NewRoads planning automotive campus just outside Newmarket on Green Lane

Proposal would see extension of Harry Walker Parkway beyond Green Lane with dealerships lining north side

Yorkregion.com
January 8, 2020
Simon Martin

Big changes appear to be coming to Green Lane and the Harry Walker Parkway intersection in East Gwillimbury. Council heard a preliminary proposal for a large automotive dealer campus involving NewRoads Automotive Group and Rice Commerical group at its last meeting in 2019

The proposal would see an extension of Harry Walker Parkway north of Green Lane with dealerships lining the north side of Green Lane just west of Hwy. 404.

At full build-out the plan is to have seven dealerships as part of the campus. NewRoads CEO Michael Croxon said the vision for an automotive campus comes from the company’s circumstance. “We had insufficient facilities to accommodate the needs of the automotive business,” he said. “The dealership of the future is under study. It’s an exciting project."

NewRoads has seven dealerships in York Region with five located in Newmarket, one in Aurora and one in Richmond Hill

“This is very exciting for us,” Mayor Virginia Hackson said. She added that she appreciated all the charitable work that NewRoads has done in the community

Other members of council were similarly elated with the news and it's easy to see why. According to a staff report the automall could have a big impact bringing more than 400 jobs to the town with $1.5 million in development charges and more than $50,000 in annual tax revenue.

“It’s very exciting for us to see a new dealership for the future here in the town,” Ward 3 Coun. Scott Crone said

Ward 2 Coun. Joe Persechini said it is an exciting time for the town with plans coming together.

“I think if you are going to put an automall beside a highway that’s probably the best spot for it,” Ward 2 Coun. Tara Roy-DiClemente said.

Croxon said from a jobs perspective Newmarket is probably not all that happy with the company's intention but said they will benefit from dealerships being taken off prime commercial land. The NewRoads group views its only competitive advantage to be the quality of their associates, Croxon said. “We spend a great deal of time and resources investing in our people,” he said.

The town has long been planning to develop its Green Lane corridor as it is in the midst of completing its Green Lane Secondary Plan.

The consulting team hired by the town has projected that the proposed secondary plan could accommodate approximately 28,750 residents and 4,340 jobs at full build-out along Green Lane. The region has allocated approximately 24,000 people to this corridor by 2031.

Major infrastructure needed to accommodate this massive growth includes not only water mains and wastewater trunk sewers, but also the completion of the Upper York Sewage Solution (UYSS) and the region’s Water Reclamation Centre and the extension of the East-West Collector Road that is slated to be built north of Green Lane.