ULI Toronto: Just Start! Thinking Outside the Box - Revitalizing the Danforth Garage Car Barns

Report Summary: In May 2022, Urban Land Institute (ULI) Toronto organized a Technical Assistance Panel (TAP), gathering an esteemed group of planning and development experts, as well as professionals in the arts and culture sector, to examine the 5-acre Danforth Garage site. Their aim was to test the potential for the transformation of the Danforth Garage Car Barns to embody the vision for a vibrant cultural, community and employment destination – that acts a catalyst for neighborhood revitalization and a magnet for investment in the surrounding area. The panel was initially asked to stay inside the 70,000 square feet (sq.ft.) Danforth Garage Car Barns ‘box,’ but they couldn’t do it. They quickly realized that they had to expand the box. The group looked at unlocking the potential within the site’s boundaries to bring the community’s vision for the Barns to life but were challenged again, primarily by the current and proposed uses on it.