Pandemic not slowing Vaughan’s construction progress as city issues almost $1.9B in building permits in 2021

New figure trumps Vaughan’s $1.3 billion in building permits issued pre-pandemic in 2019

Thestar.com
Feb. 7, 2022
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Construction is underway at the LGC site at 101 Milani Blvd. near Highway 27, at the Vaughan Enterprise Zone. Nov. 24, 2021

Home to an emerging downtown core that’s eying to compete with Toronto at least in the long-term, Vaughan has issued $1.875 billion in building permits in 2021 alone, the city said in a statement Jan. 31.

The new figure trumps Vaughan’s $1.3 billion in building permits issued during the pre-pandemic year of 2019; the year when the city marked its fifth year in a row delivering more than $1 billion in building permits.

“Vaughan continues to rise to new and unprecedented heights,” officials said in the statement. “The global COVID-19 pandemic has not slowed progress down.”

The lion’s share of more than $1.016 billion from the 2021 total was funneled into construction value for residential developments in the city.

The Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, also known as the VMC, is the city’s emerging downtown core, which “continues to attract significant residential investment opportunities.”

The city said more than 29,100 residents in over 14,700 units are moving into the VMC.

In addition, commercial projects made up more than $362 million of the total value, and more than $373 million was from industrial developments, more than $43 million went into institutional projects, and the outstanding $81 million is a result of other developments throughout the city.

Since 2010, more than $15 billion in building permits have been issued in Vaughan.

Through Ontario’s intensification plans for 2051, Vaughan is expected to witness the most intensification in York Region.