The Sheppard Neighbourhood area is comprised of 67 acres of developable brownfield land that is planned as a mixed-use, transit oriented neighbourhood. It is located north of Downsview Park and adjacent to a new subway and GO transit hub opening in 2016. Following a comprehensive Secondary Planning process, in 2011 the OMB approved a revised Plan that formed the overall planning framework for the Sheppard Neighbourhood, setting out land use and density permissions for the area.

Urban Strategies, Inc. was retained as a sub-consultant to Cushman and Wakefield Ltd. to provide a Municipal Planning Update for the area and advise Parc Downsview Park (PDP) on potential development scenarios achievable in the Sheppard Neighbourhood. Working with market demand forecasts, a number of preliminary massing options for the site were developed, modeled and tested. The concepts compared different balances of land uses including employment, residential, retail, industrial and a range of building typologies and densities. Calculations for appropriate parking supply and potential yields were completed for each option in order to identify optimal development strategies.