Mississauga’s City Centre has long been a landscape of untapped potential. With scarcely more than Square One Shopping Centre and a movie theatre to attract residents, Amacon’s Parkside Village, a master-planned community, might just be the impetus Canada’s sixth-largest city needs to enliven its core.
Once completed, Parkside Village will comprise 10 low-rises, 12 mid-rises, and 15 high-rises, including seven green rooftops that are sure to become Mississauga’s crowning architectural jewels. Parkside Village will contain 6,000 residential units and plenty of world-class amenities. In addition to state of the art fitness and wellness amenities and hotel-inspired party rooms, it will feature three acres of parkland for both residents and the community at large to enjoy.
The desired effect is two-pronged: not only will Mississauga attract new residents, it will retain people who grew up there, as moving east to ‘The Big Smoke’ becomes less essential for live-play opportunities. Amacon, a Vancouver-based builder, is bringing some of their west coast development ideas to Parkside Village, Frank Da Silva, Amacon’s VP of development and construction told The Epoch Times.
“We want to bring the Vancouver model here, where you walk downstairs and it’s more alive,” Da Silva said. “We want Mississauga to be less of a bedroom community and more active,” he explained.
In all, the master-planned community will span 30 acres. Parkside Village will serve as a quintessential example of how to intensify an area efficiently, as it will be built with plenty of commercial and green spaces to encourage vibrant street life and social hubs. Once completed, “Parkside Village is where people will live, work and play,” said Da Silva.
Amacon was instrumental in lobbying for Mississauga’s long overdue LRT, which will span from Lake Ontario, the base of the city, and ascend through to Brampton.
“The LRT, when it’s built, will change the way people perceive Mississauga from a big town to a small city, which it is, and that transit will help the city in general. It will even assist in the retention of people who live in this area,” said Da Silva.
With major residential development comes ameliorated entertainment options, of which Mississauga’s City Centre is presently devoid. In2ition Realty’s CEO and president Debbie Cosic said that the area will be unrecognizable in a few years’ time when Parkside Village is complete.
“You should be able to come home, go downstairs for food, go to the park and generally enjoy your locale,” said Cosic.
She refers to Amacon as a premier builder in Mississauga as it builds what the public wants. “They get [the public’s] input and build it. That’s why we have lineups of people waiting to purchase. They do have the formula 100 percent right,” explained Cosic.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Parkside Village’s transformative potential has caught the attention of the Chinese community.
“We started off with 25 percent Chinese buyers in the first phase,” said Cosic, adding that the overwhelming majority are Mainlanders. “Now we’re up to 40 percent. It’s something we embrace because we find the Chinese to be affluent purchasers who are savvy, know what they like, and when they endorse a community they come in droves and you know it’s a real estate stamp of approval,” she said.
Cosic added that the area is fertile ground for Chinese buyers because of nearby amenities that can be found to the west of Burnhamthorpe Road and Central Parkway, and to the south on Dundas Street.
“Chinese buyers like to shop at Square One, which is a six minute walk. They’ve got retail minutes away and there’s already a big Chinese community living around here,” she said.
The development is also budding with Chinese communal hallmarks, like multigenerational living. It isn’t uncommon, said Da Silva, for grandparents, their children and grandchildren to live in different units within the same building.
“It’s definitely multigenerational here with the Chinese community. They'll buy two or three units for their kids,” he said. The University of Toronto at Mississauga and Sheridan College also surround Parkside Village—features that impress Chinese buyers.
In2ition and Amacon have a lengthy working relationship, which is partially predicated upon a shared vision of what communities should incorporate to retain happy residents. As a result, In2ition has an entire team devoted to Parkside Village.
“We call ourselves a developer with a conscience because I always worry about what we’re doing and the product we put out there. We want to be the best we can be and get repeat buyers,” said Da Silva. “We are not here for one building. We’re not leaving or going away. Our name has been here in Mississauga for about 15 years,” he said.
It is a strong belief in the product that has Da Silva confident Parkside Village will redefine Mississauga.
“Our marketing strategy is simple: gimmicks are for products you want to sell. Our best strategy is we believe in the product,” he said. “We try to give you the best product and price it to the point where it’s affordable, because we want our buildings to speak for themselves,” said Da Silva.
Neil Sharma is a Toronto-based freelance journalist.
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