The Economic Development and Growth in Employment (EDGE) Incentive Program supports new construction or major renovation of buildings in targeted employment sectors. The program provides tax increment equivalent grants, whereby the City refunds a portion of the increase in property taxes that results from new development or redevelopments.
Approved developments benefit from a grant of 100 per cent of the increase in the municipal taxes attributable to the eligible development over a five-year period. This can be combined with Brownfield Remediation Tax Assistance for a total grant period of up to seven years.
Applications for eligible development are considered on a first-come-first-served basis until such time as future annual grants are projected to exceed the budget cap in any given year.
The provision of development incentives through the EDGE Incentive Program is enabled by the Community Improvement Plan (CIP) By-law 1386-2024 
(amended by By-law 1553-2025 ) and authorized under Section 28 of the Planning Act.
Eligibility Requirements
To qualify, applicants must meet the following basic eligibility requirements, including all eligible GFA in wholly occupied or multiple-tenant buildings.
Eligible development must:
- Be for an Eligible Sector/Use
- Be constructed and occupied within five years of approval under the program
- Result in a minimum investment of $3 million in building construction costs for Eligible Uses
- Increase the GFA for Eligible Uses by a minimum of 500 square metres unless considered a substantial renovation to an existing industrial building for an Eligible Use, in which case the GFA of the rehabilitated space must be a minimum of 1,000 square metres
- Conform to all City by-laws, policies and processes, and all improvements must be made pursuant to an approved building permit and conform to the Ontario Building Code and applicable zoning requirements and development approvals, and
- Conform, at a minimum, to the Toronto Green Standard performance criteria applicable to the development type at the time of application under this CIP. Where development is exempt from site plan control, the applicant will meet Toronto Green Standard performance criteria in a manner satisfactory to the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning.
Eligible applicants must:
- Be the owner of the property or have the owner’s written authorization to submit an application
- Apply prior to the issuance of the first above grade building permit for development
- Apply for site plan approval, if required, or apply for building permit approval, within one year of approval under the EDGE program
- Agree to meet the Community Workforce Development Requirement, and
- Agree to meet annual reporting requirements.