Mississauga City Centre
Mississauga City Centre | |
|---|---|
 Mississauga skyline in 2023 | |
 Location of Mississauga City Centre | |
| Coordinates: 43°33′31″N 79°38′38″W / 43.5587°N 79.6440°W | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Ontario |
| Regional municipality | Peel |
| City | Mississauga |
Mississauga City Centre is the downtown of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. The downtown district is spread from west-to-east, beginning at Confederation parkway and ending at Hurontario Street. The new urban centre, developing along Confederation parkway between Rathburn road and Burnhamthorpe road consists of sky-scraping residential buildings, with shops, museums, cafés, and restaurants lining the ground level. The city's financial district, centred along Hurontario Street and Robert Speck Parkway, is home to the Mississauga Executive Centre, One City Centre Drive, and TriOS College.
Design and Layout[edit]
Mississauga is a mostly suburban city, though it was initially several small villages which agglomerated into the Town of Mississauga, previously known as Toronto Township. As the city aged, several mid-rise condo buildings were constructed at the corner of Hurontario Street and Burnhamthorpe road, overlooking the then new Square One Shopping Centre. The city centre spread slowly away from this area over the next 30 years, until the mid 2010s when the new urban centre was catalyzed by the Chicago tower and One Park Tower. As a result being a relatively young downtown, the core is a modern and fully planned greenfield development, rather than a traditional city downtown which grew over a long period of time and required redevelopment of older buildings. As such, its boundaries are still relatively sharp and the transitional inner city between it and the surrounding suburban areas is planned but still under construction. In addition, despite Mississauga being located on Lake Ontario, the city centre is not located on or near the waterfront (as is typically the case for cities situated by water), but is located 6 km (3.7 mi) inland. Instead, the town of Port Credit is located along Mississauga's waterfront which was founded in 1834. [citation needed]
Originally there was an octagonal ring road encircling Square One Shopping Centre,[1] but later changes to the street pattern as development progressed resulted in parts of it being incorporated into the present City Centre Drive and Duke of York Boulevard or being replaced by Square One Drive.[2]
The early developments in the city centre were mostly office buildings set in the middle of parking lots or condominiums constructed in tower in the park settings, as was the typical before the new urbanism principle was applied in the city centre planning area. Two of these office developments (including Mississauga's second Civic Centre) have since been demolished and have been or are being replaced with new projects.[3][4]
History[edit]
The intersection of Hurontario Street and Burnhamthorpe Road was once the site of a rural hamlet named Payne's Corners.[5] Prior to 1973, the area was predominantly agricultural. In the 1950s, developer Bruce McLaughlin began buying up farms in the area as he envisioned the-then mostly rural Toronto Township, as Mississauga was then known, becoming a future major city (at the time, suburban growth was already spilling over from Metropolitan Toronto) with a new urban core. To get his envisioned core started, he proposed building Square One in 1969. The new core was given an additional boost that year after a fire badly damaged the newly incorporated Town of Mississauga's municipal offices in the nearby community of Cooksville, prompting the municipality to move its offices (a move that was already being contemplated) to a new building constructed on a plot of land in the area exchanged with McLaughlin for the old Cooksville property.[6][7]
In 1973, Square One opened,[7] and it provided the catalyst for the development of the new city centre. Mississauga's first mayor, Martin Dobkin, as well as then-future mayor Hazel McCallion, wanted the city centre developed in Cooksville, the municipality's most central historic community, by intensification,[8] but the popularity of the mall (as well as the location of the civic centre), enticed developers, such as Ignat Kaneff and Harold Shipp, to construct condominium and office projects around it, such as the Mississauga Executive Centre in 1976.[9][10] In 1986, Shipp worked with the Mathews Corporation to open a Novotel hotel, which is today still the only hotel in the city centre.[11]
When McLaughlin's corporation ran into financial difficulties in the late 1970s, Mayor Hazel McCallion proposed that an iconic new city hall with a large civic square be built. Groundbreaking took place in 1984 for the new facility, and it was opened in July 1987,[12][13] with the Duke and Duchess of York being present at the opening ceremonies.[14]
Buildings[edit]
Mississauga City Centre today has a large number of high-rise buildings, the most of any city in Ontario aside from Toronto itself. Additionally, it has has several more under construction and planned. Most of this newer growth has occurred west of City Hall in the new urban centre, located along Confederation Parkway, in an area that was the last sector to develop but which has now become the most densely populated area in the core, and that most resembles a stereotypical downtown streetscape.
One of the earliest built and most prominent buildings in the city centre include the aforementioned City Hall. As of 2023, the tallest are the twin M1 and M2 towers standing at 200 and 199 metres respectively. These towers are part of the larger M City development (see below). Further east stands the residential Absolute World complex, located at the northeast corner of Burnhamthorpe Road and Hurontario Street. It consists of six towers, with its iconic main twin towers, nicknamed "the Marilyn Monroe" because of their curvy shape, standing 50 and 56 storeys. Other residential towers include Avia at Parkside Village,[15] Square One District, The Exchange District, One Park Tower,[16] and Chicago.[17]
Under construction[edit]
Projects currently under construction include the multi-tower M City Condominiums (see below),[18] Avia,[19] and Exchange District Condos.[20]
M City[edit]
M City is a landmark 8 tower mega-project in the new urban centre of Mississauga's downtown core, located on the corner of Confederation Parkway and Burnhamthorpe Road. The first two towers are complete as of 2024 and stand at a height of 200 and 199 metres respectively, with the third tower, M3, under construction. Upon completion, M3 will be the tallest building in Mississauga at 260 metres. Additionally, it will be the tallest building in Canada outside the city of Toronto. M4, standing at 216 metres will be the city's most technologically advanced residential building, having won several awards for excellence in design and technology. M5 is the development's shortest building, standing only at 123 metres or 36 storeys, takes a more subtle approach to high-rise living. The remaining three towers form "The Three Sisters", a striking trio of matching towers, standing at 194, 175, and 159 metres. This development aims to redefine the city's skyline, and define Mississauga's downtown core as the gold standard in modern urban development.
The Exchange District[edit]
The exchange district is a large 4-tower development located centrally on Burnhamthorpe road between Confederation Parkway and Hurontario Street. It consists of 4 residential buildings, with heights of 72, 60, 42, and 30 stories respectively. It will include over 2 million square feet of space, including commercial, retail, dining, offices and a boutique hotel.
Institutions[edit]
Mississauga's largest public library, the Central Library, is located at 301 Burnhamthorpe Road West at the corner of Living Arts Drive.[21] The city's YMCA is located at 325 Burnhamthorpe West, across the street from the Central Library.[22] Living Arts Centre, a performing arts venue, opened in 1997.[23] A satellite campus of Sheridan College, the Hazel McCallion Campus, is also located in the city centre at 4180 Duke of York Boulevard at Rathburn Road. Its first phase opened in 2011.[24] Mississauga's Celebration Square is home to festivals and concerts, as well as frequent movie screenings for the downtown core's residents to enjoy. During the spring and summer, farmer's markets can be found. Additionally, food trucks, a sports field, an amphitheatre, a splash pad (which doubles as a skating rink in the winter) and a garden.
Transportation[edit]
Public transit[edit]
Mississauga City Centre is well-served by MiWay and GO Transit. The City Centre Transit Terminal is the city's main transit terminal and hosts 21 MiWay bus routes and one Brampton Transit–operated bus rapid transit (named Züm) route. GO Transit buses serve the nearby Square One Bus Terminal. The under-construction Hurontario LRT will serve the terminal via a spur along Rathburn Road.[25]
Roads[edit]
Two key streets in the city centre are Hurontario Street and Confederation Parkway, which run north-south. They are linked by Rathburn road and Burnhamthorpe road, which run east-west forming a grid pattern. Secondary arterials such as Rathburn road, City Centre drive, Centre View drive and Duke of York boulevard are also notable for their extensive connectivity to smaller roads in the core. Duke of York Boulevard and Square One Drive intersect south of Rathburn road, at which location exists the city's only roundabout. Highway 403 forms the northern boundary of the city centre and provides access to it from interchanges at Hurontario Street and Mavis Road, with the latter accessed via Centre View Drive, which runs alongside the freeway and branches off eastbound from the interchange.
References[edit]
- ^ "Aerial photo of original Square One ring road in 1975". City of Toronto Archives (via Eloquent Systems Inc.). Retrieved December 10, 2020.
- ^ Google (December 10, 2020). "Street network surrounding Square One in 2018" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
- ^ Mackintosh, Meghan. "Way Back Wednesday: The History of Robert Speck Parkway". Heritage Mississauga. Mississauga Heritage Foundation. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
- ^ "Exchange District Condos (Photo of office building being demolished to make may for the Exchange District condos)". Urban Toronto. 28 February 2019. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
- ^ "Map of County of Peel, Ontario, Canada. (1937) Payne's Corner's, located north of Cooksville". Perkins Bull Foundation. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
- ^ Urbaniak, Tom (2009). Her Worship: Hazel McCallion and the development of Mississauga. University of Toronto Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0802096029.
- ^ a b "The Rise of the Shopping Centre". Heritage Mississauga. Mississauga Heritage Foundation. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
- ^ Urbaniak, Tom (2009). Her Worship: Hazel McCallion and the development of Mississauga. University of Toronto Press. p. 117. ISBN 978-0802096029.
- ^ "Our Story". www.kaneff.com. Kaneff Group of Companies. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
- ^ "History of Our Office Complex". Mississauga Executive Centre. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
- ^ Urbaniak, Tom (2009). Her Worship: Hazel McCallion and the development of Mississauga. University of Toronto Press. p. 118. ISBN 978-0802096029.
- ^ Urbaniak, Tom (2009). Her Worship: Hazel McCallion and the development of Mississauga. University of Toronto Press. p. 118,119. ISBN 978-0802096029.
- ^ The Canadian Encyclopedia - Mississauga: Present Day Archived 2008-10-05 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Menzies, Joaquim (November 23, 2003). "Mayor tells all at lecture series". The Mississauga News.
- ^ "PSV at Parkside Village, Mississauga | 1195294". Emporis. Archived from the original on July 23, 2021. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
- ^ "One Park Tower, Mississauga | 230333". Emporis. Archived from the original on May 14, 2015. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
- ^ "Chicago, Mississauga | 302845". Emporis. Retrieved 2022-05-03.[dead link]
- ^ "One of the Tallest Buildings in Canada is coming to Mississauga". Retrieved 2021-01-02.
- ^ "Avia, Mississauga | 1350824". Emporis. Retrieved 2022-05-03.[dead link]
- ^ Drawings of Exchange District Condos 1 - SkyscraperPage.com
- ^ "The Library". City of Mississauga. 6 March 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2021.
- ^ "Y Greater Toronto". YMCA of Greater Toronto. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
- ^ "History". livingartscentre.ca. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
- ^ "Sheridan College – Hazel McCallion Campus". City of Mississauga. 21 September 2020. Retrieved January 2, 2021.
- ^ "Hurontario LRT project page". Metrolinx. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
