Another Banner Year for Brampton’s Construction Market

Wednesday, Jan 31 2007, 02:00

Based on statistics collected by the City of Brampton Building Division it is evident that 2007 was one of the busiest years ever for construction activity in the Flower City. Posting a construction value in excess of $2.3 billion, activity in 2007 is only eclipsed by the $2.7 billion surpassed in 2004, a year in which pending development charge increases spurred the start of several projects.

Led by Residential and Institutional projects total construction activity in 2007 rose by 59.5% over the previous year. All construction categories saw an increase from 2006 with Residential construction valued at $1.75 billion, seeing the largest gain at 69.6%. Institutional construction value climbed 33.1% to over $216 million, while Commercial activity of over $161 million marked a 56.2% increase for that category. With a 26.9% increase in value, Industrial construction rose above $202 million. Miscellaneous construction, which includes Residential additions, alterations and revisions along with permanent sign permits and demolitions, surpassed $30 million for a 30.5% increase.

In 2007 new building activity in the Commercial marketplace increased the local inventory by 107,414,883 square feet. Through additions and alterations to existing space a further 14,780,000 square feet was added, bringing the total to a 122,194,852 square foot increase in the category. With fourteen new buildings on Airport Road, the east side of the City saw significant Commercial gains last year. Brand name banners now in the area include Swiss Chalet, Michael’s, Golf Town, Linen & Things and BMO. As well, Both Montana’s Cookhouse and East Side Mario’s will soon have a presence in there as well.

Along the Central Core construction continues on the Region of Peel Headquarters, while Morguard has started redevelopment of Bramalea City Centre, moving Price Chopper to its’ own pad on the east side of the property. The Inzola Group’s transformation of the Dominion Building, located in the heart of Downtown, will soon see 11,000 square feet of space spread through two floors of office and a restaurant occupied in 2008.

Lowe’s was the single commercial banner contributing most to the increase in Commercial space last year. The U.S. based home improvement warehouse chain entered the Canadian market place in 2007 opening three stores in Ontario, including one on Kennedy Road South in Brampton. A second 142,000 square foot store located on Heart Lake Road is nearing completion and set to open in early 2008.

In the Industrial marketplace, the Churchill Business Park in south-west Brampton continues to expand. During 2007 construction began and is almost complete on Uline Canada Corporation’s 150,000 square foot Head Office and Distribution Centre. Jarden Consumer Solutions, Smucker’s Foods Canada, LG Electronics and Asia Pulp and Paper also began to occupy newly constructed space in the Orlando built park.

Panattoni undertook the construction of two spec industrial buildings in Brampton’s north end during 2007. North of Bovaird Drive and west of Highway 10 the two buildings are side-by-side but addressed off of different streets, with a 154,624 square foot facility on Whybank Drive and the other one on Railside Drive measuring 111,783 square feet.

It is anticipated that on the strength of these numbers Brampton will continue to rank among Canada’s largest construction markets when Statistics Canada releases national figures later in the first quarter of 2008. At mid-year Brampton was the fourth most active construction market in the Canada and second in the GTA.