A Lot of New Construction Could be Coming to Mississauga

While many residents are wary of new construction (especially condo construction) and warn of increased gridlock, change–though always uncomfortable for some time–can be good and it looks like the city is fully embracing its plan to densify.

According to the city, Mississauga issued 3,700 building permits with a construction value of $1.3 billion for 2016.

The city issued $733 million in residential permits, $277 million in commercial permits, $192 million in industrial permits and $115 million in other permits relating to schools, government buildings and churches.

“For the second consecutive year, the city of Mississauga has issued $1.3 billion in building permits,” Mayor Bonnie Crombie said. “This is further proof that Mississauga continues to be a city in demand and a leading destination where people choose to build a more promising future – whether it’s buying or renovating a home to raise a family, or breaking ground on a new business investment that will improve our local economy and create new employment opportunities. These significant and ongoing building investments help strengthen Mississauga’s tax base which allows Council to fund important resident priorities we all rely on including libraries, community centres and public transit.”

In November of 2016, insauga reached out to the city to find out how many condo developments in particular have been approved. At publication time, there were eight residential buildings in the works.

“They are really not too many that are approved and not yet built,” said Carley Smith DeBenedictis, senior communications advisor with the city of Mississauga. “There are many ‘in the hopper’ though at various stages.”

According to the above map, new residential buildings have been proposed for the northwest corner of McLaughlin and Rothschild Trail, Hurontario south of Kirwin and 2100 Camilla Road. According to the city, there are approximately 20 condos under application at present.

Also, who could forget the forthcoming M City–the massive $1.5 billion, 10-condo Rogers development that’s set to take shape in City Centre. Just last week, we learned that the first M City tower will actually be the tallest in the city, edging out the tallest Absolute Marilyn Monroe tower by four storeys.

Daniels has also been active in the city, erecting three high-rises in the Erin Mills Town Centre area (including the upcoming Arc condominiums).

The city has also done its best to make it easier for developers to submit permits.

According to the city, Mississauga “continued to see efficiencies in permit submissions and issuances with the full use of ePlans.” Basically, ePlans is an online application process that was launched in 2015 that invites customers to submit building permits, site plans and other applications electronically 24/7.

“2016 was the year we fully implemented ePlans and launched field automation,” said Ed Sajecki, Commissioner of Planning and Building. “These steps led to improved efficiency and 25 percent quicker review times for building permits. Staff also worked with Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services and Compliance and Licensing Enforcement to improve the registration process for second units to ensure they are safe and meet all the regulatory requirements.”

With the LRT set to break ground in in 2018, the measured and ambitious approach to development makes sense.

While not everyone is into new developments (and condos in particular), it’ll be interesting to see their effect on the city’s evolving skyline, as well as its evolving identity as a semi-urban space.