Rouge Bijou (Downtown Markham, Remington, 10 + 3x 7s, Quadrangle)

I guess it's been floating around for some time now but the website is now up and is beginning to be released to the public. Sorry if its old news.


www.downtownmarkham.ca/

Visionary renderings from the website






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http://www.markham.ca/Markham/Channels/markhamcentre/mc_home.htm

Master Plan: http://www.markham.ca/markham/resources/mkmurbancntrprk.pdf



243-acre-plan is largest single development application in Markham Centre

MARKHAM ~ July 21, 2003 ~ Markham Council has taken the most significant step to date in the creation of Markham Centre, approving The Remington Group's application to develop "Downtown Markham," the Smart Growth downtown core of Markham Centre.

Remington's innovative, urban and mixed-use plan will develop more than 98 hectares (243 acres) of the Markham Centre land (approximately one quarter its total land area) for residential, business, retail and parkland use.

"This approval represents a watershed decision for the Town," says Mayor Don Cousens. "Downtown Markham will be a dynamic development that will reinvigorate our community and provide the rapid transit essential to a healthy future."

When complete, "Downtown Markham" will have two new elementary school sites, 3,889 medium to high-density residential units (to house as many as 8,075 people), 362,750 square metres of office and business park use and 33,755 square metres of grade-related retail. The plan also provides for the eventual introduction of rapid transit through the centre of the site. The plans for "Downtown Markham" also aggressively protect and enhance the Rouge River valley, reserving more than 30 per cent of the Remington lands for urban parks and green spaces. Central to the pedestrian-friendly core will be Park Lake, a man-made lake that will act as a focal point for the downtown.

The site encompasses the lands between Warden Avenue to the west, Rouge River Valley to the north, Highway 407 to the south, and the GO Transit line to the east.

The adopted plan is the culmination of the multi-year, multi-disciplinary effort led by the work of the Markham Centre Advisory Group-a 25-member volunteer committee representing Markham business and residential interests. The Group worked with Town staff to develop the award-winning Markham Centre Performance Measures against which all development applications are assessed. The Advisory Group then worked with Remington to ensure that their plan adhered to the standards in the Performance Measures.

"We were committed to Markham Centre from the beginning," says Rudy Buczolits of The Remington Group. "The Markham Centre Performance Measures exemplify the best practices in sustainable development and served to clarify the Town's expectations for developers in Markham Centre. By working with the Advisory Group, Remington was able to further enhance its commitment to sustainable practices. "

The 20-year build-out is linked to infrastructure investments, including the road network. The first phase (2004-2007), will begin at the west end of the site and will include approximately 700 residential units, 1,850 square metres of retail space and 78,825 metres of office/employment uses. The Town is working with the Region to advance Regional Road improvements in the area of Markham Centre to coincide with the earliest phases of the development.

Good luck to Markham in creating that New Urbanist paradise! If Markham could follow through with what's shown in the renderings it could shoot past Scarborough, Mississauga, and even North York as Toronto's premier suburban town centre! I really like the renderings showing the "piazza" and the Viva transit mall. The only things that are missing from the renderings are the dim sum restaurants and the bubble tea shops serving the Chinese population!

However, there will be quite a challenge to integrate all this New Urbanism with what's at Markham Town Centre right now, with office parks, the old Embassy Suites hotel, Markham Civic Centre and Markham Theatre all set far back from the street, all with their own parking lots. The future town centre might look schizophrenic with this kind of mix.

My first thoughts on this project where rather skeptical. This is Markham after all and I wouldnt characterize a suburban city such as itself as being a place of ambition normally. And even if this is built just as shown, the reality will probably be quite a bit different than the renderings, and the scenes of urbanity will probably turn out to be something closer to an aging opened roof shopping mall.

But, its something, and given the current amount of horrible urban design in Canadian suburbs, it is at the very least, an improvment. Cities are not going to change overnight and it will most likely be several decades before we see suburbs elevating their quality of design to something above substandard, but at least this is a step in the right direction.

If this is ever built I can guarantee it will look nothing like the rendering, it will look a whole lot more like Pacific Mall.

Markham already has a downtown. Why don't they actually look at improving the one they have and making it actually something people in the community use, then a little small town tourist attraction.

The real downtown Markham is located on Highway 48.

Just to get rid of some of the confustion, Markham Centre and Downtown Markham are not the same thing. Downtown Markham is to the CBD as Markham Centre is to the overall downtown area between Bloor, Bathurst, and the Don River. Downtown Markham is small in area, part of the larger Markham Centre.

Secondly, Downtown Markham will only be successful if it links itself to the surrounding area properly. It's bordered by the 407, GO line, and valley lands to the north which means that in terms of pedestrians, it might be isolated from not only the rest of Markham, but even from the rest of Markham Centre. It's no use to have people driving there.

Finally, it's ok that all this growth is happening away from the historic downtown. North York developed its historic main street because of the subway. To redevelop such a large area along Markham Road would require massive demolition of existing homes and a very nice 100 year old main street. Also, the current location of Markham Centre has transit, Markham Road does not.

Nice effort. It reminds me a lot of the redevelopment that happened in Birmingham, England a few years back.

Here's what the area looks like now:
maps.google.com/maps?f=q&...026779&t=k
Birchmount will sneak up under the 407 and split to connect with Verclaire Gate and Village Parkway and Enterprise will (I think) be extended over to Helen @ Kennedy, so cars will have easy access from every direction, and this will then allow buses and bikes and even pedestrians to come in from all over, too. But, as Chuck100 says, actual pedestrians strolling in from neighbouring areas may not be plentiful. Hwy 7 is still a wasteland and there's still way too much empty land in the area to tell what Markham Centre overall will be like and if it will have enough gravity to keep Downtown Markham itself from looking pathetic and insular. Hope it works, though.

If the suburbs are to be brought into the 21st century this is pretty much the kind of development that is required. It's a real break with the past. They have been working on this in Markham for several years now.

Hard to say which will be more interesting, this effort in Markham which is largely on "greenfields" or Mississauga City Centre, which is partly a greenfield development and partly a "retrofit" of an area originally built up in the 70s.

There will be lots of activity to follow here! I'll be watching it with some interest.

Anybody can come up with fancy proposed renderings.

As the Google Map clearly shows, the site is an empty greenfield surrounded by an ever growing number of low density subdivisions. The few office/commerical buildings that are scattered around including the Town Hall is surrounded by endless parking lots.

I can't help but notice the massive Square One like shopping centre just down the street from this proposed "Markham Centre". I think it's Markville Shopping Centre.

It would take 20 + years for anything like the renderings to develop. Mississauga City Centre is more likely to turn out like the rendering at least in the near future.

Louroz

Does anyone know when the majority of this project will be completed?

^ Who knows...they've been continuously turning the earth over along Enterprise east of Warden for at least three years.

I am concerned about all this pessimism for "Downtown Markham". If we here on the forum are interested in promoting and supporting urbanism in the GTA, then I think we should be happy that something like this is being proposed. Urbanism in the GTA should not be a Toronto, or even a Toronto-Mississauga monopoly.

Will it get built? I'm an optimist, so I think it will get built. It's not the first time something like this has been built in North America. I think there will be some investors who would be happy to jump onto a project like this.

It would take 20 + years for anything like the renderings to develop. Mississauga City Centre is more likely to turn out like the rendering at least in the near future.

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I have to agree. The MCC is light years beyond any suburban "downtown" outside of the 416. What if the Heartland centre was built so that all the stores fronted the streets? Would that make it any better? MCC is still a long, long way away, but it is truly doing everything it can to change the way the city centre functions. I don't see how this Markham development is much more than one of those fake towns stuffed with stores you find all over the Orlando area in Florida. I agree with miketoronto, the focus should be on the true downtown Markham. Do they truly expect to come up with anything nearly as great as downtown Oakville or Port Credit? It's still better than a bunch of L-shaped plaza's but it won't be more than a one-trick pony, especially if Markham's Chinese population ends up moving taking over most of the retail.

I agree with miketoronto, the focus should be on the true downtown Markham.

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I am happy for Mike about that support, but I do disagree. Downtowns get shifted around all the time. If Toronto's downtown never shifted, today our whole city would revolve around the St. Lawrence Market, not King and Bay. The Main Streets of Markham and Unionville are really great streets, but Markham is so big now that neither main streets can serve as city centres, at least without destroying the characters of the streets.

I don't see how this Markham development is much more than one of those fake towns stuffed with stores you find all over the Orlando area in Florida.

Click to expand...

Places like Main Street USA at Magic Kingdom or Celebration, Florida (I think you're referring to that) are very different from something like this. Downtown Markham, if built, won't be a movie set. It won't be run by a big company that forces a massive list of covenants on its residents to keep it all clean and uniform so tourists can come and gawk and awe at it.

Downtown Markham's drawing its architecture and urban design from traditional town planning, which is the whole point of New Urbanism. Mississauga's Placemaking exercise is probably being conducted by New Urbanists, so the result of the exercise, as FM pointed out, will be similar to Downtown Markham, and I dare not call Mississauga City Centre a "fake town"! Perhaps Downtown Markham can be seen as Markham's own Placemaking exercise, but it has done it before the shovel hit the ground.

Don't get me wrong... I support Mississauga's Placemaking exercise just as much as I support Downtown Markham- I believe both will play a major role in promoting urbanity in suburban GTA. What I'm disgusted at is this thinking that some cities "deserve" urbanity more than others.