Park Place (Ontario)
Park Place is a former park located at Highway 400 (exit 90) off Mapleview Drive East (formerly Molson Park Drive) in the south end of Barrie, Ontario, Canada.
Originally named Molson Park, the lands were formerly owned by the Molson brewery plant located nearby. Due to a change in inter-provincial alcohol production regulations, the Molson plant was closed and abandoned in September 2000. In late November 1999 in a last-ditch effort to save their jobs, workers staged an occupation of the plant. Following an end to the occupation, the lands were thereafter put on the market for sale, subsequently purchased by a commercial land developer and renamed 'Park Place'.
The former park was a popular open-air concert venue, having hosted 102.1 The Edge's Edgefest, Lollapalooza, and The Van's Warped Tour rock festivals. On July 2, 2005, Park Place welcomed 35,000 spectators to the Canadian portion of the Live 8 concert series - simultaneously held in 8 countries world wide to raise awareness of world hunger.
On January 12, 2004, the former Molson plant was found to be home to an illegal marijuana grow-op housing an estimated 30,000 marijuana plants with an estimated street value of $30 million; at the time, it was the largest marijuana grow-op bust in Canada's history.
Ontario Municipal Board appeal
On October 31, 2006 commercial real estate developers North American Acquisition Inc (NAA), a subsidiary of North American Development Group, LLC (NADG) won an Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) appeal of a rezoning application that had been previously denied by the City of Barrie to rezone the Park Place lands from general industrial to business park zones, and general commercial or mixed employment. The City of Barrie had opposed NAA's rezoning application on the basis that it would use a large portion of the City's scarce industrial lands, yet only contribute low-wage retail jobs to the local economy. The former Park Place lands are now scheduled to become a commercial centre hosting medium format retail, restaurants, hotels and entertainment.
