Alphabet Subsidiary Sidewalk Labs Abandons Toronto 'Smart City' Project

By Vipal Monga 

TORONTO -- Alphabet Inc.'s subsidiary Sidewalks Labs on Thursday announced it is abandoning a project to develop a "smart city" in a Toronto neighborhood.

Citing the economic uncertainty and harm to Toronto's real-estate market caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the company's CEO, Dan Doctoroff, said the company is walking away from the plan after spending 2 1/2 years negotiating the development.

"It has become too difficult to make the 12-acre project financially viable without sacrificing core parts of the plan we had developed together with Waterfront Toronto to build a truly inclusive, sustainable community," he said in a blog post.

Sidewalk notified Waterfront Toronto, the Canadian government entity running the project, of its decision on Wednesday. Sidewalk, which employs 30 people in the city, will keep its Toronto office and will redeploy as many of its staff as possible to other projects, said a spokeswoman.

Sidewalk was selected as Waterfront Toronto's development partner in 2017, in a bid to build a futuristic neighborhood on a 12-acre parcel of land along Toronto's waterfront. The plan envisioned a climate friendly neighborhood where sensors embedded in traffic lights and garbage bins tracked residents and responded to their needs.

The project, which was initially championed by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, quickly ran into local opposition. Activists said they were concerned how Sidewalk, whose parent also owns Google, would handle personal data.

Though the project was delayed by opposition and fears that the company was overreaching with proposals that went beyond its initial project, the board of Waterfront Toronto last year agreed to continue negotiations over a final agreement, with a decision expected to come in June.

The Toronto waterfront development was Sidewalk's biggest project since Mr. Doctoroff launched the business in 2015. He had previously been a deputy mayor for economic development in New York City and was later chief executive of Bloomberg LP

Write to Vipal Monga at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 07, 2020 12:20 ET (16:20 GMT)

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