Ontario city breaks ground on ‘transformative’ downtown project

A “transformative” 55-acre project in Pickering that will eventually contain 12,000 residential units in 20 mixed-use condominium towers soaring as high as 55 storeys officially broke ground Monday.

There was plenty of fanfare as Centre Court Developments got construction underway on the first two residential towers at Pickering City, the first steps in a long-term, mixed-use master-planned community.

“This morning was a historic and momentous occasion as we celebrated the official groundbreaking of Pickering’s newest landmark development,” said city councillor Shaheen Butt. “This transformative project will redefine our downtown, bringing together modern living, business opportunities, and community spaces that reflect our city’s growth and vision for the future.

The first two condominium towers, standing 45 and 40 storeys on individual podiums, will have a total of 974 units.

With the market still slow in rebounding, the City of Pickering and Durham Region helped nudge groundbreaking along by allowing CentreCourt save on some upfront capital costs by paying development charges at first occupancy, rather than at the time the building permit is issued.

The downtown transformation of the Pickering City Centre project (led by a partnership between CentreCourt Development, Salthill Capital and Cowie Capital) is one of the largest and most ambitious mixed-use developments in Canada and will be tied into the adjacent Shops at Pickering City Centre mall.

Pickering CityCentre will also include nearly 130,000 square feet of office space in the first phase, with the office component also getting a re-brand as the ‘Offices at Pickering City Centre.’

Part of the east side of the mall has already been demolished to make way for the new development but the rest of the shopping mall will remain largely intact and form an integral part of the project.

The residential development will take place on the lands to the east of the existing mall. At the southern boundary of the site there is a direct connection to the Pickering GO Train Station via a pedestrian bridge.

Award-winning Toronto architecture firm Diamond Schmitt was brought in to oversee the design.