Waterfront Toronto – Economic Impact Analysis

urbanMetrics was retained by Waterfront Toronto to undertake an analysis of the economic impacts generated by the corporation’s planned investment program over the 2014 to 2023 time period (i.e., the Waterfront Toronto 2.0 plan).  This study is the latest in a series of assessments of the direct, indirect and induced impacts of Waterfront Toronto’s recent and ongoing revitalization investment.  In particular, it involved the analysis of some $1.65 billion worth of future investments in Toronto’s waterfront using the urbanMetrics Input-Output model.  This model was specifically designed to provide a reliable measure of the impacts of future investments on job creation, incomes, value added and other government revenues.

In addition to assessing the benefits of four main project categories (i.e., Transit, Flood Protection and Enabling Infrastructure, Land Servicing, and Public Realm), our study also examined the impacts generated by fourteen distinct project components, including the East Bayfront LRT.

As many of the planned investments identified in the Waterfront Toronto 2.0 plan are expected to contribute directly to unlocking the significant development potential of the Port Lands portion of the eastern waterfront, this study also included a high-level analysis of the potential economic impacts related to the future development of this area (i.e., the impacts of new construction activity stimulated by Waterfront Toronto’s initial investments).