It’s a done deal for Lakehead University’s STEM Hub satellite campus in downtown Barrie.
Council gave final approval Wednesday night to its location on the ground floor of 24 Maple Ave., which is the Barrie Transit Terminal, starting in the fall of 2026, and a five-year, $9.9-million capital and operating commitment to the project.
Council passed two recorded votes on the STEM Hub, both by 11-0 margins, and with no discussion among councillors.
“Busier streets become safer streets,” Deputy Mayor Robert Thomson said Thursday morning. “The more people you put down there, I think it’s good. I think it will become a good economic driver of the downtown.
“I think that’s what government has to do,” he added.
Thomson and Coun. Sergio Morales both asked for recorded votes on sections of the overall motions last night.
“I ask for recorded votes on matters that are of significant importance and impact,” Morales said. “This was one of them.”
The Ward 9 councillor was asked by BarrieToday if that’s necessary on matters which are not contentious among councillors.
“Yes, a matter can have significant importance and not be contentious,” Morales said.
Council gave final approval to a motion that would commit $6.5 million for hub construction in 2025-26, a one-time contribution of $1 million to support the start-up capital required to equip and fit out the space to develop a hub for 2025-26, then $2.4 million in cash contributions from 2026 to 2029 toward stabilizing operating expenses.
The $6.5 million would come from the city’s tax capital reserve, the $1 million from the city’s reinvestment reserve, the $2.4 million would be added to city’s annual budgets those years, 2026 to 2029, from the city’s reinvestment reserve, not property tax revenues, as originally proposed.
The motion also asks that the federal government be approached for funding and that city staff look at any other funding sources such as grants that are available.
The STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Hub will offer undergraduate and graduate programming across the engineering and computer science disciplines, including mechatronics and electrical and software engineering.
During the initial five-year period, Lakehead expects to have enrolment of 700 students across these disciplines.
For a STEM Hub in Barrie, city staff say funding in the form of capital and start-up costs associated with both capital equipment fit-out and programming will need to be secured, as universities are not funded for these types of expenses.
In the absence of provincial capital funding for these costs, a university would typically look to private fundraising in addition to public commitments, including a municipal contribution, according to city staff.
There would be an initial five-year lease agreement with Lakehead University for 24 Maple Ave., including an option for renewal, with basic rent of $1 for the premises — 7,000 square feet of interior space currently occupied by Barrie Transit and Barrie Police Service’s downtown office, and an option to renew.
Outdoor courtyard space of approximately 15,000 sq. ft. could support additional education space using modular buildings.
The plan includes a property lease agreement for space in the downtown core to relocate the Barrie police satellite office, to space acceptable to city police.
The Sandbox Centre for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Centre is on the second floor of 24 Maple.
The Mexican House restaurant, on the ground floor at one end of the building, would continue to operate there.
Previous plans for the ground floor and beyond included a permanent market that was to include the relocation of the Barrie Farmers’ Market. This was put on hold, given the desire of the Barrie Farmers’ Market to remain in its current location at Barrie City Hall. The hub cancels the permanent market planned for this area.
Lakehead University already has a Barrie presence. In September, Georgian College and Lakehead announced a new plan for their partnership. Starting in 2025, graduates from Georgian diploma programs will be guaranteed admission to select Lakehead undergraduate degree programs in Orillia and Thunder Bay through academic transfers, allowing students to transition between the two institutions to achieve their academic and career goals.
Lakehead coming to downtown Barrie is just the latest news for the core on the education front.
In June, it was announced that as many as 800 post-secondary students will be added to downtown Barrie, starting in 2025. Georgian College made the announcement at 55 Mulcaster St., which is the Barrie City Centre building near Collier Street.
Georgian will offer a hub of creative programming there for students in areas such as design, visual arts and emerging innovative technologies, to provide increased opportunities for hands-on learning, partnerships and immersive experiences.
This would also distribute Georgian students more broadly throughout Barrie, enabling them to live, work and study in various neighbourhoods.
Georgian College’s University Partnership Centre (UPC) was established in 2003. Its core mission is to provide students with enhanced choice and adaptability in pursuing degree studies, including partnerships, admission pathways and transfer pathway agreements with universities in Ontario, across Canada and globally.
The UPC includes access to Georgian’s own degree programs and transfer pathways for existing students, recent graduates and alumni.
Some of Georgian’s current partners, besides Lakehead University, are: Acadia University, Algoma University, Athabasca University, Atlantic Technological University, Bishop's University, Brock University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Limerick Institution of Technology, Munster Technological University, Niagara University - Vaughan campus, Northeastern University - Toronto campus, Robert Gordon University, Royal Roads University, St. Matthews University - School of Veterinary Medicine, Thompson Rivers University, Trent University, Western University, University of Guelph, and York University.
Barrie is one of the few Ontario municipalities among the 25 urban growth centres in the Greater Golden Horseshoe without a university campus, according to city staff.
This city also generally maintains a low participation rate in university studies in all age categories when compared to the Ontario average, according to city staff, even though Barrie remains one of the province’s youngest communities.
Based on 2021 Census data, 25.4 per cent of Barrie residents aged 25 to 64 had a bachelor's degree or higher, tracking lower than 36.8 per cent in Ontario and 32.9 per cent in Canada. And 42.8 per cent of Barrie’s youth aged 18 to 24 were attending a post-secondary institution compared to 51.5 per cent in Ontario and 50.2 per cent in Canada.
Lakehead’s Barrie campus would have space on Maple Avenue when Barrie’s Allandale Transit Terminal, which is being built at Essa Road and Gowan Street, adjacent to the existing GO Transit corridor, becomes operational in mid- to late-2025.
The Allandale terminal is to host seamless transit services and connections between Simcoe County, Muskoka and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and be integrated with two-way, so to and from, GO train services, located at the Allandale Waterfront GO station.
