January 26, 2005

Construction tops $1B for eighth year

Mississauga building shifts to commercial and industrial

By Grant Cameron

staff writer

The building boom in Mississauga, Ont., shows no sign of abating as the value of construction in the municipality reached $1.4 billion in 2004.

It’s the eighth consecutive year that the value of construction has exceeded the $1 billion mark.

“There is still a lot of building going on in Mississauga,” said Mayor Hazel McCallion.

“However, our numbers show that our city has become a more mature municipality. We’ve grown up and built-out now that the last of our residential greenfield land is being developed.

“Our construction trend is moving to commercial/ industrial, higher density and infill where ma-ny great development opportunities exist for our city.”

The city’s latest building report indicates there is an increasing percentage of commercial and industrial construction activity underway.

The total value of industrial and commercial construction at the end of 2004 was $528 million which in- cluded 114 new industrial/ commercial units, compared to the 2003 figure of $386 million which included 90 commercial/industrial units, an increase of 37 per cent.

The building report shows about 5,000 permits for all types of construction were issued in 2004, with another 5,000 expected in 2005.

“I am confident that Mississauga will continue to have a healthy amount of building activity in 2005 with the majority of our new residential unit construction taking place in the city centre and Churchill Meadows areas of the city,” said McCallion.

In a press release, the city says the supply of land has become limited, causing Mississauga’s transition from a rapidly growing to a maturing community where more infill and redevelopment will take place.

Although ground related or single, detached housing development is declining, apartment development is expected to increase as construction takes on more medium and high density forms. Intensification will account for 20 per cent of Mississauga’s housing potential.

Ed Sajecki, the city’s planning and building commissioner, said Mississauga is already seeing the trend to higher density residential construction in the city centre because of its location to amenities and services.

“Today, the population of the city centre area is 9,500 and is expected to grow to 35,000 if all applications in process are constructed. Mississauga’s population is expected to increase to 735,000 by the year 2021.

“The great news for Mississauga is that we continue to have land for office space and we’ve been successful in attracting new office development in the last five years.”

Some examples of new office development in Mississauga include: Bell Mobility, Phase I and II, on Creekbank Rd.; Biovail head office at 7125 West Credit Ave.; Microsoft Canada at 1950 Meadowvale Blvd.; and TD Financial Buildings at 4880/4720 Tahoe Blvd., and 1855/1875 Buckhorn Gate.

The city also says that employment is expected to increase from 410,000 in 2004 to 485,000 by the year 2021 with the majority of growth occurring in the office sector.

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