A disused Canadian airport is to be transformed into a sprawling community with space for 83,500 residents.

After city council gave the green light to the plan in May, developers have already begun redesigning Toronto Downsview Airport, which has been closed since March.

Northcrest Developments plans to redevelop the 370-acre site into seven neighborhoods over the next 30 years, which it says could create 41,500 jobs.

And the city government hopes to expand the area even further so that, once construction is completed, the remodeled Downsview can accommodate a total of 115,000 residents and 52,000 workers, according to a draft plan.

The ambitious project is expected to cost 30 billion Canadian dollars, or around 22 billion US dollars.

But instead of demolishing all of the original airport infrastructure, Northcrest will retain eleven aircraft hangars and more than a mile of runway to give its first neighborhood a unique flair.

Downsview Airport, which opened in 1929 and served as a base for the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II, is to serve as the site for an ambitious new planned city.

Illustration of the planned pedestrian zone along the former runway, lined with mid-rise buildings, along the length of which a variety of activities will take place, including outdoor dining and retail outlets.

“It’s hard to make a planned community feel authentic when everything is brand new,” Northcrest CEO Derek Goring told the Wall Street Journal. “That’s why we decided to draw on the aerospace heritage.”

The old hangars will be the center of this first 50-acre mixed-use neighborhood, which will include 2,850 housing units, mostly in mid-rise apartment buildings. Over 40 percent of the apartments will have at least two bedrooms, the developer’s website says.

The runway will become a pedestrian promenade with retail stores, restaurants, public terraces, schools and a library.

Sarah Phipps, the city planner who is also overseeing the project, said the runway will also be connected to a number of parks.

“It will take some time to develop, but it will attract people from all over the city,” she told the Toronto Star.

According to initial plans, the new activities in the district will create 7,000 jobs, allowing residents to work close to where they live.

Illustration of a planned wide underpass under the railway corridor. It also includes a green area that connects to the existing Downsview Park

Depiction of people enjoying a community event in a large planned open space surrounded by mid-rise buildings and natural landscape features

Downsview Airport opened as a private facility in 1929 and was then expanded during World War II and used as an air base for the Royal Canadian Air Force.

The airport was used as a testing ground for aircraft manufacturer Bombardier Aviation. Bombardier sold the site to a Canadian pension fund manager who founded Northcrest to facilitate further development.

Northcrest considered demolishing everything on the site to start over, but Goring decided that would not be a good idea.

Local residents told the WSJ that they wanted to maintain the site as much as possible to preserve the site’s history as an aircraft manufacturing site for World War II.

It is not immediately clear what the hangars, built in the 1950s and 1990s, will be used for, but Goring insists they have practical uses beyond simply housing aircraft.

Downsview Airport is pictured on February 6, 2024, just over a month before its closure.

People fill the runway for last year’s Play on the Runway event, which featured numerous attractions and fantastic views of downtown Toronto. This is roughly where Downsview’s first housing development will be built

With a length of 184 to 230 meters and a width of 46 meters, a ceiling height of 12 meters and no supporting pillars inside, the hangars are ideal for film production, light industry and clean technologies.

And wide open spaces are rare in Toronto.

“It offers an opportunity to attract companies that actually want to settle here but cannot because they cannot find suitable locations,” says Goring.

Northcrest has already opened the Downsview area to the public for events.

One of the biggest events is called “Play on the Runway,” and for the past two years it has given people the opportunity to walk around an open runway that features food trucks, makeshift pickleball courts, and a DJ playing a variety of music.

Next year, Northcrest plans to build temporary sports fields and event venues on brownfield sites that will be developed later in the process.