Downsview Park

The area was first used in 1929 by de Havilland Canada, where it housed the company's Canadian operations. The manufacturing plant was used to make aircraft during World War II.[2] After the war, the Department of National Defence (Canada) needed space to station Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons in the area. In 1947, the federal government acquired and consolidated 270 properties in Downsview surrounding the manufacturing plant.

In April 1997 North York mayor Mel Lastman proposed developing the area into a large entertainment complex. Plans included three hockey arenas, a movie studio, year-round skiing, a whitewater rafting venue, an Olympic-size swimming pool, and a multiplex cinema.[3] Often compared to Canada's Wonderland, it was planned to contribute to Toronto's bid for the 2008 Olympics. The developer selected was the Reichmann family's Heathmount Arts and Entertainment, and its plan got passed in North York council in December 1998.[4] Discussions broke down with the federal government, and their unwillingness to sell the land.[5] In April 1999 the Reichmanns announced they would move the plan to Montreal. In June 2000, the developer announced they would also walk way from their plans in Montreal.[6]

In 1999, the federal government announced, to great fanfare, that the park would become "Canada's first urban national park."[1] Downsview Park announced an International Design Competition. In 2000, Bruce Mau and Rem Koolhaas submitted the winning design scheme, known as "Tree City."[7] In the years that followed, little development took place, and the plans fell into dormancy.[7]

Instead of creating a park made up of almost entirely green space as called for in the "Tree City" plan, Parc Downsview Park Inc., the crown corporation then in control of the park, approved constructing commercial and residential developments across the north, east and southwest ends of the park.[8]

The initial phase of the construction of Downsview Park began in 2005. The first step was to regenerate the soil, which had been compacted by more than 50 years of military base use, so that it will again support the lush vegetation that is planned for a very significant portion of the site. A major feature of this initial work was the development of the Canada Forest, which was started with a partnership with Natural Resources Canada and its 2020 Fast Forest initiative.

Several residential developers expressed interest in Stanley Greene. Urbancorp was chosen as the first residential developer by Parc Downsview Park after an extensive due diligence process. The first residential development phase at Downsview Park will comprise over 1000 homes. Urbancorp is the largest landowner and developer of residential communities in King West Village and the Queen Street West Triangle area in downtown Toronto. Construction of the new community "Neighbourhood of Downsview Park" is expected to begin in Autumn of 2012.

In 2013, Mattamy Homes, Canada's largest homebuilder, entered into a joint partnership with Urbancorp, a real estate developer to begin construction on the first residential community in the park.[9] Local councillor Maria Augimeri said that the development was unlikely to appease angry residents who had expected a park to be developed on the land.[9]

In 2014, the City of Toronto once again attempted to acquire control of the park. The federal government rejected the proposal, saying it would not consider transferring responsibility over the park to the city.[1] The Toronto Star obtained a memo that indicating that the government did not want to consider transferring the park because of its immense value.[1]

The property has been the site of several high-profile events, including two Papal visits by Pope John Paul II, in 1984 (while still an active military base) and 2002 (World Youth Day), as well as the Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto concert in 2003 featuring The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, and many others. The Canadian music festival Edgefest has also called Downsview Park home for the last two years with Linkin Park, Stone Temple Pilots, The Sam Roberts Band, Billy Talent, AFI, Alexisonfire and Metric performing. Edgefest returned to the park in 2011 and will be a featured event again in 2012. Since 2012 the Veld Music Festival has been held at the park.[10] The Tragically Hip performed to a crowd of approximately 30,000 on Canada Day 2011. On 16 June 2012, a temporary stage collapsed an hour before gates opened for a scheduled Radiohead concert, killing one person and injuring three others.[11][12] In 2012, the Junior Caribana festival was moved to the park.[13]

One of the entrances of Downsview Park Subway station

From 1996 to 2017, the closest Toronto subway station to Downsview Park was Downsview station, which served as a terminal station of Line 1 Yonge–University. Situated near the eastern edge of the park across from Downsview Airport, the station was renamed Sheppard West in advance of a northern extension of Line 1, which opened on December 17, 2017. Since 2008, bus route 101 operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (which also operates the subway) serves the grounds of Downsview Park directly, with daily service between Sheppard West station and the Aerospace Museum on Carl Hall Road.

Downsview Park station opened on December 17, 2017, as part of the Line 1 subway extension into Vaughan. This station is located at the park's north end and is an intermodal interchange with the Barrie line, part of GO Transit's commuter rail services, whose station opened on December 30, 2017.

The Downsview Park Sports Centre is a 45,000 square metres (480,000 square feet) multi-purpose facility, formerly an aircraft hangar for the de Havilland Aircraft Company and later the Canadian Forces. Downsview Park's most regular attraction is The Hangar, an indoor recreational facility within the Downsview Park Sports Centre, which accommodates approximately 600,000 visitors per year to its soccer, ball hockey and beach volleyball facilities alone. Winter 2011 saw the welcome addition of a domed field, expanding winter field availability. During the summer of 2009, Toronto Roller Derby started playing their home games at Downsview, using a space in the Downsview Park Sports Centre's west end. In the summer of 2011, Toronto Roller Derby moved to another space in the park known as The Bunker,[15] and hosted the inaugural Roller Derby World Cup in that space in early December 2011.[16] The Downsview Park Sports Centre also accommodates K1 Speed indoor electric go-karting (aka green go-karting), the HoopDome basketball facility, The Rail Skatepark skateboard destination, True North Climbing indoor rock climbing gym and Blyth Academy Downsview Park School for Elite Athletes. The National Squash Academy, operated by former World #1 player Jonathon Power is a recent addition to the Sports Centre. In October 2013 an ice hockey arena was opened,[17] and was renamed in February 2015 to Scotiabank Pond.[18]

Toronto FC's BMO Training Ground and Academy

In March 2011, Downsview Park was selected as the site of Toronto FC's new state-of-the-art Academy and Training Facility. Construction began on the KIA Training Ground in May 2011, and the facility opened in June 2012. It includes three grass fields, one domed turf field and a field house. Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), owner of Toronto FC, spent more than $21 million building the facility and pays rent for the land,[19] with an aim to becoming the epicentre of soccer development in Canada.[20] In July 2014 it was announced that MLSE would expand the training grounds at a cost of $2 million to house a temporary practice facility for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, which would rent the facility from MLSE and practice on a nearby city owned field.[21][22][23] The team moved in that September,[24][25] but later moved their practice facility to Lamport Stadium in 2018.[26] In 2018, BMO acquired the naming rights to the training ground, renaming it to the BMO Training Ground & Academy.[27] With their drop to the division 3 USL League One for the 2019 season, Toronto FC II moved their home games to BMO Training Ground.[28]

Volleyball Canada made the Downsview Park Sports Centre their new headquarters and training facility in 2011. A new four-pad ice complex will be another welcome amenity scheduled to open in 2013.

Operations at the Downsview Park Sports Centre generate funds to help build Downsview Park.

TMU Bold soccer teams have been using the outdoor soccer field as their home field.