Woodbine Entertainment Group: Immigration

Mega Project Dept: In one mighty pull of the mega-project slot machine, the Woodbine Entertainment Group is aiming to salvage the future of the declining horse-racing industry and, not incidentally, of the polyglot, low-income, high-unemployment, visible minority neighbourhood that surrounds it, according to Globe And Mail. Scheduled to open in the summer of 2013, Woodbine Live will sprawl across 81 hectares of real estate owned by the non-profit WEG – part of the largest single tract of undeveloped land in Toronto. Its equity partner: Baltimore’s family-owned Cordish Companies, one of America’s premier developers, specialists in creating blockbuster entertainment districts and some time this fall, the earth will literally begin to move for Woodbine Live – a transformative, $1-billion plan to turn the long-neglected, windswept reaches of northwest Toronto into a major regional tourist destination. A sure bet? Depends who you ask. Despite a robust chorus of local cheerleading, serious questions – about both the project’s viability and its possible impact – remain. As reported in the news.
@t blockbuster entertainment, cordish