The stage is set for a battle between the City of Toronto and private developers over two prime acres of provincial land at Yonge St. and Wellesley St. W.

Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, Toronto Centre MPP Glen Murray and city staff may bring a new park to the bustling area — but only if they can persuade the province that trees trump profits.

The land, just west of Yonge St. and south of Wellesley St. W., is up for sale, meaning the city will have to compete for it against deep-pocketed developers.

“If the province is only interested in cold hard cash, if that’s their bottom-line in terms of what they need out of the transaction, it’ll be very difficult for the city to compete, because our perspective is different from developers,” Wong-Tam said.

“What we really lack is parks and green space,” said Norm Waite, president of the Bay Cloverhill Community Association. “One of our concerns is that there are an increasing number of families with children who move into downtown, and parks are important for kids, important for seniors and so on.”

Waite and other residents say Queen’s Park is too busy with events to provide necessary community space.

As a testament to the need, a renegade group of community members recently painted a mural there reading: “Welcome to Wellesley Green public park.”

The fate of the land will be decided by Infrastructure Ontario, which put it up for sale on July 3 as part of a government plan to sell off $285 million worth of provincial property by the end of the year.

Infrastructure Ontario could not confirm its value, but Murray estimates it at between $30 million and $60 million.

The city has some financial resources at its disposal, notably a parkland acquisition fund Wong-Tam says contains “millions,” much of which she says is from buildings in her ward.

Wong-Tam has enlisted the support of the Toronto Parking Authority, which expressed interest in building an underground lot there.

“At this point in time we’re coming up with creative ways to have some sort of proposal when we get to the table,” said Wong-Tam, who has 16 years of real estate experience, some of it in industrial and commercial sectors. “I feel like I have enough poker chips.”

The lot is a storied piece of land that has been the subject of disputes dating to 1990, when the province cut funding for a grand opera house to be built there.

The project ultimately fizzled after the funding dried up, leaving the plot bare. In the late ’90s, people used the lot for a skate park and the occasional carnival, Waite said.

Blue plywood hoarding went up around the site about 10 years ago, he said.

“I know it’s an eyesore and a very contentious project in the neighbourhood,” said Wong-Tam. “There’s been a lot of anger about why the provincial government abandoned the site.”

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The sale process is no different from a regular real estate deal — offers will be taken and evaluated by a brokerage, CBRE, and Infrastructure Ontario.

Murray and Wong-Tam, along with city staff, will spend the summer months at the table with Infrastructure Ontario, side-by-side with commercial developers. The work begins immediately and the group is scheduled to report back to council Oct. 18.