Victoria Park boathouse renovations nearly complete

The renovations continue at The Boathouse on Victoria Park Lake and the progress is finally noticeable.

The newly 100 year old building on Jubilee Drive has been undergoing renovation work for the better part of a year, mostly on the interior. But passers-by can now see the addition, which will house new washroom facilities and the steel supports that will hold the expanded patio which will jut out over the water.

The patio is expected to be a major draw when The Boathouse reopens as a restaurant and live music venue.

Walkinshaw Holdings will operate The Boathouse once it opens and have been overseeing the renovations since they began last August.

James Barr, one of the owners of Wakinshaw, told The Mike Farwell Show his group wants to see The Boathouse return to its place as a destination in the downtown.

“It should be a place were people from the community can come together and have moments, like they used to, in all sorts of ways,” he said.

In the past, The Boathouse has been a live music venue and a snack bar. Many might remember it as the place to go to rent a canoe to explore the lake, or rent skates in the wintertime.

But a series of failed ventures over the years and the pandemic led to its eventual shuttering in 2019.

“One of the big things was seeing it sit empty for a few years going into the pandemic and thinking, somebody’s got to bring this thing back,” Barr said.

Walkinshaw was granted permission to operate The Boathouse in 2022.

Barr said there is still no definitive opening date.