It was located at the site of the defunct Defence Industries Limited Pickering Works munitions plant, which was leased by the federal government to the university for a nominal rent.

Around 400 veterans, who had completed at least 29 months of active service, would be admitted to the fall session of 1945, in the university's downtown Toronto campus.

It considered several options, and attempted to procure the Eglinton Hunt Club site, which had been purchased by the federal government at the start of the war.

[4] The Executive Committee of the university's Board of Governors then considered the possibility of using the site of the Defence Industries Limited (DIL) munitions plant, in the Pickering Township east of Toronto.

[3] William Eric Phillips, the chairman of the university's Board of Governors, organized a meeting on 9 June 1945 to discuss the government assistance required to set up the off-campus site.

George Drew, the Premier of Ontario, agreed that his government would bear the capital and additional operating costs for the Ajax campus.

[3] By the third week of June 1945,[3] C. D. Howe, the federal Minister for Reconstruction, agreed to lease the Ajax site to the university for a nominal rent.

[2] Without Howe's knowledge, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King had promised the DIL Ajax site to the RCAF as a depot for storing surplus planes.

[2] Meanwhile, Phillips made arrangements to develop plans for the conversion of the Ajax site into a university campus, and left Toronto to spend a month in England.

[5] Phillips and Board member Henry Borden met the Prime Minister in Ottawa, and argued that it was easier for the RCAF to find another site for storing planes than it was for the university to make alternative arrangements.

The committee members included the university's president, its chairman of the board, its chancellor, Dean Young, A.D. LePan, its superintendent of buildings, Henry Borden and Roy Gilley.

[6] The university assumed responsibility for the operation of water supply, sewage disposal, road repair, postal service and fire protection.

The government meanwhile transferred the DIL property to Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), mandating it to develop Ajax into an industrial town.