New look for Mississauga condos - Vancouver inspired

NRU
Dec. 10, 2014
By Edward LaRusic

A proposed 48-storey development, with an animated base and slim point tower, is being touted as exactly the kind of Vancouver style development Mississauga needs.

Ward 7 councillor Nando Iannicca calls Vancouver-based developer Pinnacle International’s proposal for a 48-storey condominium built on a four-storey podium with 469 units the future of how buildings should be designed in Mississauga.

“[Pinnacle] has brought this west coast flair of the point tower, the podium and amenity space. The first building [Pinnacle] has built is stunning. The next one will be even more beautiful. It’s the feel of them…that from every vantage point they are tall and slender.”

The first phase, which comprises a 28-storey building to the north of the current site, has recently been constructed.

Iannicca said that too oft en in Mississauga councillors have bowed to pressures from residents to reduce the heights of buildings, but he believes that buildings like the Pinnacle development are much preferable to ones that are shorter but with a larger floor plate.

“There’s a building almost immediately adjacent to the south that’s only 35 storeys or so, but it’s a behemoth,” said Iannicca. “It was built before 1987 and it is just one big slab. Here’s a lovely silhouette that’s going to be juxtaposed to it, that 25 years later is saying ‘I think we’re getting it right now.’”

Developing in downtown Mississauga is different compared to building in many other municipalities. Within the downtown core local area plan there are no limits on height or density, so developers typically do not fi le zoning and/or official plan amendments. Instead, a holding provision is put in place that can be lifted by council once a site plan application is submitted and servicing and development agreements with the city are executed.

Pinnacle development manager Mark Bales said that many cities have holding provisions related to the design of buildings, but Mississauga’s holding provision is more robust.

“It wasn’t merely design matters. It was also making sure that we had certain agreements done with the city to ensure the [proposed] new street gets built and other things happen so it [fits] in with the city’s infrastructure, as well as what’s adjacent to the site.”

As part of the Pinnacle development, a new east-west road will be added separating the two phases of the development. The name chosen? Vancouver Street.

At its December 17 meeting council will consider a staff report recommending the removal of a holding symbol for 3975 Grand Park Drive and 565 Webb Drive.