Toronto id8 Downsview | ?m | ?s | Northcrest Developments | KPMB

So I left this morning with the intention of going to the runway event at Downsview but got stuck at Yorkdale due to biblical rain. Tomorrow doesn’t look good either which is disappointing.

Anyone know what the big announcement by Northcrest was going to be?

And there is an article in The Star by S. Micalef about this project.

www.thestar.com

Shawn Micallef: What the Downsview development is getting right, and what two other new neighbourhoods can learn from it

Downsview’s people-first approach to development puts the new community into an international league where main streets minimize car use. It’s something from which the Port Lands and Lakeview Village projects could learn.
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com
 
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rdaner said:
So I left this morning with the intention of going to the runway event at Downsview but got stuck at Yorkdale due to biblical rain. Tomorrow doesn’t look good either which is disappointing.
Anyone know what the big announcement by Northcrest was going to be?..
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Was their supposedly "major" announcement that they now want it to be called "YZD" and they have a new logo? I was thinking it might have been something about a more definite plan for an individual building or big event, or some company becoming involved.
https://www.yzd.ca/
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releas...former-downsview-airport-lands-822690237.html
https://skiesmag.com/press-releases...-name-for-the-former-downsview-airport-lands/
Northcrest plans on featuring more events like Play on the Runway next year.
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Man the comments on both the NY Post and WSJ articles are truly deranged... perhaps expected from the reader base of NYP but I thought WSJ curated a more "reasonable" audience. Modern conservatism in America has truly lost the plot. And this is coming from someone like myself who considers themselves dispositionally conservative.
 
The interesting thing about the announcement is that it highlights the hangar at 35 Hanover Road as an Experience Centre in the neighbourhood that is the first to be developed. This makes sense as it is adjacent to all of the action along Wilson.

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Since I see no mention of them yet in this thread, Stapleton/Central Park in Denver and City Centre Airport/Blatchford area in Edmonton look like somewhat similar types of projects involving former airports being developed.
https://skyrisecities.com/forum/threads/edmonton-blatchford-development-m-s-city-of-edmonton.25982/
It was decided in 2009 that City Centre Airport would be closed, and while one part is being developed into a neighbourhood, most of it appears to still be an abandoned airport from the satellite image.

Perhaps an even less encouraging example would be Bader Field in Atlantic City, closed in 2006. Despite supposedly being "considered a prime redevelopment site", it's still apparently little but an abandoned airport, with a largely abandoned/rarely used minor league baseball stadium.
There appears to be no shortage of abandoned airfields in the U.S., though presumably most of them aren't in urban areas.

Edit: As large as the Downsview site is at 520 acres, Stapleton International Airport in Denver was nine times larger. When it closed in 1995, it "covered 4,700 acres (7.3 sq mi; 19.0 km²)".
 
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rdaner said:
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Wow. I didn't know someone putting videos on YouTube could bring in enough money for something that large and elaborate.
chrisw said:

Oasis rumoured to play Downsview Park August 24, 2025
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I believe Downsview Park would usually refer to the "Festival Terrace" in the existing Downsview Park to the west side of the railway tracks, rather than a Downsview Airport Sars-Stock or Pope thing, although I see those are also sometimes described (I would say inaccurately) as having been in Downsview Park. I guess we'll find out when something is announced.
 
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rdaner said:
The interesting thing about the announcement is that it highlights the hangar at 35 Hanover Road as an Experience Centre in the neighbourhood that is the first to be developed. This makes sense as it is adjacent to all of the action along Wilson.

View attachment 589605

View attachment 589606View attachment 589607
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This location is temporarily hosting Bubble Planet:

bubble-planet.com

https://bubble-planet.com/toronto/

At this immersive experience in Toronto, bubbles are reimagined bigger than ever. Enjoy the latest VR technology, illusions, ball pits & more at Bubble Planet.
bubble-planet.com bubble-planet.com

I will take photos of it as well.
 
Johnny Au said:
This location is temporarily hosting Bubble Planet ...
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It looks like there's also a Toronto Oktoberfest (oddly on the last weekend in September) at id8Downsview YZD, apparently moved to the inside of a hangar there from a big tent-like thing at Fort York last year, though I'd never heard of it before now.

Just for another comparison of the size of of YZD at 520 acres (Toronto Star article has 370 acres as the area of the airfield) --
Exhibition Place -192 acres
Canada's Wonderland - 330 acres (or 230 acres mentioned in this post?)

How permanent is that cement tower thing there at the filming/TV set? I wonder if it could be used as a base for something else, like maybe a semi-permanent grandstand? If Budweiser Stage had to be closed for a year or two while it was being rebuilt, that could be a good place for a temporary substitute summer venue, being near the Downsview Park GO train/TTC subway station.
Edit: Or maybe the main grandstand for the IndyCar race, if the World Cup might get in the way of that in 2026, and it's otherwise a practical arrangement. I assume an airfield track layout could provide better views of more of the track for spectators than at Exhibition Place, where good views are very limited by all the buildings and trees in the way, and also avoid closing Lake Shore Blvd for the weekend.

Another edit: So that thing near the north end of the airfield is apparently a "gaming tower"? Maybe the Oktoberfestfest could start there with an event offering a prize of "50,000 kronkites" to the first person to climb up the outside of it?
 
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