Dismissed for decades as a postindustrial wasteland, Sterling Road, a zigzagging half-mile strip of old factories and warehouses, is getting a second life. Last summer, the North American debut of a splashy Banksy exhibition in an empty warehouse there drew a global spotlight. With the arrival of Toronto’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) last fall, Sterling Road is newly hip, its appeal broadening beyond the small cadre of tuned-in artists and bohemian types who for years have had it to themselves. The street’s cavernous structures have also quickly become hot real estate.

While creative entrepreneurs with trendy food spots and boutiques are descending on the road on Toronto’s West Side, the area’s rapid gentrification is jolting locals and even some newcomers into action.

“Artists are the magic of Sterling Road, and their success is our success,” said Steve Himel, a craft brewer who joined with neighbors as well as museum leaders in a coalition called On Sterling to “empower people who were already here. We all have to put the neighborhood first.”

B ut for Jeff Stober, a former tech executive who has developed some of Toronto’s buzziest hotels, restaurants and retail spaces as part of his Drake brand, Sterling Road’s emergence couldn’t come fast enough.