Ontario mega-development proposes almost 1,000 floors across 17 towers

The new downtown forming north of Toronto is reaching a fever pitch as cranes dot the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre (VMC) skyline.

What was a fledgling collection of new builds around the TTC's 2017-opened VMC subway station has become one of the hottest development nodes in the country — one that could soon host another boom of tall towers if a newly proposed plan is approved by the City of Vaughan.

The new application tabled for 3131 Highway 7, situated on the southwest corner of Highway 7 and Jane Street, seeks to redevelop the current industrial property home to Toromont Industries, which is also the company leading the charge on this new mega-proposal.

News of the proposal was first revealed just over a year ago when Toromont shared a masterplan signalling the upcoming development of its lands in VMC. Thirteen months later, an official submission with Vaughan city planners is shedding more light on the ambitious proposal.

The plan proposes a staggering 17 towers with heights ranging from 43 up to 74 storeys with designs from WZMH Architects. 

This includes towers with floor counts of 74,  69,  63, 63, 61, 59, 59,58, 56, 55, 54, 54, 53, 53, 51, 45, and 43 storeys. If you stacked all of those towers together, you'd end up with a colossal 970-floor behemoth.

The tallest of the bunch would rise over 236 metres and would stand as Canada's 13th-tallest building if completed today.

A jaw-dropping 10,231 condominium units are proposed across the site, spread across individual blocks containing 3304, 3062, 2037, and 1828 units.

In addition to this sizeable residential component, a planned hotel component would measure 9,437 square metres, while the influx of new residents would have access to on-site public amenities like a daycare facility.

All of this new high-rise density would be subdivided into four blocks of development bounded by four new public roads.

There is also a significant parkland component proposed.

Two vast blocks of parkland are proposed south of the development blocks, with over 4,340 square metres of green space on the east park block, and almost 6,100 square metres on the west park block. 

The two blocks would combine to form almost 1.6 hectares of new parkland for the neighbourhood.