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Beaver Creek winds its way past the intersection of Highway 7 and Woodbine Avenue in Markham, heading southeast to soon join the Rouge River as it heads toward the Rouge National Urban Park lands. Here though, while the watercourse is presently surrounded by commercial and industrial properties, a pair of proposals to the east of the creek would see a significant amount of residential space added to the mix in they are approved.
The larger of the abutting proposals actually surrounds the smaller one. Currently a large commercial site with big box stores, restaurants, and parking lots, Woodside Markham is proposed to gradually be reborn as a mixed-use, masterplanned community. First submitted to Markham in 2021, the redevelopment plan has recently been revised and resubmitted to the City. Uncommonly for the Greater Toronto Area, the latest plans for the Markham Woodside Redevelopment foresee something less dense than initially proposed. Designed by Turner Fleischer Architects for SmartCentres REIT and Choice Properties REIT, the revised plan outlines buildings ranging from 4 to 30 storeys, now to include an office building, along with parks and significant landscaping.
With one of York Region Transit's VIVA bus rapid transit (BRT) lines on its doorstep, the site is located within the Major Transit Station Areas for the BRT's Woodbine and Montgomery stops. The Woodside site surrounds a smaller, but still significant abutting proposal at 3085 Highway 7, currently a Longo’s supermarket, where four towers reaching up to 36 storeys are also planned. This proposal is covered in another story.
The sprawling 111,029m² Woodside site encompasses addresses from 3075 through 3175 Highway 7 and is located in Markham’s Brown's Corners area, just west of Fairburn Drive and the Markham Centre area. Surrounding uses include more retail plazas, employment spaces, and mid-to high-density developments along Highway 7.
The redevelopment's initial 2021 plans proposed towers between 20 and 31 storeys. Following policy updates through the Markham Centre Secondary Plan process, the developers have revised the plan to align with the City's evolved urban design framework for the area. Bousfields has resubmitted the Official Plan Amendment application to the City of Markham on behalf of the developers, with detailed zoning applications to follow.
The updated proposal now calls for 16 buildings with a Floor Space Index of 3.31 times coverage of the whole site, down from 3.87 initially, and a total Gross Floor Area (GFA) of 295,320m², compared to 454,849m² in the initial plan. Residential GFA has decreased by nearly 40% to 264,660m², resulting in 3,114 residential units, down from over 4,000 units previously. Building heights would now range from 4 to 30 storeys, marking a shift from the previous 20-to-31-storey range.
The resubmission introduces 3,400m² of office GFA through a proposed office building at the northeast corner and increases retail GFA to 25,540m². A centralized public park, replacing the linear park concept, would cover 10,047m², or approximately 10% of the site area. In addition, 1,720m² of community space has been proposed.
The plan features a street network and pedestrian-focused design, with a pedestrian mews extending south from Highway 7. The northern portion of the mews would be reserved exclusively for pedestrians, with its southern end accommodating limited vehicle access. A linear greenway would link the new central park from Beaver Creek to Fairburn Drive. Nearby cycling routes, including dedicated bike lanes along Highway 7, connect to the broader Markham Centre cycling network.
Larger proposals further east of the site in the Markham Centre area include Circa Drive & Hwy 7 East, three towers ranging from 17 to 20 storeys, 100-110 Clegg Road at 37 storeys, and 3555 Highway 7 East with three towers from 40 to 53 storeys.
UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on this development, but in the meantime, you can learn more about it from our Database file, linked below. If you'd like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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| Related Companies: | Bousfields, Gradient Wind Engineers & Scientists, MEP Design Inc., SmartCentres REIT, Turner Fleischer Architects |
