Waterfront Toronto names new partners for land Sidewalks Labs intended to build on

TORONTO — Waterfront Toronto has named two companies that will develop a swath of lakeside land a Google affiliate once hoped to turn into a high-tech neighbourhood.

The organization overseeing the city’s waterfront says it will begin negotiations for the development named Quayside with Dream Unlimited Corp. and Great Gulf Group.

The companies intend to bring 800 affordable housing units and a two-acre forested green space with an urban farm sitting atop a residential mass timber building to the 12-acre site in downtown Toronto.

They will also build an arts venue on the land and kit out the property with low-carbon innovations meant to make Quayside the first all-electric, zero-carbon community at this scale.

Waterfront Toronto says it expects negotiations to be complete by fall 2022 and noted that Dream Unlimited and Great Gulf beat out four other teams vying for the opportunity to transform the land.

The announcement comes almost two years after Google affiliate Sidewalk Labs walked away from developing the land because of “unprecedented economic uncertainty.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2022.

The Canadian Press