Ajax and Pickering primed for major industrial/manufacturing expansion

For companies looking for industrial space to grow their business, Durham Region – and Ajax and Pickering in particular – have plenty of options for shrewd investors.

There are 40 ‘signature sites’ in the region, including half a dozen sites in Ajax, with the locations spread out across the town. The biggest (nearly) available is the Lakeridge Logistics Centre at 537 Kingston Rd. E, a new logistics and distribution facility located near the Highway 401 corridor.

The logistics centre, which will be available in the fourth quarter of 2024, boasts 1.2 million zero carbon sq. ft. on 70 acres. The facility has a clear height of 40 feet and parking for 600 and offers a variety of permitted uses, including warehouse/ distribution centre, office space and light manufacturing.

Lakeridge Logistics Centre, Ajax

Ajax Industrial on the Park’s campus at 221 Church St. S includes three industrial buildings totalling 1.1 million square feet, all surrounded by 82 acres of natural green space.

The facility is now available for rent or lease.

The Audley Road North Business Park is a vacant 45-acre business park slated for future prestige employment development at Audley Road North and Kingston Road East that is close to both Highway 401 and Highway 412.

Availability of the business park is in the ‘coming soon’ category.

170 Commercial Avenue, Ajax

There are two sites in Ajax’s Central Employment Area that are suited for industrial and office expansion, including a 123,427 sq. ft. building on more than ten acres on Monarch Avenue that has room to expand.

The facility, which has 100,000 sq. ft. of industrial space and nearly 23,000 sq. ft. of office space, offers clear heights up to 28 feet, a variety of permitted uses and 14 truck level doors in an established industrial business park.

Ajax also has a 101,271 sq. ft manufacturing facility for lease right in the heart of downtown on Commercial Avenue with 3,000 sq. ft. of office space that was just sold.

Just to the north and west is the Carruthers Creek Business Park, which has 17 acres of prime employment land available for future development at Kerrison Drive East and Salem Road North. Two building proposed on the site (217,582 sq. ft. and 55,605 sq. ft.) are both zoned Prestige Employment, which allows light manufacturing, office and warehouse/distribution centre, among other uses.

Carruthers Creek Business Park, Ajax

Pickering, meanwhile, has just one site primed for industrial development, but it’s a big one: the Pickering Innovation Corridor, which boasts 800 acres of shovel-ready lands already zoned for Prestige Employment.

The site is inside the Seaton community, of the city’s fastest growing areas and one that will house “significant” residential and business development. Land sales are being facilitated through the City of Pickering and Infrastructure Ontario, who are working together to find tenants and land owners to bring jobs to the area.

Seaton will be a mixed-use, sustainable community that is expected to be home to 70,000 residents and 35,000 jobs by 2031.

Building the foundation for this community began in 2015 with the construction of infrastructure for water, sewer, roads, power, gas and telecommunications and the Region of Durham is working to expand roadways and develop new transportation routes to accommodate future residents and workers.

Seaton is located close to the future Pickering Airport site, should the more than 50-year dream of building an airport in north Pickering ever become a reality.

Pickering Innovation Corridor