As we approach the end of the year, there is much to report on the ULI Toronto front.

On October 5, a large gathering of our members learned about the status of three large-scale redevelopment projects in the GTA: the West Don Lands (including the Pan Am Games Athlete’s Village), Downsview Park and Buttonville Airport. These three projects are at different stages of the planning and approvals process, and it will be interesting to monitor their progress in the coming years. ULI’s CEO, Patrick Phillips, was visiting Toronto on that date and was impressed with the quality of the program, and with the level of development activity occurring in Toronto (which he witnessed in more detail the next day as City planning staff whisked him around town on a whirlwind tour!)

On November 1, Jonathan Miller, George Carras and John O’Bryan provided a synopsis of the 2012 Emerging Trends in Real Estate report, undertaken by ULI and PwC this year, with a specific Canadian edition. We once again heard about the relative strength of the Canadian real estate market.

Gary Wright, the City of Toronto’s Chief Planner, addressed a members only event on September 8, and shortly thereafter announced his retirement. I don’t think that Gary’s retirement was caused by any aggressive questioning from our members. We wish Gary well and congratulate him on his lengthy and distinguished public service.

Finally, on the programming front, our Young Leaders Group held a successful Art of the Deal event on November 22, taking a comparative look at private sector and public sector developments.

ULI Toronto has continued to expand its outreach activities. As mentioned in our last newsletter, this year we convened our first Technical Advisory Panel (TAP). The TAP report should be published soon, and will address possible ways to revitalize the Weston Village area. In the meantime, we are delighted to announce that one of the short term recommendations of the panel – the John Street revitalization and streetscape plan (which will transform John Street and the area around it into a flexible, pedestrian friendly “festival” marketplace that can serve as the new home for the Weston Farmers’ Market) – has just received a $23,750 Urban Innovation grant from ULI. With matching finds and contributions from Metrolinx and the City, we look forward to leveraging the ULI grant into tangible and positive improvements for the Weston Village area.

We also launched this fall a new Pro Bono + Program, a funding and mentorship initiative to support planning and development projects led by not-for-profit and community groups. We have received many responses to our initial call for applications, and we will soon extend support to some worthy projects, through both grants and pro bono mentorship or project support from our members.

The Urban Innovation grant mentioned above was awarded to ULI Toronto at the ULI fall meeting in Los Angeles. That fall meeting launched ULI’s 75th Anniversary celebrations. As part of those celebrations, December 14 is being recognized south of the border as “ULI Day”. While ULI Toronto has not been around as long as our parent organization, we are happy to be part of the ULI family, and happy to be taking steps, through our programming and outreach activities, to advance the ULI mission of creating sustainable and better communities.

Thanks to all of our members for their contributions to ULI this year, and best wishes for a safe and happy holiday season. We look forward to continuing a healthy dialogue on urban matters in the GTA next year.

Mark Noskiewicz
Chair, ULI Toronto