Downsview Park

Downsview Park (French: Parc Downsview) is a park in the community of Downsview in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that first was home to de Havilland Canada, later also a Canadian Forces Base. It contains about 231.5 hectares (572 acres), of which more than 130 hectares (320 acres) are earmarked for traditional parkland, recreational and cultural amenities. As the mandate for the park requires that it be developed on a self-financing basis, approximately 102 hectares (250 acres) are dedicated to opportunities that provide a revenue stream to finance the construction, development and management of Downsview Park as an integrated, sustainable community.

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. The Tragically Hip performed to a crowd of approximately 30,000 on Canada Day 2011. On 16 June 2012, the stage lighting collapsed an hour before gates opened for a scheduled sold-out Radiohead concert, killing one person and injuring at least three others.

Downsview and Wilson subway stations on the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line are both near Downsview Park on its eastern edge; the future Downsview Park subway station will be located at the Park's north end.

In 1999, the Parc Downsview Park announced an International Design Competition in attempt to turn Downsview Park into an urban park, and potentially one of the largest ones in the world, in which Bruce Mau Design, Rem Koolhaas, Oleson Worland, and Petra Blaisse submitted the winning design scheme, known as "Tree City." Parc Downsview Park has since come up with a new plan to construct commercial and residential developments instead.

Downsview Park is designed to support environmental, social and economic sustainability. The vision for the park is the creation of a recreational space incorporating expansive open space areas, as well as the repurposing of an inventory of historic aviation-related buildings to create a year-round setting.

Downsview Park is a model development demonstrating sustainable practices in its design, construction, operation and maintenance. It is intended to be a recreational, educational and cultural amenity for all Canadians; a diverse, healthy and livable community for its occupants, visitors and neighbours; and an educational demonstration project of international significance.

In addition to creating a unique park on the majority of the lands, portions of the property will be developed to facilitate creating and maintaining Downsview Park. More than $20 million has been spent to date on construction, improvements to infrastructure and renovations of older buildings.

The investment that Downsview Park is making in the public realm will have a significant impact well beyond its 231.5 hectares (572 acres)—job creation, increased real estate values, social and cultural engagement and numerous environmental benefits are all a direct result of the work being performed in the creation of the Park. Over the next year, an additional $20 million will be invested on a series of projects, all geared toward opening up the urban park in the summer of 2012 along with more facilities for the Downsview Park Sports Centre and infrastructure for the Stanley Greene neighbourhood.