3,000 New Tech Jobs Are Coming to the Toronto Waterfront

Toronto is considered one of the best cities in the world for tech workers. And it’s about to get even better.

MaRS Discovery District, one of the world’s largest urban innovation hubs, has announced a partnership with the University of Toronto that will bring 3,000 new tech jobs to the city’s waterfront.

This will be realized by leasing 24,000 square feet of space in the Waterfront Innovation Centre, which is expected to open in 2021. The cutting-edge project promises to “reinvent how employees work together in Toronto’s rapidly evolving creative and technology sectors.”

Rendering courtesy MENKES DEVELOPMENTS LTD.

More specifically, MaRS and U of T will outfit the new digs with collaborative working spaces and programming resources for startups.

“Toronto is experiencing its lowest commercial vacancy rate ever (3%), making the city the most sought-after market in North America,” Wu says. “Our startups and partners need more space to scale, and this new development is the ideal location for that growth.”

The surrounding area, if you’ll recall, is a pet project of Google aka Alphabet aka Sidewalk Labs that seeks to test “smart” city planning. It’s no wonder, then, that other big players are clamouring for a place at what has quickly emerged as prime real estate.

“We felt that the waterfront proposition was really well suited to us. It is shaping up to be the next really important innovation node,” said MaRS chief operating officer Grace Lee Reynolds in an interview with the Toronto Star. “We’re pretty confident that we can replicate the energy we’ve been able to achieve here.”