SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust, which is one of the largest real estate companies in Canada, has announced that they have received a Minister's Zoning Order for their property at 22 Pinebush Road in the City of Cambridge, Ontario. SmartCentres' 73 acre property was originally zoned only for retail uses and now since receiving the MZO, will be able to permit various forms of residential, retail, office, institutional and commercial land uses to be able to create a complete vibrant urban community. (Rendering above courtesy of SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust).
An article in Street Insider states that this large urban redevelopment, next to Highway 401, will start right away and is anticipated to continue build-out over the next 10 - 20 years.
When it is finished, the community created by this MZO will include the following:
- 10,000 new residential units across a variety of housing types
- Rental apartments
- Condominiums
- Townhouses
- Seniors housing
With this approval now in place, SmartCentres will now start the process of transitioning the 22 year old retail shopping centre into a world-class mixed-use development comprising over 11 million square feet.
"We are very pleased that, with the support of the City of Cambridge elected officials and senior staff, Minister Steve Clark has agreed to issuing the MZO. Both the Minister and Mayor Kathryn McGarry recognize the significant economic benefits of accelerating our redevelopment plans including the tens of thousands of jobs that will be created and sustained over the 20 year period. We believe this significant new community will help address demand for housing located strategically around the Greater Golden Horseshoe Area. Working with staff, our goal is to begin Phase 1 in 2021."
Executive Chairman of SmartCentres | Mitchell Goldhar
Mayor Kathryn McGarry stated that this 73 acre property will be transformed into a large vibrant mixed-use community hub and will certainly help in terms of economic recovery post-pandemic.
According to Yahoo! Finance, SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust is one of Canada's largest fully integrated REITs, with a best-in-class portfolio that features 166 strategically located properties in communities across the country. SmartCentres has $10.4 billion in assets and owns over 34.2 million square feet of income producing value-oriented retail space with occupancy exceeding 97%, on 3,500 acres of owned land across Canada.
The company continues to strive to enhance the lives of Canadians by planning and developing complete, connected, mixed-use communities on its existing retail properties.
SmartCentres' intensification program includes the Trust's share of SmartVMC, which, when completed, is expected to include about 11 million square feet of mixed use space in Vaughan, Ontario.
SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust is uniquely positioned to reshape the Canadian urban and urban-suburban landscape.