Google affiliate Sidewalk Labs‘ partnership with Waterfront Toronto is no more. In a Medium post published on May 7th, CEO Daniel L. Doctoroff revealed that the team, along with design firms Snøhetta and Heatherwick Studio, will no longer pursue the Quayside neighborhood project in Toronto. The announcement arrives after nearly three years of development and planning.
“As unprecedented economic uncertainty has set in around the world and in the Toronto real estate market, it has become too difficult to make the 12-acre project financially viable without sacrificing core parts of the plan we had developed together with Waterfront Toronto to build a truly inclusive, sustainable community,” Doctoroff explains. “And so, after a great deal of deliberation, we concluded that it no longer made sense to proceed with the Quayside project, and let Waterfront Toronto know yesterday.”
However, Doctoroff points out that the ideas that were developed hold promise, even amidst for our uncertain future. Addressing issues of urban mobility, next-generation infrastructure, and community-based healthcare, he says, will serve Toronto and Canada at large as we adapt to altered ways of living. “Toronto is one of the world’s great centers of technological innovation,” Doctoroff writes, “and nothing about this decision will in any way diminish that.”
