Town of Wasaga Beach Unveils Bold Plans, Exciting New Partner and Next Steps for Redevelopment of Town’s Iconic Beachfront

Proposed project builds on innovative planning practices and includes a 150-room boutique-style hotel, commercial shops, and residences balanced with creative, fun, family-friendly public spaces

“Council is thrilled to welcome FRAM Building Group and an exciting new partner, Sunray Group of Hotels, to Wasaga Beach,” said Mayor Brian Smith. “Today they have presented our community with an interpretation of the Town’s vision for our beachfront and downtown – and it checks all the boxes: following the latest urban planning best practices; building a boutique-style hotel that will support more family-oriented, high-value tourism; and building creative, accessible public spaces that will entertain and delight our full-time residents as much as our visitors.”

WASAGA BEACH – Today the Town of Wasaga Beach welcomed FRAM Building Group and an exciting new partner – Sunray Group – to town, to unveil highly anticipated artist’s renderings of the proposed redevelopment of Wasaga Beach’s iconic beachfront and downtown commercial area.

It was a full house – over 600 people attended the public meeting at the Town’s RecPlex and public feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

The proposed project builds on the latest, innovative urban planning principles and includes a 150-room, boutique-style hotel, commercial shops, and residences balanced with family-friendly, age-friendly public spaces.

Other project highlights include:

Residences built in a variety of sizes and styles to accommodate residents at various stages in their lives, from smaller flats to 3+ bedroom units and townhouses. Providing a mix of housing types that meets the needs of citizens at different stages in their lives has been shown to help revitalize small towns and enable economic growth.
Beautifully designed venues and accessible public spaces for live music, festivals, events, a splashpad and other entertainment.
Curated, intentional opportunities for public art installations.

The final drawings and plans unveiled today are the result of a collaborative design process that the Town and FRAM initiated in April 2023. Since then, more than 500 citizens and local businesses have participated in public meetings, planning and design workshops which have helped shape the project.

The beachfront redevelopment project focuses on the beachfront commercial area around Beach Drive, the economic spinoffs will benefit the entire community. It is being guided by public input and the Town’s existing, approved Downtown Development Master Plan, which outlines the following metrics that will be used to measure its positive impact on the community:

direct jobs created
increase in new visitors annually
% increase in overnight stays
increase in spending

Next steps

The next step for the beachfront redevelopment project involves the Town entering into partnership agreements with FRAM Building Group and Sunray Group of Hotels. Staff are expected to bring these to Council for approval in winter 2024. Construction activity is expected to begin in summer 2025.

Quick Facts:

At a public town-hall meeting on April 27, 2023, the Town announced that an RFP would be released to the top three, vetted developers that bid on the redevelopment of the Town’s beachfront in 2017/2018. There was standing room only at that public meeting and overwhelming support to move the process forward.
In August 2023, the Town awarded the RFP to reimagine Wasaga Beach’s iconic beachfront to FRAM Building Group. FRAM has over four decades of combined community-building experience and won multiple urban design awards in various phases of their work in Port Credit, brownfield awards in the Town of Collingwood and Port Credit. They are also a finalist of the Urban Land Institute’s Award of the Americas for Development.
Since being awarded the RFP, FRAM has been conducting its due diligence and Town staff have been working with FRAM to refine their proposal, attract a hotel partner, respond to technical questions, engage the community and incorporate public feedback into design concepts.

Quotes

Mayor Brian Smith, Town of Wasaga Beach

“This project is about building a brighter future for our community and a stronger, more resilient Wasaga Beach for our full-time residents. We are not simply transforming our beachfront – we are transforming our community and tax base in the long term, which will benefit our citizens for generations to come.”

Andrew McNeill, CAO, Town of Wasaga Beach

“The Town of Wasaga Beach understands that if we build a well-designed, sustainable community where our full-time residents want to live, work and play – together with our incredible beachfront – we will attract investment and build a more vibrant and resilient Wasaga Beach that tourists will want to experience.”

Amir Fatemi, Director of Real Estate Development, Sunray Group of Hotels

“Sunray Group of Hotels is proud to partner with the Town of Wasaga Beach and FRAM Building Group on this transformational project. We look forward to delivering a hotel experience in Wasaga Beach that will help elevate the Town’s brand and delight its residents and visitors.”

Frank Giannone, President, FRAM Building Group

“We understand the tremendous significance of this project for the Town of Wasaga Beach. As urban designers and community builders, FRAM is confident that we have presented a project that is as beautiful and functional – as it is economically viable and sustainable. I believe we have found a good balance between the vision of the community to become a different kind of tourism destination, and the needs and desires of the Town’s full time residents.”