City staff have provided an update price tag for the proposed Rail Deck Park, a plan that is now expected to cost at least $1.6-billion.
The last estimate given in September was about $600-million lower.
The plan is to build a 20-acre park over the train tracks south of Front St, from Bathurst St to Blue Jays Way.
A staff report being discussed at next week's executive committee meeting says the $1.6-billion estimate includes $600-million in contingencies and additional track-level work.
Staff say the park could be built in stages. They have identified the priority phase as the section between Spadina Ave and the yellow pedestrian bridge just west of that. The cost to build that segment of the park would cost $872-million, and staff expansion to the east and west could be looked at in the future.
"Rail Deck Park is a now-or-never opportunity to build a transformative park," mayor John Tory says in a statement. "Today's staff report demonstrates that this vision is both necessary and feasible, and can be largely paid for through the growth that continues to happen in our city, meaning that the cost will not be carried by people's property taxes."