Click here to view original web page at www.fastcompany.com
Hudson Yards, the mega Manhattan development, re-envisioned 28 acres of railyards. The Tesla Gigafactory in Nevada, one of the world’s largest manufacturing sites, encompasses 123 acres of factory floors. In Sacramento, an ambitious plan to redevelop the California capital’s railyard will rework 244 acres of industrial space.
But a new effort to turn a former airport into a new Toronto neighborhood trumps them all. In May, Toronto’s city council unanimously approved a community development plan for the Downsview Airport, giving Northcrest Development an early green light for its expected multi decade effort to transform the airfield into a 370-acre mixed-use community. It’s being called the largest urban redevelopment project in North America.
A great responsibility
The initial plans, including development renderings by Henning Larsen and SLA, envision a mixed-use community of 100,000 people. Already served by three stops on the city’s metro line, the space is now a well-connected gap on the Greater Toronto map that can be re-envisioned for the greater good. But as nearby residents are reminded of previous promises by other developers that soured, such as the Downsview Park project, where the developer focused more on high-rises and density without the accompanying parks and amenities residents desires. It’s important that future developments reflect a shared vision for a swath of land as large as Toronto’s existing downtown core.
“Don’t mess it up, it’s a great responsibility,” said Northcrest Developments CEO, Derek Goring. “You have to approach it that way. There’s almost a constant reminder every day to make sure you don’t mess up the opportunity.”
Set to be one of North America’s biggest development sites, the project begs the question of whether such a large-scale project can truly meet the moment, in terms of what Toronto, and cities in general, need when social safety nets are fraying. The project parameters currently aim for 10% affordable housing (someone making 30% of the area’s median income can afford), and 40% of units are 2-bedroom or larger, in an effort to add to the city’s stock of affordable housing and family-friendly rentals.
The Canadian national housing agency found that in 2023, due to the nation’s housing affordability crisis, there are functionally no rental units available for families with the lowest income in big cities like Toronto and Vancouver. This development does set aside affordable units for this demographic, but it carries the possibility of doing so much more.
Airport renovations offer urban space with less baggage
Other decommissioned airports have given major metros new opportunities and fresh canvas for citymaking, which tend to encourage bold and visionary concepts. Berlin’s Tegel Airport will become an eco smart city, due to a public-private investment plan expected to cost roughly $8 billion. In Santa Monica, the soon-to-be-decommissioned municipal airport will be redesigned by Sasaki; plans to largely turn it into a public space, or great park, have been met with some criticism that the city isn’t using a once-in-a-generation opportunity to develop much-needed affordable housing in a high-opportunity area of Los Angeles county. Other airport plans, typically smaller airfields that have become obsolete, tend to lean towards recreational or conservation-based plans.
The Henning Larsen vision for the site includes a commitment to a city nature design and more green infrastructure. A quarter of the airport turned into parkland, and the planned stormwater system will rely on landscaping and more porous parkland to absorb stormwater, as opposed to the traditional system of massive pipes and drains. The proposal also calls for a 15-minute city approach, with bike lanes and pedestrian paths interspersed within the larger development.
Northcrest plans to roll out the project in phases; Goring says part of the problem is that, during a multi-decade development, some technologies and ways of building may become obsolete. While the city approved what’s called a Secondary Plan that allows the project to go forward, each neighborhood will have its own series of local approvals and meetings needed to proceed. The first neighborhood plan, currently in the design and approval phase, will take up to 15 years to fully build out, including getting greenlit by the local government and installing necessary infrastructure. Throughout the course of its four years of work on the project, Northcrest claims it has engaged with over 300 different organizations and more than 6,000 individuals to develop its vision for the airport.
The site, formerly used by private jet maker Bombardier, has already seen new use cases since being decommissioned in 2018. Film producers have utilized the hangers to shoot feature films (Northcrest won’t provide additional details), and a number of public events on the runway, including art fairs, a Drag Me To The Movies drive-in film, and teen design competitions, have sought to enliven the runways before development commences.
Northcrest, backed by a Canadian pension fund, PSP Investments, plans to stay engaged in the neighborhood, Goring says, and has introduced itself to local leaders as a “quasi-permanent member of the community.” But this was a private land purchase, unlike some of the other airport-conversion projects where municipal ownership and guidance plays a stronger role. What remains to be seen for Downview, Toronto, and Northcrest is how well the final product does or doesn’t blend into the existing urban fabric, elevate nearby neighborhoods, and serve the large public good.
“We sometimes use the word steward,” said Goring. “But I mean, at the end of the day, we are responsible to our pension fund shareholders to generate an appropriate return for their investment. Fundamentally, that is why we exist. But we also very much take the city building responsibility very seriously.”
Patrick Sisson is a contributor for Fast Company and reports on Urban Development and Real Estate for the annual list of Most Innovative Companies. You can connect with Patrick on LinkedIn or Twitter/X.
