JOHN BENTLEY MAYS - From Friday's Globe and Mail - According to John Campbell, chief of Waterfront Toronto, Toronto has spent $360-million over the past eight years to prepare lakeshore lands for redevelopment. Now, he says, they're ready to build — and recession be damned.
If the bad economic drizzle is raining on many a parade these days, it's so far not dampened the spirits of John Campbell. When I talked recently with the president and chief executive officer of Waterfront Toronto, the public corporation overseeing the $17-billion renovation of Toronto's urban lakeshore, I found him downright cheerful about his agency's immediate future.
The enhancement of public space at the central waterfront, the build-out of new parks along the eastern inner harbour, even the roll-forward of the huge residential component of the project: all of it, Mr. Campbell assured me, is proceeding apace. So isn't the downturn having any negative effects on Waterfront Toronto's sweeping plans? full story
"Times change, absolutely. I can't say that somebody who's solvent today won't be bankrupt in three years time. But we are quite comfortable, and we're moving forward. Downtown east is a wonderful market. If priced right, it will sell. Immigrants are coming in, household formation is still going on. The world hasn't come to an end."
John Campbell
Comments