Rogers Stadium is just the beginning of a bigger plan for the former Downsview Airport

The newest addition to Toronto’s list of live music venues – Rogers Stadium – was announced this past September, and is expected to be open in the summer of 2025. However, it’s only the beginning of a larger hub for culture and community in the city at the site of the former Downsview Airport, which has now been changed to YZD. 

Over the next thirty years, the 370-acre former airport will be transformed into a mixed-use community made up of seven districts. These districts will include mixed housing, retail spaces, parks and community facilities.

“We’re really building a city within a city; a mixed use city within a city,” says Mitchell Marcus, the executive director of site activation and programming for Northcrest Developments, the company overseeing the development of YZD. “Which means it has to be a place that serves great places to live, great places to work, great entertainment, restaurants, retail and amenities. Just a really thoughtful approach to [the] public realm and the places where people play. We’re kind of building that mini city with all of those elements.”

The first district in development is the Hangar District, spanning 102 acres which includes the 12 hangars of the former airport. The district is planned to be a pedestrian-centered community, providing over 2,500 new homes with connections to Downsview Park, which Canada Lands Company owns.

“The history that’s in these buildings captures a whole chapter of Canadian innovation [in] aerospace engineering. I think that’s really the centerpiece of the first district, these hangers that have this amazing heritage value are going to be retrofitted and reimagined into new things,” says Marcus. 

Development of the entire site is expected to be completed over the next few decades, and will use over 370-acres of YZD property. In the meantime, Northcrest is using the space to hold public events in order to show Torontonians the potential it has.

In addition to the construction of Rogers Stadium, the YZD grounds has held a free event called Play on the Runway for the past three years, where the public is encouraged to come down to the grounds and use the expansive space to do exactly what the name suggests: play.

“I had never been to the Downsview Airport before, [and] there was so much empty space, with [the] runway stretching across all sides,” says Aswin Nair, who attended Play on the Runway this past summer. “Finding out more about how they plan on using it, I thought it was a fantastic idea. They have so much empty space sitting idle because there isn’t an operational airport anymore, so the possibility that this area might be converted into a bustling neighborhood is exciting to hear.”

Information about events being held at YZD can be found on its website.