While Councillor Doug Ford touts a mall for the Port Lands, no shovels have broken ground on a giant entertainment-shopping complex in his own ward, apparently because it’s having trouble attracting retailers.

The Woodbine Live! project at Woodbine Racetrack was trumpeted by Mayor Rob Ford on the campaign trail last year as proof he can get the private sector behind a megaproject.

“I know how to deal with CEOs of huge corporations — that’s how I landed the largest development in Toronto’s history,” Ford, then councillor for Ward 2 Etobicoke North, told a newspaper last fall. “Woodbine Live! — I did that.”

Baltimore-based The Cordish Companies, partnering on the project with the race track’s operator, told the Star in June 2010 that construction would start that fall, with the help of generous tax breaks from the city.

An employment centre was to open with a city-negotiated mandate to give residents of job-starved north Etobicoke first crack at the promised 9,000 permanent positions.

Shortly before he was elected mayor and his brother, Doug, elected to replace him as Ward 2 councillor, Rob Ford said: “People are excited — it’s going to revitalize Rexdale. Tourists will get off the plane and go to Rexdale.”

But, the Star has learned, no construction has started and no building permits have been sought. Rezonings for the project were granted four years ago.

Cordish is now telling the city it hopes to break ground in early 2012. The company wouldn’t comment on the project Wednesday. Its local partner, Woodbine Entertainment Group, seemed to suggest the delay was related to Cordish sorting out plan details with the city.

“It’s a bit difficult to say at the moment” when construction will start, said Nick Eaves, Woodbine Entertainment chief executive officer. “We’re hard at it.”

But Mike Williams, Toronto’s general manager of economic development, said the delay is related to the U.S. economy, adding he expected to see shovels in the ground by now.

“We had two projects that were significantly stalled by the recession of 2008-2009 and that was Woodbine Live! and MaRS Phase 2,” said Williams, referring to the medical research complex at College St. and University Ave. “It was just announced that MaRS Phase 2 will be restarted and I’m hopeful that Woodbine Live! will be soon after.”

The retail component of Woodbine Live! is expected to come first, with big box stores plus a galleria of upscale shops helping jump-start phases featuring restaurants, a movie theatre, hotel and 5,000-seat live performance venue.

Observers say construction typically doesn’t start on retail projects until tenants are found for the space.

One prospective tenant that got away is home improvement retailer Lowe’s, which last year opted to go to another north Etobicoke site, with then-councillor Rob Ford supporting a zoning change to allow it.

A city-hired retail consultant reported at the time there is room in the area for only one home improvement big box.

Cordish specializes in entertainment-retail developments, but has been looking at bringing in discount factory outlets for such names as Ralph Lauren and Coach, said commercial real estate executive John Crombie.

“During the recessionary period, late ’08 and early ’09, the only retail sector to experience a rise in sales was the factory outlet mall,” said Crombie, senior managing director at Cushman & Wakefield.

Doug Ford has touted a 1.6-million-square-foot “megamall” with high-end department stores as a centrepiece for Toronto’s eastern waterfront, saying the city is “underserved” by retail.

He told the Star last week that Australia-based mall giant Westfield has “a lot of money sitting there waiting to invest in Toronto.”

Another U.S. company, Simon Property Group, is developing a premium outlet centre at Highway 401 and Trafalgar Rd. in the Milton area, Crombie said.

And a joint venture of RioCan real estate investment trust and Tanger Factory Outlet Centers is building a project at Highway 401 and James Snow Parkway, he added.

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Meanwhile, time is running out on the council-approved tax break that could reduce Woodbine Live’s property tax bill by $120 million over 20 years.

To reap the savings, the project must employ at least 2,500 people and complete 75,000 square metres of construction by October 2014.

It would be up to city council to grant a deadline extension if asked, Williams said.

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