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Mississauga City Centre has been experiencing a vast amount of change over the last five years, thanks in large part to ongoing expansion efforts at Square One and the construction of the adjacent Phase II of the Hazel McCallion Campus of Sheridan College. Surrounded by the ever-thickening forest of high-rise condo towers, such as the massive, Parkside Village complex nearby, the heart and main commercial hub of Ontario's second-largest city is now well into the process of getting even larger.
In the image above, Square One (centre) is all but surrounded by a sea of parking lots punctuated by big-box retail. While the periphery of the mall has developed upwards in recent years, the heart and soul of Mississauga has remained steadfastly suburban, but recent and ongoing expansion efforts will at least begin to mitigate the far-flung feel of the immediate area as some of the asphalt is taken over by an expanded core. Add to this the influx of new residents and college students into the vicinity—thanks to the aforementioned condo boom and the arrival of the Hazel McCallion Campus of Sheridan College—and Square One should for the first time become a destination for pedestrians, as well as for its existing high volume of vehicular traffic.
Over the last few years, Square One has undergone a host of changes, including the 2013 addition of new and renovated stores, plus an expansion to the northwest which included a host of additional retailers which opened over the course of 2014. Fast-forward to today, and a $320 million expansion of the shopping centre's southwest side is now well underway. A brand-new Holt Renfrew flagship store will take up 120,000 square feet of the 200,000 square foot wing, which will be joined by other retailers, and fronted by a set of grand, new entrances to the mall which, among many architectural details, will feature a large glass atrium and rotunda entrance.
The Holt Renfrew flagship store, designed by Jansen Goldstein, will feature a glass curtain wall exterior, which will jut out into former parking lot space, welcoming shoppers with oversized entrances and an array of artfully arranged window displays reminiscent of those featured at the downtown location in Bloor-Yorkville.
Inside, the interior spaces of the expansion, while still a while from completion, reveal the airy feel that the new addition will use in its aim to attract shoppers.
Across from the Square One parking lot and situated along Duke of York Boulevard at the mall's western edge, the ongoing construction of the 220,000 square foot Phase II building at the Hazel McCallion Campus of Sheridan College, complete with a pedestrian bridge connecting it to its immediate predecessor, has been making steady progress since UrbanToronto's last update in July.
The expansion will significantly more than double Hazel McCallion campus' capacity, accommodating 3,200 new full-time students, while also providing new space for administrative and faculty offices.
Taken as a whole, the changes now underway at Square One and the adjacent Sheridan College campus—not to mention those taking place within the surrounding area—are working in tandem to rapidly transform Mississauga City Centre. By late 2016, once all of this work is complete, the heart of Mississauga will have taken a big step forward: the growing Parkside Village to the west, along with other recent construction at the mall's periphery, will have begun to remake this once purely, car-only space into one to be shared with cyclists and pedestrians.
Keep posted on continuing updates to Square One and the Hazel McCallion Campus of Sheridan College via our Forum threads and dataBase links, linked below. If you'd like to talk about it, you can get in on the conversation in the threads, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
| Related Companies: | entro, Kramer Design Associates Limited, LRI Engineering Inc., MGI Construction Corp., Ontario Panelization, RJC Engineers |
