Markham Markville Mall Redevelopment | 138m | 45s | Cadillac Fairview | Urban Strategies

Here are few screenshots from Google Maps dating back to October 2020, which includes this dealership and the next phase.
Markville.png
Markville2.png
Markville 3.png
Markville 4.png
 
A Pre-Consultation request for an Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment application has been received from Ontrea (a subsidiary of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board) to facilitate a proposed mixed-use redevelopment of Markville Mall.

Conceptual massing and concept site plan from the submission package:
Markville Mall Visualization from McCowan Rd-1.jpg

Markville Mall Visualization from Bullock Dr-0.jpg

Conceptual Masterplan with labels-1.jpg


Height strategy:
Markville Mall Height Strategy-1.jpg


Phasing:
Conceptual Phasing-1.jpg


More information of the Markville Secondary Plan Study here.
 
  • Why every building is separated by some random "green" space?
  • Why is there so much setback from Hwy 7?
  • 3 more towers should be build on top of the "future parking structures".
  • There isn't a good connection from the buildings to the mall -- still need to cross the parking and the roadway.
  • Overall density is conservative -- they can be higher.
 
It's really too bad that Markham wasn't really able to plan more around Centennial GO. In a perfect world, the community centre and park would have gone somewhere else and high density would be next to the GO station. I understand with this being an infill GO station that it wasn't something the city was really able to foresee.

Lots of potential future VIVA riders here though. Highway 7 in Cornell (east of 9th Line) is also getting many condo projects these days and we are starting to see some movement on infill projects along Highway 7 in Markham Village between McCowan and 9th Line.
 
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An OPA has now been formally submitted for the Markville Mall Redevelopment. Urban Strategies has produced the design plans:
A2.2 View 2-1.jpg

A2.1 View  1-1.jpg


The main changes from the pre-consultation can be seen along Highway 7 side. Max storey count increased from 44 to 45.
Urban Design Brief-77.jpg

A1.1 Ground Floor-1.jpg

Urban Design Brief-75.jpg


Renderings of the public realm:
Rendering View 1-1.jpg
Rendering View 2-1.jpg
Rendering View 3-1.jpg
Rendering View 4-1.jpg
Rendering View 5-1.jpg
 
An OPA has now been formally submitted for the Markville Mall Redevelopment. Urban Strategies has produced the design plans:
View attachment 487464
View attachment 487463

The main changes from the pre-consultation can be seen along Highway 7 side. Max storey count increased from 44 to 45.
View attachment 487471
View attachment 487477
View attachment 487470

Renderings of the public realm:
View attachment 487465View attachment 487466View attachment 487467View attachment 487468View attachment 487469
Is there a link to the OPA?
 
As with every mall intensification plan I object to the idea of keeping the entire mall in its existing footprint.

I get that it's a golden-goose and all that.........too bad; you can keep the existing one or build a new one, but you can't have both.

Here's what I'm getting at, it's that w/the mall blocking the entire middle of the site, there is no easy way for people to cross the site in an efficient way, even by car, let alone on foot or by bike.

The E-W block here is nearly 500M obstructed by the mall.

But if you want people whose apartments are on Highway 7 to walk north to Centennial GO they need to be able cut an efficient foot/bike path such that it's attractive.

I hear, but they can cut through the mall..........well that requires that the mall owner enter into a legally binding agreement to allow public access during all GO operating hours, and at the very least 5:30-1:30am, 7 days per week, 365 days per year.

I'm not sure we're getting that.

At any rate, ideal block size is ~100M or even a bit less.........At the least, the mall needs to be bisected somewhere to allow true through movement, and I would even argue for cars as well, as having cars drive endlessly around in a circle just to the 'get to the other side' makes no sense to me whatsoever.

The two parks are tiny and borderline usesless. There is a fair bit of greenspace nearby, but what I want to see is a demand analysis for playing fields, tennis courts, picnic space and playgrounds. The latter 3 and maybe a junior sports field could be located on-site, while a major sports field could be added to the park to the north as an off-site dedication.

Also, the nearest elementary school is over 1km away, and the next 2 are over 1.5km away. Not reasonable.
 
As with every mall intensification plan I object to the idea of keeping the entire mall in its existing footprint.

I get that it's a golden-goose and all that.........too bad; you can keep the existing one or build a new one, but you can't have both.

Here's what I'm getting at, it's that w/the mall blocking the entire middle of the site, there is no easy way for people to cross the site in an efficient way, even by car, let alone on foot or by bike.

The E-W block here is nearly 500M obstructed by the mall.

But if you want people whose apartments are on Highway 7 to walk north to Centennial GO they need to be able cut an efficient foot/bike path such that it's attractive.

I hear, but they can cut through the mall..........well that requires that the mall owner enter into a legally binding agreement to allow public access during all GO operating hours, and at the very least 5:30-1:30am, 7 days per week, 365 days per year.

I'm not sure we're getting that.

At any rate, ideal block size is ~100M or even a bit less.........At the least, the mall needs to be bisected somewhere to allow true through movement, and I would even argue for cars as well, as having cars drive endlessly around in a circle just to the 'get to the other side' makes no sense to me whatsoever.

The two parks are tiny and borderline usesless. There is a fair bit of greenspace nearby, but what I want to see is a demand analysis for playing fields, tennis courts, picnic space and playgrounds. The latter 3 and maybe a junior sports field could be located on-site, while a major sports field could be added to the park to the north as an off-site dedication.

Also, the nearest elementary school is over 1km away, and the next 2 are over 1.5km away. Not reasonable.
It certainly is not doing anything as far as community development. So far at least. The amount of retail space that ends up in these new buildings will determine what the future looks and feels like here.

Retail space outside the mall will allow for an eventual deconstruction of the mall, in both the literal and metaphorical senses. I can only hope that's the eventual long-term vision here.
 
I understand they're not going to carve up or disrupt highly profitable retail GFA. But shoehorning towers onto parking lots with the main body of the mall left as is makes the plan feel rather incomplete.
 
It certainly is not doing anything as far as community development. So far at least. The amount of retail space that ends up in these new buildings will determine what the future looks and feels like here.

Retail space outside the mall will allow for an eventual deconstruction of the mall, in both the literal and metaphorical senses. I can only hope that's the eventual long-term vision here.
I can almost guarantee a deconstruction of this mall will be heavily opposed by almost all Markham residents.
 
I can almost guarantee a deconstruction of this mall will be heavily opposed by almost all Markham residents.
Given that these towers represent such large investments (in excess of $100M each), we really ought to be more thoughtful about how and where we build them and how the context should support them. Willy nilly erecting a forest of towers around a mall without a thought about what happens to the mall in the coming decades is poor city building.
 

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