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WATERFRONT BIA

MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS

If your business is located within the boundaries of the Waterfront BIA, you are already a member, and our team is working hard on your behalf. You will find more of what falls under your membership benefits in the section below.

SHOWCASING AND PROMOTING YOUR BUSINESS

Our daily social media presence is promoting our businesses and providing updates about the waterfront. Make sure to follow us and connect on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram so we can interact with you and promote you, too.

Our e-mail newsletters sent every two months go to 7,000+ subscribers with updates about our businesses and what’s coming soon to the area. Contact our team to be added to the ‘call for submissions’ sent out to businesses and we’ll include your updates too.

Our website’s business directory is another opportunity for your business. Contact our team if your business is within our BIA boundaries and you wish to be added.

KEEPING BUSINESSES INFORMED

AREA MARKET RESEARCH & DATA

We prepare area market research and data to help businesses learn more about the neighbourhood, how it functions and where they can thrive in the future. See our most recent pedestrian counts, area data research and waterfront commuter survey

BUSINESS E-NEWSLETTERS

Our e-mail list for member businesses including importance updates for businesses, our most recent pedestrian counts, recent research we have available, and other updates about programs that may benefit your business. Contact our team to be added to our business member email list. 

GRANT PROGRAMS

We can assist with services like Digital Main Street and other grant programs through our relationships with the City of Toronto Economic and Development Department and Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA). 

NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES

Providing businesses with opportunities to connect and collaborate with one another with member breakfasts and consultations directly with key stakeholders. 

WHAT BRINGS PEOPLE BACK TO THE WATERFRONT

PUBLIC ART, EVENTS AND 'HAPPENINGS'

Each year we bring public art, events and ‘happenings’ to the waterfront in partnership with a number of area stakeholders – Harbourfront Centre, Waterfront Toronto, Water’s Edge Festivals and Events, Winter Stations, Ireland Park Foundation, The Bentway and PortsToronto..

WATERFRONT FESTIVAL

The BIA helped to start the Waterfront Festival 10 years ago and you’ll remember the Canada Day festivities, the Rubber Duck and ‘Tall Ship’ like the Blue Nose II visiting in recent years.

OPEN REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

See our open request for proposals for activations and public art as we’re always ready to work with creative, innovative and even quirky artists and public space pioneers. Contact our team if you have exciting ideas about what we can bring to the waterfront soon.

WATERFRONT ARTIST-IN RESIDENCY PROGRAM

2021 is the first year of our Artist-In-Residence program in partnership with Waterfront Toronto and the City of Toronto. Our first artists, Black Speculative Arts Movement (BSAM) Toronto, have brought unique, diverse and creative black lived experiences to the waterfront through multiple activations.

KEEPING THE AREA CLEAN

CLEAN STREETS TEAM

Our Clean Streets Team is active daily during the warm months of the year. With more foot traffic along the waterfront during the spring and summer, the Clean Streets Team helps keep the area extra clean. Their duties include picking up garbage, weeding, removing posters and graffiti, and other various tasks that help keep our area in tip-top shape. We are always open to partnering with area stakeholders to work together for the cleanest waterfront possible. In 2021 the BIA organized a community cleanup day with other waterfront stakeholders to help the BIAs cleaners and to further strengthen the relationships within our community. In 2021 the Clean Streets Team removed: 292 bags of garbage, 407 graffiti tags, and 423 posters/stickers.

WEEKLY REPORTING

Providing a memorable visitor experience means providing a clean experience, too. We’re proactive about identifying and finding solutions to on-street cleanliness issues because we care about this area. We have weekly reporting of damaged or deficient public realm assets, street poles, garbage overflows and other cleanliness issues. We report to 311, direct to City of Toronto departments and other agencies responsible. Contact our team if you’re noticing an issue in the area you’d like to see cleaned or fixed faster. 

NEIGHBOURHOOD IMPROVEMENTS AND PLACEMAKING

PARK INVESTMENTS

We add elements to parks where our investment can make a big difference. In future years we’ll have moveable furniture and animal sculptures added to Love Park, and the legacy project inspired by Terry Fox will add a new destination monument at Music Garden Park.

MALTING SILOS LIGHTING VISION

The BIA is developing a malting silos lighting vision with world-renowned projection mapping firm moment factory along with the City of Toronto and Ireland Park Foundation. The silos will be an opportunity in the near-future for another destination attraction along the water.

PLACEMAKING SIGNAGE

We’re responsive to the changes in the area and always looking for a way to help our businesses. You may still see our physical distancing stickers and we are open signage from COVID lockdowns.

STREET BANNERS

BIAs brand their neighbourhood with
Banners, including ours that you’ll see along Queens Quay.

ADVOCATING FOR YOUR SUCCESS