Well, yeah. I was being a bit ironic. Cost estimates on the SSE have been a moving target since Day 1. Obviously there is value in hearing the most up-to-date estimates (which is probably why we're not hearing them) but they end up being meaningless if every 2 years you change the scope and timing of the project.
First, you want an area that lacks density because the money comes from creating that density.
As for a large area, do you mean like the 150 or so acres owned by 3 development groups at Yonge and Highway 7? There's plenty of land there. Obviously the parcels are smaller along the length of Yonge Street but even there, you have things like the Gupta proposal for Yonge/Steeles, which is massive density on less than 3 acres. And then there's car dealership plaza which must be at least 20 acres; enough for a whole new neighbourhood. (Like, maybe Aouyan would have been happy to pay something as part of the large-scale M2M development, if it meant the Cummer subway station would be built faster. But they wouldn't have paid enough to turn it from a non-starter into a reality.)
No - demand and density aren't the issue there. But there still won't be remotely the kind of money Ford is envisioning and Scarborough isn't Yonge/7.
There is probably some incentive for developers - who do already pay for some of this stuff through DC's - to help build a station that will allow them to build a project for which there would otherwise be little or no demand. I don't know the value of having a tower that connects directly to a station underground, for example. But transit - especially subways - just costs too much for it to be viable as a broad solution. I mean, jeeze, they're citing the Mimico GO station as an example of an early success. I've no doubt it could work for (some) GO stations but subway stations are a whole different can of worms.
