Yorkdale Shopping Centre in the context of "Ontario Highway 401"

Allen Road, formally known as William R. Allen Road, is a short municipal expressway and arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It starts as a controlled-access expressway at Eglinton Avenue West, heading north to just south of Transit Road, then continues as an arterial road north to Kennard Avenue, where it continues as Dufferin Street. Allen Road is named after Metro Toronto chairman William R. Allen and is maintained by the City of Toronto. Landmarks along the road include the Lawrence Heights housing project, Yorkdale Shopping Centre and Downsview Park, and Downsview Airport. A section of the Line 1 Yonge–University subway is located within the median of the expressway from Eglinton Avenue to north of Wilson Avenue.

The portion south of Transit Road was originally constructed as part of the Spadina Expressway project. The Spadina was proposed in the 1950s as a north–south freeway, intended to connect downtown Toronto to the suburbs of North York and to serve the Yorkdale Shopping Centre project; it was only partially built before being cancelled in 1971 due to public opposition. Initially proposed in the 1950s as part of a network of freeways surrounding Toronto, its cancellation in 1971 ended proposals for other proposed expressways into and around Metro Toronto. Despite this, extensions were opened south to Eglinton in 1976 and north to Kennard Avenue in 1982.

Oxford Properties is a Canadian multinational corporation, with operations in real estate investment, development and property management. Its portfolio includes office, retail, industrial, multi-residential, life sciences and hotel assets. Established privately in 1960 and later wholly owned by the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) since 2003, the company is headquartered in Toronto with regional head offices in New York City, London, Australia, Singapore and Luxembourg. The organization has 2,000+ employees and approximately C$70 billion of assets that it manages for itself and on behalf of its investment partners. Oxford's owned portfolio represents more than 150 million square feet in key cities and high-growth hubs. Some of its most notable properties include Hudson Yards, Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, Olympic Tower and The Center Potsdamer Platz (formerly the Sony Center). Oxford also owns a portfolio of luxury hotels in Canada as well as rental residential units in Canada and the US.

Oxford Properties has several significant development projects currently underway in New York City, London, Sydney, Vancouver and Toronto.