Massive marina at Friday Harbour nearly complete

Friday Harbour's marina will be the largest in-land marina in Canada. (Rob Cooper/CTV Barrie)

The dry basin will soon be filled by the waters from Lake Simcoe at a brand new marina at the Friday Harbour resort which is currently under construction in Innisfil.

The one thousand slip marina is the largest in-land marina in Canada and is the key feature of the $1.5 billion resort.

Approximately 170, 000 truckloads of earth were excavated for the marina and moved to site of a future golf course.

“We’ve been working on Friday Harbour for 13 years now and to get to this point is quite amazing,” said the resorts developer Earl Rumm.

Once completed and filled with water, the marina will provide 4.5 kilometers of newly created waterfront and berths for up to a thousand boats.

“We’re not opening up the damn and letting the water just flood in, it’s done in a very slow and engineered proper way,” said ConDrain Group President and Friday Harbour partner Jim De Gasperis.

The marina has extended the lakes overall size by nearly ten hectares.

Thirty different fish habitat structures have been built to help protect fish and other wildlife in the water.

“In a year or two we’ll come back and implement a monitoring program,” said Jo-Anne Lane with Beacon Environmental.

Friday Harbour sits on 600 acres and features up to 2000 condominiums and hotel rooms, a golf course, stores and restaurants.

Crews will begin filling the marina with water this month and it could take up to weeks to complete.

The entire project is expected to be complete in eight years.