Yet another Ontario shopping centre will be torn down and replaced with 14 towers
Another Greater Toronto Area shopping centre is on the chopping block, one that could completely transform the skyline of Pickering with a staggering fourteen towers as tall as 35 storeys.
A new development application spells out the impending end of the Brookdale Centre, a car-centric big-box shopping plaza near Highway 401 and Liverpool Road.
Developers Tribute Communities and BentallGreenOak are seeking permits to tear down the majority of the shopping plaza with a new mixed-use community featuring a futuristic twist on the standard suburban condo vernacular designed by Turner Fleischer Architects.
The plan proposes demolition for most of the strip mall’s current buildings, sparing an area on the west side of the property that includes four low-rise structures.
Fourteen towers across six connected clusters, with heights ranging from 17 to 35 storeys, will essentially create an entirely new skyline for Pickering.
These towers would be constructed over four separate phases and combine to bring a staggering 5,238 residential units to the area once fully built out.
This new residential density would be supported by a mix of uses at street level, including 7,149 square metres of retail/commercial space woven into pedestrian-oriented blocks and a 716 square metre daycare facility serving residents’ childcare needs.
These commercial uses would be complemented by 6,237 square metres of privately owned public space and 4,458 square metres of public parkland dedication.
Similar plans are in the works for suburban strip malls across the GTA. Earlier this year, a major redevelopment was proposed for a strip mall in Brampton, seeking permits to build 15 towers as tall as 68 storeys.
These strip mall redevelopments add to a much broader wave of shopping centre demolitions and intensifications planned or ongoing in the region, creating something of a mallpocalypse.
Toronto malls with planned or active redevelopments now include Humbertown Shopping Centre, Westside Mall, Scarborough Town Centre, Yorkdale, Sherway Gardens, Fairview Mall, the ongoing redevelopment of Galleria Mall, Yorkgate Mall, Agincourt Mall, Atrium on Bay, Dufferin Mall, Centrepoint Mall, Cloverdale Mall, Malvern Town Centre and Jane Finch Mall.