitalized pier “goes hand-in-glove” with the new Jim Tovey Lakeview Conservation Area that has also been restored and opened to the public on May 30.

Old pier once welcomed big ships carrying lots of coal

Both the new conservation area and the pier are part of the 177-acre mixed-use Lakeview Village development located in Mississauga’s southeast corner where the Lakeview Generating Station and its four stacks once stood.

The mayor told INsauga.com in a recent interview at city hall the rejuvenated pier will be an impressive — and relatively inexpensive — addition to both Mississauga and Peel.

Restoration costs aren’t as high given the pier, which once welcomed ships delivering coal to the old Lakeview Generating Station, already has a strong concrete foundation, she explained.

“It sounds like a lot of money, but that’s very inexpensive to build a pier,” Parrish said.

New pier will be an “iconic destination”

Lakeview Community Partners Limited, meanwhile, said earlier a reimagined pier on Mississauga’s waterfront will quickly become an “iconic destination.”

Stretching some 600 metres out on the lake, the new-look, animated pier will be the longest such Canadian attraction on the Great Lakes when completed.

Aerial image shows layout of the new Lakeview Village community and pier.

Continuing, the developer has said the former industrial marker along the waterfront will be “transformed into an iconic destination to celebrate local food and culture and will be admired as a distinguishable landmark on Lake Ontario.”

The reimagined pier, the developer adds, will offer a “world-class waterfront experience” while also connecting people “to places to play, with paddleboards, kayaks, a marina and a beach nearby. Year-round, it will be energized and activated with music festivals, art fairs and eatery pop-ups.”

For decades, noted LCPL earlier, the pier was closed off from the public, used as an industrial pier to transport coal from ships to the former power plant on the site.

Coal plant left behind footprint for a new pier

“After its demolition, the coal plant left behind a unique one-kilometre-long pier that will become an important catalyst in reconnecting Mississauga with its waterfront,” the developer said earlier. “Once complete, the newly imagined pier will offer panoramic views and a unique waterside experience.”

The measurement of the pier at one kilometre includes a “horizontal component that separates the inlet channel from Lake Ontario,” the City of Mississauga said earlier. So the pier reaches outward into the lake for 600 metres.

When open to the public, the Mississauga pier will be significantly longer than the nearby Burlington pier (137 metres in length), but much shorter than Chicago’s famous Navy Pier, which juts out more than one kilometre (1,006 metres) into Lake Michigan.