Downsview Airport in Ancaster neighbourhood to be transformed into seven sustainable neighbourhoods 

In the Ancaster neighbourhood of Toronto, dreams of new sustainable neighbourhoods are taking flight through a unique project at Downsview Airport.

YZD, or Downsview Airport, has changed a lot over the years. First established in 1929, it was an airfield for building planes. In 1947, it became a Royal Canadian Air Force Base until 1992, when it became an aircraft testing facility.

Today, the 370-acre land is taking the next step in urban living, transforming underused space into seven new sustainable neighbourhoods. 

But it isn’t the first. Underused airports around the world have been revitalized for different uses. In Denver, Colorado, Stapleton International Airport was redeveloped into the Central Park Neighborhood in 2020. The neighbourhood houses over 30,000 residents, but there are rising concerns about traffic congestion.

Mitchell Marcus, executive director of site activation at Northcrest Developments, which is developing Downsview Airport, says the first step will be revitalizing the hangars. “That’s going to be quite transformative for the city to kind of get back these extraordinary buildings that are unlike anything else we have in Toronto, and to see them reimagined from spaces of industrial manufacturing to places for people, for places for play,” he says.

YZD was last owned by aerospace manufacturer Bombardier, which sold the land to the Public Sector Pension Investment Board in 2018. In a press release, Alain Bellemare, president and CEO at Bombardier Inc., said only 10 per cent of the land was used. 

The empty land separated the surrounding neighbourhoods, including Ancaster, Downsview, Bathurst Manor and Clanton Park. Because of this, Northcrest Developments is working with the City of Toronto to build better-connected roads and transit systems.

Sarah Phipps, project director of Update Downsview under City Planning, says YZD has a community development plan that sets out a series of actions within eight priority areas, including engagement, and prioritizing Indigenous, equity-deserving and Black communities in Northwest Toronto.

“There [are] also actions about job targets, about local hiring, about training in those communities in Northwest Toronto,” she adds. “There [are] also targets about securing community space and who gets access to the city-owned community space.”

Over the next 30 years, YZD will house 55,000 Torontonians in low-carbon buildings. It’ll use 74 acres of the land for green space, and turn 2 kilometres of the runway into a pedestrian street.

Meanwhile, YZD has been inviting locals to visit the space for community gathering, such as skating at its pop-up skating rink in the winter and setting up food stalls for a Christmas market. In June, it launched a community plaza with parts of a decommissioned aircraft on display.

Mariela Mantero, a business owner in Ancaster, says YZD helped her business flourish, opening it up to new customers in the neighbourhood, as well as existing locals who weren’t aware of the business.  She adds that the project will also help ease traffic.

“[YZD will be] cutting shorter the time from here [Ancaster] to Keele and Sheppard; [it will be] half the time. It’s going to be amazing. It’s going to be less traffic, and we’re going to have more movement because people are going to be able to go past the stores and see them.”

The city hopes to introduce the community development plan in more neighbourhoods, such as Mount Dennis. As for YZD, the go-ahead for the development of The Hangar District, its first proposed neighbourhood, goes to city council for a vote in July.

If approved, in the next five years, it’s anticipated that there will be over 2,900 new homes built, 7,400 new job opportunities, and over nine acres of parks and open spaces.