Reuse of dying malls is a timely topic, see Boulevard, Eastern Hills and most likely, McKinley Mall in this area. In suburban Toronto, a developer is revamping one of Canada’s most successful malls: Square One Shopping Centre in Mississauga, Canada’s sixth-largest city.
Oxford Properties and Alberta Investment Management Corporation are planning to transform 130 acres around the mall into an18 million square foot master planned mixed-use community, giving the booming suburb a ‘downtown.’ The planned Square One District is the largest mixed-use downtown development in Canadian history. What is today swaths of parking lots will be transformed into a vibrant community that will eventually comprise more than 18,000 residential units, a transit mobility hub connected to the Hurontario LRT, community buildings, parks, green spaces and office space. All of which will be anchored by Square One Shopping Centre, one of the best performing malls in Canada.
To deliver the first phase of housing, Oxford and AIMCo are partnering with The Daniels Corporation to construct two residential towers with 402 rental apartments and 575 condominium suites. The Rental Residences and The Condominiums of Square One District are 36 and 48 storeys respectively with construction to start this summer (below).
“Square One District is a bold vision to repurpose underutilized land in the heart of downtown Mississauga to create an entirely new mixed-use urban community,” commented Eric Plesman, Executive Vice President and Head of North America for Oxford Properties. “Our ambition is to build a community more than 35,000 people will be proud to call home. This new community will support employment with world-class office space to help businesses grow while maximizing the positive impact of new transit being developed in Mississauga.”
With its residential, retail and office uses alongside public amenities, Square One District aligns with the City’s vision to create a vibrant downtown core for Mississauga.
Square One District is anchored by the Square One Shopping Centre which opened in 1973 and attracts 25 million shopping visits annually and has seen more than $500 million in improvements over the past five years. Square One now boasts 320 merchants, approximately 100 bars, restaurants and eateries including the new Rec Room with its ‘eats and entertainment’ concept.
Office space will play an important role in turning Square One District into a true, large-scale mixed-use project. The new office towers will be the first commercial development in downtown Mississauga in a generation.
According to Urban Toronto, Oxford took steps last week to advance a subsequent phase of the project located towards the southern end of the district. Submitted for Rezoning as a pair of Hariri Pontarini-designed condominium towers rising 55 and 65-storeys, the towers would house 1,216 residential units (below). Although not specified in documents supplied by the City of Mississauga, the units will likely be mixed between condominiums and purpose-built rentals.