Vaughan to get YMCA at Jane and 7: Bevilacqua
In 2019, Vaughan Metropolitan Centre to have a 265,000 square-foot office building with YMCA, public library branch as tenants

yorkregion.com
Feb. 24, 2016
By Tim Kelly

Before a sold out crowd of 700 Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua had a surprise for the Vaughan Chamber of Commerce lunch-time crowd Wednesday.

He told his audience the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre would be home to a “new partnership between the VMC and the city.”

That partnership will see a 265,000 square-foot office building constructed beside the KPMG tower, which is opening this coming October.

The new building will be anchored by a Greater Toronto YMCA and will include a branch of the Vaughan Public Library as well as performing arts space for citizens to use.

“The YMCA will be state-of-the-art in every way with an indoor gymnasium on the second floor and a childcare centre on the ground level. The VMC library will respond to the needs of residents living and working as well as commuters passing through the train hub by offering a technologically advanced fully stocked community space. This project will open its doors in 2019 and bring a new sense of place for those living and working in the VMC as they experience our city,” said the mayor to warm applause from the audience.

The mayor noted that the VMC, located at Hwy. 7 and Jane Street and where the Vaughan subway terminal will open by the end of 2017, “is the largest and most ambitious project in the city’s history. It will be dynamic core with headquarters of major companies, condo towers, open spaces, shopping and entertainment and will be a destination for over 35,000 people who will live, work and play there.”

Bevilacqua also spoke of the city’s achievements in seeing $3.8 million invested daily in the city; council’s vow to keep property tax increase at less than three per cent per year throughout this term of council; the investment in 700 capital projects in the city; subway and new VIVA rapidway construction in the city; his promise that Mackenzie Health Vaughan, the new hospital, will be completed in 2019-20; and reliable power from Powerstream along with $62 million in dividends coming to the city over the next decade under a new agreement.