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As redevelopment has remade "easier" sites across central Toronto over the past decade, mega-proposals for more ambitious transformations of brownfield sites have popped up, especially conversions of underused lakeside industrial lands into developments like First Gulf’s East Harbour and Sidewalk Labs’ Quayside. In Mississauga, a similar waterfront redevelopment called Lakeview Village is looking to completely transform a 177-acre plot of land previously ruled by the ‘four sisters’ coal power plant into a cohesive live-work-play neighbourhood.
The plan by Lakeview Community Partners Ltd., almost 13 years in the making, began when the Ontario Liberal government shut down the coal-fired power plant in an effort to curb pollution and climate change in Ontario. As demolition progressed between 2006 and 2007 a citizen-driven project by the name of 'Lakeview Legacy' sparked community interest in the site’s revitalization. Ontario Power Generation, the owner of the site, began working with the Ontario Government and the city of Mississauga to develop a shared vision for what they dubbed 'Inspiration Lakeview'. After an RFP process adjudicated by the city, Lakeview Community Partners Ltd. was selected as the development partner and purchased the land for $275 million from Ontario Power Generation. Now, the developer—a consortium of 5 GTA development and construction companies and 12 external consultants—has pitched their masterplanned vision for the future, rechristened ‘Lakeview Village’, to the public.
The development is sectioned into seven distinct nodes, all of which fill a specific function complementary to the overall neighbourhood. Of all these spaces, Lakeview Square is the centrepiece. The spot aims to be the place for shopping, dining and entertainment in Lakeview Village. By focusing on non-national retail tenants and programming, Lakeview Square will attempt to play a unique role in the overall Mississauga retail landscape. Lakeview Square will also front on a man-made recreation pond where residents and visitors can rent kayaking and paddle sports equipment.
Adjacent to this vibrant downtown district is possibly the most unique and exciting portion of the proposal; Waterway Common - a linear urban park spanning the width of the development that features a man-made water channel as its centrepiece. The waterway will be a year-round public gathering place, and function as a skating rink in the winter.
In terms of employment, Lakeview Village is looking to attract innovative firms to the site. A string of offices in the 'Serson Innovation Corridor' will look to offer flexible spaces for firms, with the potential for additional educational uses in the future. This will eventually lead to a possible 825,000 ft2 of employment space on the site.
Inspiration point is designed to be a tranquil waterfront park with a pier extending over 600 metres into Lake Ontario. The park will feature public art, cultural pop ups and an open-air music venue ‘Coal Hill’.
The Marina and Ogden Green will serve as the residential anchors for the site. The Marina will focus more on high rise condo development with iconic architecture to add to the growing Mississauga skyline. Ogden Green will be a much more human-scaled neighbourhood comprising of townhomes and mid rise buildings with a streetscape designed around mid-block pedestrian walkways and paths.
Finally, the plan puts emphasis on Lakeview Village’s integration with the existing community, specifically the intersection at Lakeshore Road E. The gateway into Lakeview Village will be defined by a mixed-use landmark building of ‘world class architectural standard’ to give the right impression to those entering the neighbourhood. Lakeview Community Partners may also be looking into purchasing the adjacent lands along Lakeshore Road; they are already subject to the city’s ‘Lakeview Major Node Character Area” so a lot of the built form will be regulated to fit with the urban fabric already outlined in this plan.
When addressing the built form planned for the site, the proposal outlines very specific design principals to guide the way that architects are selected and instructed to produce designs for buildings in the neighbourhood. The plan hopes to be truly diverse in design by "sculpting unique building forms to juxtapose massing and punctuate a diverse skyline".
At the end of it all, 17,000 people are expected to live in the 8,000 units that will be built at Lakeview Village. The development will have access to two existing GO transit stations—Port Credit and Long Branch—but is not walking distance to either of them, so will be working with MiWay to improve mobility options for residents through regular bus service. The challenge here will be to make it easy for residents and commuting employees to live to work here without a car. For cyclists, the Waterfront Trail will be rerouted from Lakeshore Road through this site.
Lakeview Village hopes to gain planning approval in Fall 2019, with the first phase of construction starting the following spring. It will focus on placemaking; Lakeview Square, Waterway Common, and Inspiration Point will be developed first to draw interest to the area. Once the entire project is completed, Lakeview Community Partners believes that the land could be worth roughly $6 billion.
We will be back with much more as the plans become more detailed and individual projects get going. In the meantime, you can find more and larger images in our database file for the project, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum thread, or leave a comment in the field provided at the bottom of this page.
| Related Companies: | Greenloc Environmental Hoarding, Kramer Design Associates Limited, NAK Design Strategies, Tridel, Urban Strategies Inc. |
