The 2015 Pan American Games to be held in Toronto will greatly benefit the University of Toronto’s Scarborough Campus, with construction planned for a new sports complex, the school said.
The U of T’s downtown and Scarborough campuses will be host to some of the 2015 events and a multitude of world-class athletes. The field hockey and soccer competitions as well as the opening and closing ceremonies of the Parapan games will be held downtown. The Scarborough campus will host all of the aquatic competitions, fencing, the modern pentathlon and the Parapan volleyball competitions.
In order to host theses events, U of T’s Downtown campus will see the construction of two double artificial turf fields and turf upgrades at its Varsity Stadium. The Scarborough campus will grow even more, with the construction of a new $170 million sports complex that include two Olympic-sized pools, a 10-metre diving tank and a state-of-the-art, multi-purpose field house.
These new facilities will allow the university to accommodate more students than the ones already in place can. The current facilities can only accommodate approximately 4,000 students while the school has a student population of 10,000 and is constantly growing.
Laura Matthews, a spokesperson for U of T’s Scarborough campus, said the new facilities will be able to replace many of the current ones, therefore making more space for student-oriented areas, something that is much needed at the university.
“It’s pretty amazing that we’re able to create more extensive sports facilities for our students and our community,” Matthews said.
In the past, the school has spent $122 million on teaching-oriented constructions but nothing had really been done for the students, Matthews said.
The construction of the new sports complex is a joint project between the U of T and the City of Toronto. The new facilities will also be available to the surrounding communities.
The project will also provide the university and community with more employment opportunities.
The City of Toronto has been planning to expand the Light Rapid Transit link to Scarborough, making travelling between the two campuses easier during the competitions. The project has been in talks for a time but the 2015 Pan Am Games may speed up the process.
“Transit isn’t particularly good in Scarborough, but with the Pan Am Games coming to our area something might be done about it, especially the Light Rapid Transit link,” Matthews said.
