Toronto Tomorrow
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Toronto Tomorrow A new approach for inclusive growth 3 The Partnership Land Acknowledgement Sidewalk Labs recognizes that this land we now call Toronto has been the site of human activity for over 15,000 years; we are within the Treaty Lands and claimed Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit. Toronto is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. It is the responsibility of all people to share in wise stewardship and peaceful care of the land and its resources. We are mindful of a history of broken treaties, and of the urgent need to work continuously towards reconciliation, and we are grateful for the opportunity to live and work on this land. The Partnership Contents Partnership Overview p16 Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 The Innovative Innovation Transaction Design and and Funding Economics Economic Partnership p148 Acceleration Proposal (IDEA) District p82 The Innovative Design and Economic Acceleration (IDEA) District Innovation and Funding Partnership Proposal p50 Financial Terms Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Achieving Implementation Stage Gates and Waterfront p194 Risk Mitigation Toronto’s p206 Priority Outcomes Achieving the outcomes identied by Waterfront Toronto p180 Implementation Chapter 7 Supplemental Overview of the Participants Tables p220 in IDEA District Development p216 Copyright @ 2019 Sidewalk Labs LLC MIDP All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted Acknowledgements in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, p240 photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior consent of the publishers. The Partnership Contents Partnership Overview Chapter 3 Transaction Economics Introduction p18 Part 1 Harmonizing the Objectives of Waterfront Toronto, the Public, p22 Introduction p150 and Sidewalk Labs Part 1 Sources and Uses of Funds p156 Part 2 Seven Principles Guiding the Proposed Partnership p26 Part 2 Public Sector Impact p166 Part 3 Overview of Innovation and Funding Partnership p28 Part 3 Sidewalk Labs’ Returns p174 Part 4 How the Proposal Reflects the Seven Transaction Principles p36 Part 5 A Partnership Proposal Intended for Ongoing Refinement p45 Overview of Volume 3 p48 Chapter 4 Achieving Waterfront Toronto’s Priority Outcomes Chapter 1 Introduction p182 The Innovative Design and Economic Acceleration Part 1 Job Creation and Economic Development p184 (IDEA) District Part 2 Sustainability and Climate-Positive Development p186 Part 3 Housing Affordability p188 Introduction p52 Part 4 New Mobility p190 Part 1 IDEA District Component 1: A Public Administrator p62 Part 5 Urban Innovation p192 Part 2 IDEA District Component 2: The Innovation Framework p72 Part 3 IDEA District Component 3: Financing p80 Chapter 5 Chapter 2 Implementation Innovation and Funding Partnership Proposal Part 1 Approval Process, Transaction, and Implementation Timeline p196 Introduction p84 Part 2 Phase 1 Project Delivery Timeline: Quayside Plan p202 Role 1 Development of Real Estate and Advanced Systems p86 Part 3 Phase 2 Project Delivery Timeline: Villiers West Urban Innovation Campus p204 Role 2 Innovation Planning, Design, and Implementation p114 Role 3 Technology Deployment p120 Role 4 Optional Infrastructure Financing p128 Chapter 6 Stage Gates and Risk Mitigation Stage Gates and Risk Mitigation p208 Chapter 7 Overview of the Participants in IDEA District Development Overview of the Participants in IDEA District Development p218 Supplemental Tables Management Entities p222 Regulatory Adjustments p224 Initial Innovation Design Standards and Guidelines p227 Upfront Permissions p230 MIDP Acknowledgements p240 Partnership Overview Introduction p18 Harmonizing Seven Principles Overview of the Objectives Guiding the Innovation of Waterfront Proposed and Funding Toronto, the Partnership Partnership Public, and p26 p28 Sidewalk Labs p22 How the Proposal A Partnership Reflects Proposal Intended the Seven for Ongoing Transaction Refinement Principles p45 p36 Organization of Volume 3 p48 An aerial view of Toronto’s waterfront looking east towards Introduction the Port Lands, from circa 1933, shows the industrial area created by filling Toronto’s eastern waterfront represents one of in Ashbridge’s Bay marsh. Credit: City the greatest tracts of undeveloped or underdeveloped of Toronto Archives land in any major North American city. It presents Waterfront Toronto, the City of Toronto, the governments of Ontario and Canada, and the people of Toronto with an extraordinary opportunity to shape the future of Toronto and serve as a model for how cities around the world manage growth. The Master Innovation and Development Plan represents a comprehensive proposal for how to realize that potential in a portion of the eastern waterfront. development (completed or planned) and At this point, Waterfront Toronto could have leveraged initial government funding to spur continued using a traditional model, bidding For over a century, public officials and devel- $4.1 billion in economic output for the Cana- out a series of development parcels, with opers have looked to the eastern waterfront dian economy.5 The agency’s achievements market-rate condos dominating the mix. But to help address the land-use problems of the leaders took the first steps towards bringing also include attracting a privately funded several emerging trends rightly led Waterfront day.1 Early last century, they envisioned the the long-neglected waterfront to life. This fibre-optic gigabit network, leading the Toronto to choose a different path. waterfront as a new home for Toronto’s grow- effort began as part of an Olympics bid, with creation of new public transit corridors and ing industrial base. For a variety of reasons, the bid committees strategically locating active streets, guiding over 36 hectares of Owing to its rapid growth, the Greater Toronto including economic timing and a lack of sup- many proposed venues along the waterfront.3 parks and public spaces, and helping secure Area has become increasingly unaffordable porting infrastructure, the eastern waterfront roughly 600 units of affordable housing.6 for middle- and low-income Torontonians.8 never lived up to its lofty expectations. Although the Olympics never materialized, the The waterfront revitalization area under Rapid transit infrastructure has failed to keep waterfront’s economic potential became a Waterfront Toronto’s scope is 800 hectares, pace with growth, increasing traffic and push- After World War II, Toronto’s economy shifted focal point of Toronto’s civic imagination, and and to date, the agency has overseen the ing Torontonians farther and farther away away from manufacturing — as was the case a new resolve emerged from all three orders transformation of nearly 100 hectares of from centres of opportunity.9 Open space is in many cities across North America — leaving of government to revitalize the waterfront. In waterfront lands.7 in high demand with limited supply.10 These the waterfront’s industrial areas to enter a 2001, they formed Waterfront Toronto, a public trends, in turn, have exacerbated the city’s long period of decline and neglect.2 Towards corporation whose mission was to revive the In 2017, Waterfront Toronto took the first environmental challenges, which mirror those the close of the 20th century, Toronto’s water- waterfront as an economic engine.4 From its key step towards unlocking the eastern of other major North American cities. front remained underutilized and in need of inception, Waterfront Toronto’s mission was waterfront by securing an extraordinary the critical infrastructure necessary for a about more than economic growth for its own $1.25 billion investment in flood mitigation by post-industrial revival, but there was no single sake — seeing innovative development as a all three orders of government. This project entity tasked with creating a cohesive vision way to advance core public priorities, such will help to unlock a new swath of land for for the waterfront’s future. Today, beyond the as economic opportunity, sustainability, and future development. important Film District, the eastern waterfront affordable housing. is largely a storage ground whose remaining industrial structures serve as a testament to Over the years, Waterfront Toronto has made the difficulty of large-scale urban develop- significant progress. Waterfront Toronto has ment. As the 21st century beckoned, public guided roughly 2.5 million square feet of Partnership Overview 18 19 The result is that the more traditional model narrow economic goals. Waterfront Toronto Waterfront Toronto to conceive and execute potential of the eastern waterfront. Sidewalk of development — with its low levels of afford- was looking for proposals to create a “globally- a forward-looking vision for Quayside and the Labs immediately recognized that Toronto ability, lack of public realm, lack of commercial significant community that will showcase eastern waterfront — a partner with the right could be an ideal place to start. space — is no longer viewed as an economic advanced technologies, building materials, level of ambition, technical expertise, and panacea, but as one symptom of the problem. sustainable practices and innovative business financial resources. The city is remarkably diverse, with nearly half Nor does the usual approach meaningfully models that demonstrate pragmatic solu- its population foreign-born.12 It is experiencing address greenhouse gas emissions or other tions toward climate positive urban develop- Sidewalk