Google affiliate Sidewalk Labs announced that it will no longer be pursuing the long-criticized Toronto waterfront development, after spending years and millions of dollars on the proposal.

Dan Doctoroff, Sidewalk Labs CEO, confirmed the company is walking away from the smart city project in a press release on Thursday, saying due to world events, it became too difficult to make the project “financially viable” without sacrificing key parts of the project.

“In October 2017, Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront Toronto set out to plan a shared vision for Quayside, a fundamentally more sustainable and affordable community resulting from innovations in technology and urban design,” Doctoroff said.

“…It is with great personal sadness and disappointment that Sidewalk Labs will no longer pursue the Quayside project.”

The CEO said the decision was made “as unprecedented economic uncertainty has set in around the world and in the Toronto real estate market.”

The world is currently dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen economies everywhere come to a standstill.

Doctoroff said due to these circumstances, it was too difficult for the company to create the 12-acre project to be financially viable “without sacrificing core parts of the plan” they had created with its partner, Waterfront Toronto.

“And so, after a great deal of deliberation, we concluded that it no longer made sense to proceed with the Quayside project.”

In November 2019, the company released a 482-page document with an updated plan for the development in the hope that it would ease concerns over privacy that had circled the project since its proposal, including from Ontario’s privacy commissioner.

Waterfront Toronto released a statement Thursday in regard to the announcement.

“While this is not the outcome we had hoped for, Waterfront Toronto offers thanks and appreciation to Sidewalk Labs for its vision, effort, and the many commitments that both the company and its employees have made to the future of Toronto,” the statement read in part.

“Today is not the end of Quayside, but the first day of its future. Waterfront Toronto will continue to seek public and expert input as we make a next generation community at Quayside a reality.”

Mayor John Tory echoed that sentiment saying he was disappointed.

“I will be pushing Waterfront Toronto – along with our provincial and federal partners – to make sure the new Quayside that emerges will create new jobs and economic development opportunities, a carbon-neutral neighbourhood with more housing including affordable housing units and better transportation and sustainability features.”

“Our goal remains to ultimately build a neighbourhood focused on innovation in Quayside that will be the envy of cities around the world and a beacon for the future.”

Tory said he was “heartened” that although Sidewalk and Google may be walking away from the waterfront project, that both will keep offices, employing hundreds, in Toronto.

–With files from The Canadian Press

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