Maple Leaf Square is a multi-use complex and

public square A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...

located in the South Core neighbourhood of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, Ontario, Canada. It is located to the west of the

Scotiabank Arena Scotiabank Arena (French: ''Aréna Scotiabank)'', formerly known as Air Canada Centre (ACC), is a multi-purposed arena located on Bay Street in the South Core district of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the home of the Toronto Rapt ...

on the former

Railway Lands Railway Lands is an area in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally a large railway switching yard near the Toronto waterfront, including the CNR Spadina Roundhouse and the CPR John Roundhouse, it has since been redeveloped and today is hom ...

. The $500 million development was jointly developed by

Cadillac Fairview The Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited is a Canadian company that invests in, owns, and manages commercial real estate, mainly in Canada and the United States. As of March 2017, the company had 73 properties, encompassing 38 million square feet ...

, Lanterra and

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. (MLSE) is a professional sports and commercial real estate company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With assets that include franchises in four of the six major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(MLSE), who own the nearby Scotiabank Arena. The complex has of usable space covering on one city block.Maple Leaf Square Update , June 9, 2008

Name

Maple Leaf Square is named after

, which owns the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

and

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

, both of which play in

next to the square.Toronto Raptors fans pack Maple Leaf Square for Game 7 against Brooklyn Nets
, National Post, May 4, 2014 During the 2014 postseason for the Raptors, the public square became a popular gathering area to view playoff games, and was nicknamed by fans as Jurassic Park, in reference to the

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

from which the Raptors team name originated. The square is now colloquially referred to as Jurassic Park by the fans and media in addition to the real name, the Raptors Tailgate. On September 25, 2014, it was reported that the official name of the square would be changed to Ford Square from Maple Leaf Square, after the

Ford Motor Company of Canada Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited (French: ''Ford du Canada Limitée'') was founded on August 17, 1904, for the purpose of manufacturing and selling Ford automobiles in Canada and the British Empire. It was originally known as the Walkerville W ...

's purchase of

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of ...

to the square. After public uproar to the rename, five days later, MLSE said that those reports were "premature and unfounded" and that they would not get rid of the name.Maple Leaf Square will live on, MLSE says
Toronto Star, September 30, 2014 Instead, they announced that the square would be rebranded as the Ford Fan Zone at Maple Leaf Square due to a five-year sponsorship deal with Ford Canada.Maple Leaf Square will not be renamed Ford Square
CityNews Toronto, September 30

History

Construction on the project began in January 2007. The two glass and cast-in-place concrete towers are 65 storeys, containing 872 residential units, a 167-room Hotel LeGermain Boutique

Hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

, of office space, of retail space, a daycare centre, a high-definition theatre that broadcasts

Leafs Nation Network Leafs Nation Network (formerly Leafs TV) was a Canadian English language Category B regional specialty channel owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. Leafs Nation Network broadcasts programming related to the Toronto Maple Leafs Nation ...

and

NBA TV Canada NBA TV Canada is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE). It is a Canadian version of NBA TV, broadcasting programming focused on the National Basketball Association, and its Canadian franc ...

24-hours a day, and four levels of underground

parking Parking is the act of stopping and disengaging a vehicle and leaving it unoccupied. Parking on one or both sides of a road is often permitted, though sometimes with restrictions. Some buildings have parking facilities for use of the buildings' ...

with nearly 900 spaces. The retail complex includes a

Longo's Longo Brothers Fruit Markets Inc., known simply as Longo's is a chain of retail supermarkets and grocery delivery service serving Southern Ontario, Canada, controlled by Sobeys parent Empire Company in partnership with the founding Longo famil ...

grocery, a sports bar called Real Sports Bar and Grill, a sports retail store called Real Sports Apparel, a fine dining restaurant called E11even, a fan apparel specific location of Sportchek and a branch of the Toronto Dominion Bank. For residents, there is a

rooftop garden A roof garden is a garden on the roof of a building. Besides the decorative benefit, roof plantings may provide food, temperature control, hydrological benefits, architectural enhancement, habitats or corridors for wildlife, recreational oppo ...

and

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...

. The development was designed to achieve LEED (

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, constructio ...

) Silver status for the project's environmental sustainability. The building partly served as inspiration for

LECOM Harborcenter LECOM Harborcenter is an American mixed-use development in Buffalo, New York developed by Pegula Sports and Entertainment. The building occupies a full 1.7 acre city block formerly known as the Webster Block, directly across from and connected ...

, a multi-use building built near

KeyBank Center KeyBank Center is a multipurpose indoor arena located in Buffalo, New York. Originally known as Marine Midland Arena, the venue has since been named HSBC Arena and First Niagara Center. Home to the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey Leag ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, alon ...

and

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division ...

owner

Terrence Pegula Terrence Michael Pegula (born March 27, 1951) is an American billionaire businessman and petroleum engineer. He is the owner of Pegula Sports and Entertainment which owns the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL) and, with his wife ...

's Pegula Sports and Entertainment. The similarity is most noticeable in the design of the restaurant: LECOM Harborcenter's 716 Food and Sport was largely based on Maple Leaf Square's Real Sports Bar and Grill. Maple Leaf Square Shopping Arcade.jpg, Retail complex Maple Leaf Square Shopping Arcade-1 2021.jpg, Longo's Supermarket Maple Leaf Square, North Tower.jpg, North Tower TorontoPano.jpg, Maple Leaf Square topped out in Spring 2010

Public square

The public square has a capacity of 5,000 people. It hosts pre-game gatherings and other sports-related events. In conjunction with the project, the Scotiabank Arena itself on the side of Maple Leaf Square was renovated. The renovations included a atrium addition to the west side of the arena which abuts the plaza. The outside wall of the atrium features a 50 by video screen overlooking the plaza which was inspired by similar plazas at L.A. Live in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

, and Victory Park in

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

. Games going on inside the arena are often displayed live on the outdoor screen. The square was the first such plaza in Canada. It has been since emulated in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city an ...

with a plaza in the Ice District by

Daryl Katz Daryl Allan Katz (born May 31, 1961) is a Canadian billionaire businessman and philanthropist. Katz is founder and chairman of the Katz Group of Companies, one of Canada's largest privately-owned enterprises, with pharmacy, sports & entertainmen ...

, owner of the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

and in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

with

True North Square True North Square is a public plaza and mixed-use development in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba. Managed by True North Real Estate Development, a joint venture between James Richardson & Sons and True North Sports & Entertainment, it is still und ...

True North Sports and Entertainment True North Sports and Entertainment Limited (TNSE or TNS&E) is a Canadian company based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, that owns and operates Canada Life Centre in downtown Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League. The company also o ...

, owners of the

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, p ...

Viewing space for sports

The public square holds special outdoor viewings of significant games like home openers and playoff games for both the

and

on a giant video screen affixed above the west entrance of

, which owns both franchises, puts concession and merchandise stands on the square during such occasions. These viewings happen regardless of whether the team is playing at home or on the road. Popularity of this fan experience has risen over the years and has required heightened security and traffic control. Interest in attendance reached a new level on May 25, 2019 to watch the Raptors win Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals to advance to the

NBA Finals The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is a ...

for the first time. Following the Raptors' historic win in the

2019 NBA Finals The 2019 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2018–19 season and conclusion of the season's playoffs. In the best-of-seven playoff series held from May 30 through June 13, 2019, the Eastern C ...

, the City of Toronto renamed as Raptors Way a portion of Bremner Boulevard from York Street to Lake Shore Boulevard.

References

External links