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Alphabet’s ‘City of the Future’ Clears Major Hurdle in Toronto

(Bloomberg) -- Alphabet Inc.’s plan to create a “city of the future” on Toronto’s waterfront has cleared a major hurdle -- though it will be much smaller than once envisioned.Sidewalk Labs LLC, Alphabet’s urban innovation unit and sister to Google, agreed to acquiesce to the city’s demands, including limiting the project to a 12-acre site it won the mandate for in 2017, rather than a 190-acre plan it proposed in June. Waterfront Toronto, the public corporation in charge of the development, will lead all data and privacy matters and Sidewalk has agreed to move forward without financing from the city on transit, according to the deal announced Thursday.Waterfront Toronto will advance with Sidewalk, Alphabet’s urban innovation unit, as a partner to evaluate a master plan, eyeing final approval by the end of next year.The agreement between Sidewalk and Toronto strikes a promising chord for big tech’s role in city-building while highlighting the importance of compromising with public entities. That’s in stark contrast to Amazon.com Inc. which withdrew plans for a second headquarters in New York after a backlash from the neighborhood and local and regional politicians.Sidewalk had proposed investing C$1.3 billion ($990 million) alongside local partners to kick off the development, meant to showcase Alphabet CEO Larry Page’s vision for a modern digital city. Ideas included everything from underground garbage disposal to heated bike lanes, along with offices and thousands of residential units, including below-market and affordable units.“We want to engage big tech, but on our own terms,” said Alex Ryan, program director of the MaRS Solutions Lab, a tech hub in Canada’s biggest city, which has been involved in consultations with Sidewalk and the waterfront agency. “Toronto has figured out the middle ground. Rather than be bullied or pushed over, and rather than run them out of town like with Amazon HQ2, Toronto is coming at this as equals.”The development is far from a done deal. Waterfront’s board will begin public consultations to evaluate the rest of Sidewalk’s proposal and will decide on March 31 whether to pursue implementation agreements with a deadline for finalizing a deal by Dec 31, 2020.\--With assistance from Gerrit De Vynck.To contact the reporter on this story: Natalie Wong in Toronto at [email protected] contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Giammona at [email protected], David Scanlan, Jacqueline ThorpeFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P. Read More...

(Bloomberg) — Alphabet Inc.’s plan to create a “city of the future” on Toronto’s waterfront has cleared a major hurdle — though it will be much smaller than once envisioned.

Sidewalk Labs LLC, Alphabet’s urban innovation unit and sister to Google, agreed to acquiesce to the city’s demands, including limiting the project to a 12-acre site it won the mandate for in 2017, rather than a 190-acre plan it proposed in June. Waterfront Toronto, the public corporation in charge of the development, will lead all data and privacy matters and Sidewalk has agreed to move forward without financing from the city on transit, according to the deal announced Thursday.

Waterfront Toronto will advance with Sidewalk, Alphabet’s urban innovation unit, as a partner to evaluate a master plan, eyeing final approval by the end of next year.

The agreement between Sidewalk and Toronto strikes a promising chord for big tech’s role in city-building while highlighting the importance of compromising with public entities. That’s in stark contrast to Amazon.com Inc. which withdrew plans for a second headquarters in New York after a backlash from the neighborhood and local and regional politicians.

Sidewalk had proposed investing C$1.3 billion ($990 million) alongside local partners to kick off the development, meant to showcase Alphabet CEO Larry Page’s vision for a modern digital city. Ideas included everything from underground garbage disposal to heated bike lanes, along with offices and thousands of residential units, including below-market and affordable units.

“We want to engage big tech, but on our own terms,” said Alex Ryan, program director of the MaRS Solutions Lab, a tech hub in Canada’s biggest city, which has been involved in consultations with Sidewalk and the waterfront agency. “Toronto has figured out the middle ground. Rather than be bullied or pushed over, and rather than run them out of town like with Amazon HQ2, Toronto is coming at this as equals.”

The development is far from a done deal. Waterfront’s board will begin public consultations to evaluate the rest of Sidewalk’s proposal and will decide on March 31 whether to pursue implementation agreements with a deadline for finalizing a deal by Dec 31, 2020.

–With assistance from Gerrit De Vynck.

To contact the reporter on this story: Natalie Wong in Toronto at [email protected]

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Giammona at [email protected], David Scanlan, Jacqueline Thorpe

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com” data-reactid=”21″>For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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