Downtown Pickering continuing to grow up with condo tower proposals
Published May 3, 2024 at 2:04 pm
Pickering’s downtown continues to grow skyward, with a couple more high-rise development applications awaiting approval from council.
One proposal on the west side of the new downtown will see a long-standing shopping plaza at Kingston Road and Liverpool Road mostly demolished to make way for a 14-tower mixed-use condo project with more than 5,000 units.
A second plan immediately south of City Hall would see the construction of a 40-storey condominium apartment building, with a podium ranging between four and six storeys, built on Pickering Parkway at Valley Farm Road.
Tribute Communities and Secure Capital plan to redevelop the Brookdale Centre into condos, with six buildings – each with a six-storey podium and most with multiple towers ranging from 17 to 35 storeys – built on Kingston Road, just west of Liverpool Road.
The project will contain 5,238 units with 76,951 sq. ft of ground floor retail (as well as a daycare), with a portion of the strip mall retained in the re-development.
Amenities would include public and park spaces and cars will enter via Walnut Lane, with the street extended east to Liverpool Road. An additional vehicular access will be provided from Kingston Road.
Tribute and Secure Capital acquired the plaza in 2021, paying $71 million for the property, which was already zoned for residential purposes.
The Pickering Parkway project was back at committee last month, with Pickering Valley Developments amending their earlier application to go from 25 storeys to 40 storeys and to reduce the parking requirements by about a hundred spots.
That sparked some discussion among councillors on recent trends that see purchasers intentionally buy condos without a parking space and of proposed provincial legislation to remove the minimum requirements for parking spaces in high density areas close to major transit hubs.
The developer is also offering one affordable unit in the project to Habit for Humanity at no cost.
40-storey condo proposal for Pickering Parkway