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After a protracted time in the planning process, a redevelopment proposal to the northwest of the Highway 400 and 7 interchange in Vaughan has received interim approval from the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT). Approval clears a path, pending satisfying some conditions, for four towers to rise between 36 and 49 storeys on what is currently a big box retail centre. Designed by BDP Quadrangle for Sorbara Group (operating as Wedgewood Columbus Limited), the site lies across Highway 400 to the west of the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre area, where several sites have big-box-to-residential intensification proposals in play.
Located a block north of Highway 7 at 7887 Weston Road, the 1.6-hectare site occupies the southeast corner of Weston Road and Chrislea Road. Home to a single-storey commercial plaza with surface parking, large-format retail is found to the east and west, including a Home Depot directly abutting the site. The block immediately south is home to Centro Square Condos and Shops, a similar mixed-use complex that was completed about 6 years ago now that also replaced single-storey commercial.
The proposal was first submitted to the City of Vaughan in December, 2019. However, with no Secondary Plan yet adopted for the Weston-7 area, Vaughan Council declined to process the application, and the file remained in limbo. In August, 2022, the developer appealed to the OLT, citing Council’s failure to render a decision within the legislated timeframe.
Mediation sessions held throughout 2024 failed to bring the developers and the City to a settlement, leading to a four-week OLT hearing in early 2025. Despite Vaughan City Council’s recommendation to the OLT to refuse the applications in October, 2024, the Tribunal issued an interim decision in March, 2025, approving the plan in principle.
The initial 2019 proposal had envisioned four towers rising from 41 to 51 storeys, with a total of 2,290 residential units. By the time a Site Plan Approval application was filed in early 2024, the tower heights had been revised to a range from 40 to 49 storeys, with a slight reduction in total units to 2,003.
The latest Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment applications call for four towers, two each rising above a pari of six-storey podium blocks separated by a landscaped east-west courtyard. The northern podium would support 36- and 39-storey towers, with the southern podium anchoring the taller 46- and 49-storey towers.
In total, the development is planned to contain 2,339 residential units, including 136 live-work units, supported by 2,564m² of at-grade retail. Gross Floor Area would total 172,384m², translating to a Floor Space Index of 10.8 times coverage of the site, down from 11.09 in 2019 but up from 9.61 in 2024. Amenity programming includes 8,021m² of indoor and outdoor space.
A two-level underground garage would span the full site, supplemented by parking levels hidden from the street within the podiums, with 1,502 spaces for residents and 299 for residential and retail visitors. Bicycle facilities entail 1,002 long-term and 6 short-term for residents, and 6 long-term and 6 short-term for retail users. A Transportation Demand Management (TDM) strategy has been approved in principle.
The project is being advanced in two phases, beginning with the southern block. The Zoning By-law Amendment is subject to Holding (“H”) provisions, requiring updates to the Transportation Impact Study and servicing plans at the Site Plan stage to confirm infrastructure capacity. Future decisions regarding the neighbouring Home Depot easement and driveway access will be addressed in Phase 2.
The site falls within the Protected Major Transit Station Area (PMTSA) centred around the Weston Road and Highway 7 Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stop, located about 250m from the future Viva BRT station. Eastbound, the BRT route links to Vaughan Metropolitan Centre (VMC) subway station about 1.5km away. Highway 7 also features a separated pedestrian and cycling path, while local road widenings will introduce protected sidewalks and bike lanes on Weston and Chrislea Roads, plus Northview Boulevard. A private shuttle between the development and VMC station has also been proposed as part of the TDM strategy.
Other high-rise development proposals in the area include Kingsmoor's three towers of between 32 and 38 storeys to the west, while 3899-3901 Highway 7 calls for six towers rising to 38 storeys. South of Highway 7, 7540 Weston is planned at 42 and 45 storeys, while the RioCan Colossus Centre Redevelopment calls for towers up to 55 storeys. To the east, SmartCentres: Highway 400 & 7 proposes an 8.2-hectare community with buildings reaching up to 45 storeys. Across Highway 400 there are many towers already built with more in the proposal stage, including 8 more towers alone in what is called Block A6 and A7 of the VMC plan, ranging from 17 to 62 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: | BDP Quadrangle, Bousfields, Counterpoint Engineering, Ferris + Associates Inc., RWDI Climate and Performance Engineering |
