Toronto island café gutted by fire open once more

August 3, 2024 Canuck

Four months after a popular café burned down on the Toronto Islands, a temporary replacement has opened next door and, despite initial community concerns, locals say it’s a welcome sight.

The Ward’s Island Association Clubhouse, which housed the Island Café, was destroyed in a fire in March. This weekend, the operators of the café started serving refreshments from temporary kiosks right next to the original site.

Zorah Freeman-McIntyre’s family has run the café since 2010, though his parents also ran it from 1983 to 1993. He says the fire was “a big shock,” and it’s been a long road to reopening, but he’s happy to be back.

“Coming to the café is a big part of people’s summer routine,” he said Saturday. “It’s felt like a great concerted effort between my family and the staff to get to where we are open today.”

A man in a tank top is seen from chest up outside an outdoor cafe, holding a little girl in his arms. It's a grey day — Zorah Freeman-McIntyre, whose family operates the Island Café, says it’s been a ‘concerted effort’ between family and long-time staff to get the new temporary site up and running this summer, after the original location burnt down in March. (Joe Fiorino/CBC)

Though it’s only just opened, Freeman-McIntyre said locals have already been telling him how happy they are to see the café back up and running.

Marie Metcalfe, who’s lived on the island for decades, stopped by for opening weekend.

“It’s like coming home again,” she said. “This place has been part of my life for a long, long time. My first daughter had her first job here. So it’s very important.”

Community concerns over communication

When the operators were negotiating with the city in June to set up temporary kiosks, storage units and a wooden patio on city parkland next to the original site, not all locals were thrilled. After complaints that the parkland lease and temporary infrastructure were going ahead without community consultation, the city and Coun. Ausma Malik, who represents the Islands, organized an open house to hear concerns.

Tony Fairbrother, who chairs the Toronto Island Community Association (TICA), said the turnout was massive, but people were set at ease once plans were explained.

“People in the community didn’t know what really was going on,” he said, speaking on his own behalf, saying the TICA has no position on the issue. “It was lots of unknowns and there really hadn’t been much communication.”

A middle aged man in a t-shirt and sunglasses motions to a patch of ground where the Island clubhouse once stood. Trees and parkland surround it. A cafe is seen beside it. It's daytime — Tony Fairbrother says most community concerns about what was happening with the new, temporary café were the result of a lack of communication from the city. After an open house meeting in June, he says most people were put at ease. (Joe Fiorino/CBC)

He said rumours swirled about the size of the new café, whether it would permanently take up space on parkland and that it might impede the reconstruction of the clubhouse, which Fairbrother called the “heart of the community.”

No timeline yet for clubhouse rebuild

Under the city’s agreement with the café operators, the new café has a temporary licence that will run through the end of September.

City staff said in July that the café operators could also negotiate an agreement for a new temporary licence in October. That would allow the café to be winterized and run under a two-year lease. If the original café isn’t rebuilt after two years, the city says the café owners can apply for a one-year extension. The temporary licence would end automatically should the original site be back in operation before the lease is up.

The phased approach will allow the city to get feedback before a second agreement is reached, city spokesperson Laura McQuail said in an email on July 12. There is currently no timeline for when the clubhouse will be rebuilt.

A fire eats away at a building. A firefighter is seen holding a hose. — Ward’s Island Association Clubhouse, and the Island Cafe it housed, was completely gutted by a fire in March. There is no set schedule to rebuild as of yet. (Claudette Abrams/Facebook)

In an emailed statement from July 13, Coun. Malik said she was working to improve communications with the community, including groups like TICA, the Ward’s Island Association, the Toronto Island Residential Trust and the café owners.

Freeman-McIntyre said he’s heard mostly positive feedback since the community open house meeting in June. He says the controversy in June sprung from a lack of communication and grief over the loss of an iconic community building.

“People deal with grief in different ways and it can come out as anger,” he said. “The clubhouse itself is a community building and there’s a lot of stakeholders that will want to add their voice to the discussion of what should be there.”

In the meantime, Freeman-McIntyre said he’s just happy to be back serving coffee and ice cream to locals and visitors for the summer season.

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Canada News

Toronto island café gutted by fire open once more

Community concerns over communication

No timeline yet for clubhouse rebuild

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