Toronto Today
The coolest things to discover at YZD Toronto
The former Downsview airport lands are 30 years away from being fully transformed into a liveable community — but the developer doesn’t want Torontonians to miss their chance to “play in an empty airport” while they wait.
When Northcrest Developments launched the YZD Toronto master plan in 2024 to build more than 35,000 new housing units and over 70 acres of new parks and open spaces, the company opted to hire someone with an arts background to help determine how the 370 acres of land could be used before it's fully developed.
Now, that vision is taking shape with spaces for the public to hang out, enjoy public art, attend concerts and festivals, learn new skills and meet their neighbours.
Through these activities, artistic director turned developer Mitchell Marcus, YZD Toronto’s vice president of place and destination development, hopes locals will establish memories, traditions and culture that will shape the future YZD Toronto community — named in homage to the original call sign of the airport.
“Let's open the fences today and make this a place for people, and try to have this chapter of Toronto where people remember that they got to play in an empty airport,” said Marcus.
“If we can start to do that today, then in 30 years, when it is finished, you will have people for whom this was always a part of their city.”
TorontoToday took a tour of the former airport lands on Nov. 10. Here are the coolest things to discover at YZD Toronto.
The YZD Experience Centre: a family gathering spot
The epicenter of the YZD Toronto redevelopment plan is the YZD Experience Centre. Built inside of a repurposed airplane hangar, the free space helps guests learn about the history of the land and its future plans through visuals, written materials and interactive models.
On Sunday, the centre hosts free community workshops spanning different creative and educational topics. While last month focused on artistic expressions like drumming and digital illustrations, November’s programming, facilitated by Kids Coding School, includes activities such as airplane launching and building a robotic hand.
There is also space for kids to spend time assembling puzzles and playing with games and sensory toys, while adults can enjoy complimentary coffee and tea.
In the winter, community partner North York Arts also hosts an all-ages art cafe where guests can try their hand at crafts like postcard making, collage, button making and painting.
The Plaza: a glimpse at future park space
The YZD Plaza is an outdoor area beside the Experience Centre that features a garden, a Little Free Library, a swingset, picnic tables — and a deconstructed airplane.
Marcus said it was important to the development team to create a consistent outdoor gathering space for visitors, since part of the YZD Toronto masterplan is to establish new park land.
The developers also wanted to make sure it paid homage to the site’s aviation history, so they commissioned architecture firm Annex Works to incorporate elements of the old airport into the landscape — most notably Planescape, a deconstructed former Bombardier airplane that visitors can walk through.
In addition, airplane runway lights now provide light for evening visitors, planters were repurposed from containers that were used to wheel plane parts around the site, and a washing basin from one of the hangars now doubles as a hand washing station and sprinkler for the garden.
Marcus said that children often play in the open concrete space where games like checkers and hopscotch are painted onto the ground, while community members will stop to eat their lunch at the tables.
In the winter, the area becomes a free ice rink for skaters.
Airplane hangars and runway turned into public space
There are 12 100,000-square-foot airplane hangars on the YZD Toronto site, and the space isn’t going to waste. In the last two years, Northcrest Developments has hosted multiple events in the hangars including DJ concerts, an Oktoberfest celebration and Hangar Jam, a free, all-ages two-day street culture and family festival featuring skateboarding workshops and competitions, breakdancing battles, interactive art zones and food trucks.
“There's no other space in Toronto that is like these 12 airplane hangars,” said Marcus. “High ceilings, each held four airplanes. When you walk in, you’re in immediate awe.”
Another part of the old airport that is gaining new purpose is the runway. Marcus said that Northcrest Developments intends to retain a part of it as a “linear public space, not for cars” even when housing is eventually built in the community.
They’re already piloting a version of this. Each summer since August 2024, over one kilometer of the runway has been opened to the public for Play on the Runway, an event in which people ride bikes, roller skate, skate board and fly kites on the tarmac.
Each October, they also open the runway for Runway Reels a series of outdoor drive-in movies.
Marcus said these events offer a glimpse at what public life in the YZD community will be like.
“For 66,000 people to use the runway as their backyard, it has to be vibrant,” he said.
Art Walk featuring local artists
The side of the airplane hangar that greets guests approaching the Experience Centre was dark grey, until local artist Jacquie Comrie blasted it with colour.
Her mural Float is the signature work of the YZD Toronto Art Walk, a self-guided tour around the Experience Centre featuring eight large-scale murals exploring themes of aviation, ecology, resilience and the evolving spirit of the new community hub.
Comrie said Float, which depicts light and energy converging, is intended to have a healing effect for viewers who are pausing to rest or play in the Plaza.
“I wanted to create a space where people can come and just hang out. My children come here,” she said.
Also featured on the Art Walk are works by artists Moises Frank, Chris Perez, Jieun Kim, Vanessa Spizzirri and Leyland Adams, as well as two murals created by members of AstroSankofa Arts Initiatives, a not-for-profit artist collective that explores Afrofuturistic themes. Their mural The people of Downsview Land depicts Black astronauts travelling through time to guide the viewer through the history of the Downsview airport lands.
“Two things that now feel embedded in YZD are colour and a sense of play,” said Marcus, adding that public art will be a key element of the future development.