Commercial plaza in Pickering to get a re-make, with seven high-rise towers in its future

A Pickering shopping plaza will be up for a major makeover in the coming years if the landowners get approval for a mixed-use development that will include seven high-rise buildings, some towering 43 floors into the sky.

The plan is to tear down the Pickering Ridge shopping centre at Brock Road and Hwy 401 in phases and replace it with nearly 5,300 residential units in the proposed buildings – ranging in height from 20 to 43 storeys – and 26,000 square metres of commercial and retail space, nearly as much as exists in the plaza today.

The proposal, from Bayfield Realty Advisors and Pickering Ridge Lands, was on the agenda of a planning committee meeting earlier this month and will be back at committee, likely in the new year.

The plaza has a variety of commercial tenants, including Blue Sky Supermarkets and Goodlife Fitness, and both businesses will get a chance to stay on when the project is fully built out. Goodlife, committee was told, has already re-upped for another ten years and Blue Sky will be given the same option when their lease comes up for renewal.

Goodlife and Blue Sky will not be moved during the first phase of the development.

It is expected to take at least 20 years for the full build-out of the project, which will eventually include:

• a multi-phased mixed-use development consisting of seven buildings with twelve towers, ranging in height from 20 to 43 storeys
• a total of 26,103 square metres of non-residential gross floor area
• a total of 5,297 dwelling units, including studio, one, two and three-bedroom units
• a total of 4,238 parking spaces for residents, located within four to six levels of underground parking for each phase of development
• a total of 2,649 bicycle spaces
• a network of new public streets and private roads connecting to Brock Road and Pickering Parkway
• a new 1.04 hectare central public park, to be conveyed to the city
• privately-owned publicly accessible amenity spaces located throughout the site

Affordable housing is also being considered.

The applicant is proposing to redevelop the westernmost portion of the subject lands, fronting onto Brock Road (which includes some of the existing commercial tenants, such as Sunlife Financial), as the first phase of development. The first phase will include two 31-storey buildings with a seven-storey podium and commercial space on the ground floor.