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Park Place evolving, growing with plans for industrial buildings

'The project will fill a void of lesser advanced and older building stock that currently serve the market,' says developer

Park Place in south Barrie continues to evolve.

Nearly 20 years after the retail shopping destination was built, North American Development Group (Park Place)’s latest project is four, one-storey, multi-tenanted industrial buildings planned at 410 Bayview Dr.

Steven Bishop, North American’s vice-president of development services, said this property was part of its original land acquisition in 2001 and, at the time, the priority was to develop a retail shopping destination to take advantage of the property’s strategic location. 

But now this location, and Highway 400, can serve another purpose, he said.

“As the gateway connecting southern Ontario to the Trans Canada Highway, millions of goods are transported along this route daily,” he said. “By providing warehousing, distribution and light manufacturing facilities it will afford businesses and business owners a newly developed industrial/business park node in a market that has not seen any new development of this type of asset class and on this scale in over 30 years.”

Bishop said Barrie has a shortage of development-ready lands available for large-scale projects such as this one and with the recently completed Harvie Road crossing and associated road improvements, this site has become even better connected.

“Warehousing, distribution and light manufacturing facilities and the businesses which occupy them have advanced tremendously and they require modern and technologically advanced premises in order to compete,” Bishop said. “Energy efficient, 36-foot-clear ceilings and double bay loading docks are just some of the newer development attributes that this (development) will include.

“The project will fill a void of lesser advanced and older building stock that currently serve the market,” he said. “Moreover, as an active developer in the city, providing alternative uses outside of the retail we have developed will help retain warehousing, distribution and light manufacturing employment needs within Barrie.”

Bishop said four, one-storey, multi-tenanted industrial buildings at 410 Bayview Dr. don’t really fit with Park Place, the retail shopping destination, nor are they meant to.

And he noted there is a natural buffer between Park Place and 410 Bayview, an open space with a wood lot.

“This provides a significant physical delineation between the two sites,” Bishop said. “We believe the retail convenience and service type destination uses that the south lands provide will benefit from the employment uses and the jobs being created on the north lands (410 Bayview).”

These industrial buildings would range from 91,773-156,281 square feet in size.

North American applied for a site plan for this development on July 15 and for removal of the 'hold' provision on Aug. 18. Both applications are under review by city planning staff.  

North American also has an application with the city to develop an office building at the southeast corner of Bayview Drive and Churchill Drive, or 443 and 447 Bayview Dr. Office use is permitted in accordance with the existing light industrial zone.

To facilitate development on these lands, an application to remove the 'hold' provision is required. This application has been received and is pending approval in co-ordination with the remainder of the land. A traffic impact study is required to remove the 'hold' provision, and it has been approved in principle by city staff and Ontario’s Transportation Ministry (MTO).

A public meeting was held earlier this month on Official Plan (OP) and rezoning applications needed to allow 16- and 12-storey towers, with 475 residential units and ground floor commercial, and six-storey podiums with each building, at 109 Park Place Blvd.

North American Development wants to change the special provisions in the general commercial zoning to allow residential development.

North American officials say residential growth will allow Park Place - located at Bayview Drive and Mapleview Drive East — to evolve as a mixed-use area that will support the longevity of what it calls an existing regional shopping destination.

This application proposal accommodates residential intensification, tall buildings and higher density, for a pedestrian friendly, transit supported community, North American officials say. 

This property, which is within Park Place, is 4.9 acres and fronts onto three private roads — approximately 200 metres along Park Place Boulevard, about 110 metres along South Village Way and 200 metres along Live Eight Way.

The development’s first phase would be 16 storeys in height, with a six-storey podium, ground-floor commercial, 296 residential units and approximately 388 commercial and residential parking spaces.

Its second phase would be 12 storeys, also with a six-storey podium, ground-floor commercial, 179 residential units  and about 251 commercial and residential parking spaces.

This project awaits planning committee and city council approval.