Toronto Plans $22 Million College Campus

Toronto's Distillery District is officially going to have a brand new college campus and it comes with a huge price tag per Narcity.

College Boreal is a French school that has at least six different campuses currently in Ontario including one on Yonge Street in Toronto. They have announced that they are expanding in the city with a brand new $21.7 million building.

Construction started on October 29th in the Distillery District. The structure will double the amount of space they now have in the city and will also serve as the college's only permanent property in Toronto.

The building will have a total of 100,000 square feet which will be spread over four different floors. The Ribbon Building will run along the southeast edge of the Distillery District by the railway tracks and hitting Cherry Street. When this building is completed, it will focus on four main program themes:

 - Health

 - Business

 - Community Services

 - Other elements relating to local needs and trends

This project comes with an almost $22 million price tag but College Boreal will not be paying for the entire bill. In fact, most of the funding will be coming from the Government of Ontario which which means the taxpayers will be footing the bill. The Ford government will be putting up almost three-quarters of the funding which comes to $15 million. The remaining $6.7 million will be coming from College Boreal.

Looking for more construction projects for schools and colleges in Ontario?

This move, unfortunately, comes just days after the provincial government cancelled construction and expansion projects for three different Ontario university campuses. Students all across the province have been outraged at this decision. However, this campus will not be affected.

Construction for the new school is now underway and classes are scheduled to begin by the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021.  

According to the Daily Hive, the new campus will offer programs that will help address the province's shortage of skilled labor, especially in business and entrepreneurship, computer sciences, community services and health.

"The new campus will allow College Boreal to increase its contribution to the excellence of our educational system and to the vitality of Toronto's Francophone community. The highly qualified bilingual professionals and workers who will receive their training here will go on to bolster the economy of our communities in an Ontario that is open for business."

Ontario Minister responsible for Francophone Affairs | Caroline Mulroney

Per Blog TO, the Sudbury based francophone college made its announcement on Monday with a press conference alongside Ontario MPP Caroline Mulroney as well as representatives from project partners Cityscape Real Estate, Dream Unlimited and the Distillery District.

The lease on the current campus will expire in 2020 and that is when the College Boreal Toronto will move into its new 9,300 square metre Distillery District campus.