City of Waterloo pitches in to fund new outdoor amphitheatre at Wilfrid Laurier University

The City of Waterloo will help fund a new outdoor public gathering and performance space on Wilfrid Laurier University's main campus.

During a meeting Monday, the Ontario city's council approved $350,000 for the project. The planned outdoor performance space is part of the university's renovations of the Faculty of Music building and university entrance along University Avenue West. 

"I'm really excited to see this project move forward," Mayor Dorothy McCabe said during the meeting. 

The city agreed to partially fund the outdoor gathering space because it aligns with the city's own plans to update the streetscape along University Avenue, which was identified in a staff report as a gateway of learning, discovery, entrepreneurship and innovation.

University Avenue is a regional road, so the city is working with the Region of Waterloo and property owners to refresh the busy corridor with planned roadwork, improved streetscapes and more pedestrian-friendly public spaces. 

Wilfrid Laurier University is raising $15 million for the new music building. Construction began last spring and the newly renovated building is expected to be finished by 2024. 

The university also plans to remove the existing parking lot that fronts University Avenue to create a new entrance plaza for the building, with walkways, seating, lighting, landscape features and a digital sign. Laurier has budgeted $2.5 million for the new plaza area and approached the city to pitch in, according to a City of Waterloo staff report. 

The city's contribution to the plaza area is a sunken amphitheatre with a stage area that will serve as an outdoor gathering space as well as an outdoor performance venue that will be open to the public.