Condo development with 5 towers in Markham could reach 48 floors

Still in its earliest stages, Panda Markham would involve 2,206 new units

Yorkregion.com
March 20, 2019
Tim Kelly

An ambitious five-tower residential development, dubbed Panda Markham, is planned in the coming years for the area near Hwy. 7 and Warden Avenue in the rapidly expanding Downtown Markham zone.

The Lifetime Developments plan for the project would involve buildings that climb between 28 and 48 floors tall and would expand the number of residential units in the area by 2,206.

The 5.6-acre mixed-use plan was unveiled to the public at a community meeting on March 13 at Milliken Mills Community Centre.

It’s still in the earliest stages of the planning process and has a long way to go before shovels hit the ground but executives with the project are hopeful of seeing it come to fruition.

“Our proposal will bring new attention to one of the most desirable locations in the Greater Toronto Area,” said Lifetime principal Brian Brown.

“Panda Markham will be a new landmark adding much-needed new residences to one of Canada’s fastest-growing and most thriving cities,” Brown said.

In a phone interview, Brown said the proposal was first submitted to the City of Markham last July after two years of development work had been done with consultants including traffic studies. Then, a preliminary report was submitted to the city’s development services committee in December.

“It’s still very early in the process,” Brown admitted.

He said the meeting on March 13 was “very positive. We didn’t get any negative comments on our site. There was one comment about shadow and we addressed that. Other than that, everything else was positive,” he said.

Isa Lee, Ward 8 councillor who facilitated the preliminary public meeting, said she believes the project is “very modern and very iconic,” but adds she has to wait for resident feedback.

“In terms of the layout and design, it blends in” at the location she said, noting it still has to go through a full public meeting.

“Markham has so much going for it,” Brown added. “Its growth has been phenomenal. The city still needs to expand on its unique identity and we have challenged our architects to design a development with a distinguishing factor, world-class character and a vibrant, sustainable and flourishing community. We are hoping that we can do something very special for Markham that people will talk about when discussing this great city.”

The suites for the towers will range from one bedroom to three bedrooms in size.

According to David Pontarini, founding partner, Hariri Pontarini Architects --the designers for the project: “The Panda Markham team’s shared vision is to offer something outstanding in a location that deserves special treatment. It’s exciting to be working on a community with this enormous scope. The residential towers will set a new standard for contemporary design in the area.”