Live Nation Canada plans to develop an outdoor concert venue in Toronto that will hold 50,000 fans.

The company announced Thursday that it will build Rogers Stadium at YZD, formerly known as the Downsview Airport Lands. Northcrest Developments, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Toronto-based Public Sector Pension Investments Board (PSP), is redeveloping the former airport site.

Rogers Stadium will be a temporary facility but appears likely to stay in place for several years as YZD is built out over next three decades. The venue will be constructed at the north end of the former airport’s runway.

Rogers Stadium is slated to have 30,000 seats while accommodating another 20,000 standing spectators. It will not hold sporting events or have a field. It is slated to be completed quickly, in time for the 2025 outdoor concert season.

Such temporary venues have been built in a number of locations globally.

For instance, the B.C. Lions of the Canadian Football League played at a temporary stadium on Vancouver’s Pacific National Exhibition grounds in 2009 while B.C. Place received a new retractable roof in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Live Nation said Rogers Stadium will become one of Canada’s newest landmark concert destinations, reinforcing the city’s reputation as a must-play market on the global music scene.

“The number of stadium-level acts touring today is unprecedented, with more acts than available nights at existing venues,” said Erik Hoffman, Live Nation Canada’s president of music, in a news release. “That’s why we’re making this investment—to ensure Toronto fans don’t miss out on world-class artists.

“This a natural evolution of our stadium programming and we’re excited to bring this new venue to life with our partners at Rogers while continuing to book world-class shows at Rogers Centre, as well,” said Hoffman.

The stadium will host events when the Rogers Centre in Toronto, commonly known as SkyDome, is not available due to Toronto Blue Jays baseball games and other bookings.

Live Nation Canada is a subsidiary of a Beverly Hills, Calif.-based entertainment company also known as Live Nation.

The venue will not be open in winter.

The stadium’s name indicates that Rogers paid a naming-rights fee, or made an investment of some other kind but such details were not disclosed.

Plans call for YZD to evolve into a connected series of communities with seven new neighbourhoods, accommodating about 55,000 residents. The mixed-use development includes more than 28 million square feet of multi-residential space, 7 million sf feet of other commercial and cultural space, and roughly 74 acres of parks and green spaces.

During the development process, Northcrest is using parts of YZD, including existing buildings, to generate revenue that helps the company cover taxes and operating expenses.

“It’s sort of a break-even strategy,” Kristy Shortall, Northcrest’s head of development, told Connect Canada CRE in August.

Rendering: kg&a/Live Nation Canada