Loblaw breaks ground on East Gwillimbury's largest employment development

Yorkregion.com
Aug. 29, 2022

You may have noticed a huge amount of earth being moved on Woodbine Avenue in East Gwillimbury. That’s what happens when you start work on a 1.2-million-square-foot facility.

Loblaw Companies Ltd. officially broke ground Aug. 19 on the 1.2-million-sq.-ft. advanced logistics and distribution centre located on Woodbine Avenue. Representatives from Loblaw, Choice Properties, Rice Group, the Regional Municipality of York, town council and staff, gathered in East Gwillimbury at the project site to officially mark the beginning of construction.

The distribution centre is the town’s largest employment project in its history. Once complete, it is estimated it will bring 1,000 new jobs and generate $500,000 in municipal taxes annually. The project will also bring $7 million in development charges, which will be used to fund the construction of parks, trails, roads and facilities in East Gwillimbury (EG).

“We are excited to welcome Loblaw to our community and look forward to a long and productive relationship with a company known for being an exemplary corporate citizen and strong community partner,” Mayor Virginia Hackson said. “Together with our partners, we are advancing the development of our employment lands, bringing new jobs to EG, and encouraging other businesses to invest in our town.”

Over the last several months, the town has been busy getting the site approved for work along with the region and the LSRCA (The Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority).

“This project has truly been a collaborative effort involving the public and private sectors,” said Michael Rice, chief executive officer (CEO) and president of Rice Group. “We’re excited about this state-of-the-art facility in East Gwillimbury and York Region.”

The facility is expected to be completed by 2025. The groundbreaking marked Phase 1 of developing the 150 acres of industrial land. The next phase will bring an additional 600,000 sq. ft. of space.

Loblaw have a network of 2,400 stores across the country where Canadians made more than 1 billion transactions last year. “The past two years have demonstrated the importance of strong reliable supply chain networks, which is why we’re excited about this new facility in East Gwillimbury,” Loblaw CEO Richard Dufresne said. “It’s been more than 15 years since we’ve opened a new distribution centre in the GTA, but a lot has changed in our business in that time.”

Dufresne said the new centre would allow Loblaw to modernize their supply chain without disrupting current operations. A smaller version of the facility exists in Cornwall to support businesses in the eastern part of Ontario and Dufresne said it is running well creating lots of jobs in the community.

East Gwillimbury has long been looking for a large employer to anchor its employment lands along the Hwy. 404 corridor. Hackson said it goes much further than just creating jobs. “The investment ensures that we can establish the roads, the parks, the trails and the amenities that are needed,” she said.

Earlier this year, Rice Group told the town they have a signed lease for a million-square-foot facility on 18574 and 18818 Woodbine Ave., in between Green Lane and Mount Albert Road along the 404.

Rice said the facility is going to have a big impact on the town. “Having this company land here and build this size of facility, it’s basically a billion-dollar project,” he said at the time.

The name of the company remained a public secret, though.

Choice Properties and Loblaw Companies Ltd. exercised their previously announced equity conversion right from Rice Group to acquire a 75 per cent ownership interest in 154 developable acres of industrial land.

The development plan for the property is for the trust to build a multi-phase industrial park, with the potential for approximately 1.8-million-sq.-ft. of new generation logistics space. According to the news release, the total initial cost of the project is $170 million.