Toronto’s true downtown is on the shore of Lake Ontario, capped by the iconic CN Tower. Just 25 years ago, that location was the region’s lone urban destination, an unmistakable and fast-growing hub.
Today, it has some fresh local competition: with towers sprouting in formerly sleepy bedroom suburbs like Vaughan, Markham, and Brampton, the region’s center of gravity is noticeably shifting. The best spaces are the result of a purposeful leap that developers and transit builders have to make together—from transit-oriented development (TOD) to transit-oriented community (TOC).
“In the last 10 years, it’s become clear that the value created by a new LRT station exceeds what gets captured in new property taxes,” says Rowan Mills, Senior Vice President at Colliers Project Leaders and Vice Chair with the Future of Infrastructure Group. Municipalities are looking to developers to return some portion of those gains to the community, be it through parks, public spaces or services, contributions to infrastructure costs, or investments in affordable housing.
