Brampton – where the future is now

It’s one thing for a neighbourhood to be in transition, quite another for an entire city. But that’s precisely what’s happening in Brampton, where a concerted effort to bring the municipality into the future now, is yielding visible results.

In a city of about 600,000 – the third largest in the GTA and the ninth largest in Canada – Brampton has been booming for years. Consider, for example, that the current population is almost double what it was not even 20 years ago.

Economic growth

What’s attracting newcomers to Brampton in such numbers? In short – economic growth. Indeed, with major companies such as Loblaw Companies Ltd., Rogers Communications, Brita and Clorox having headquarters in the city, employment opportunities have been plentiful. Formerly with a focus on manufacturing, Brampton’s economy in recent years has diversified to include sectors such as communications technologies, life sciences and business services.

COVID challenges notwithstanding, Brampton focused on making livability and prosperity a priority in 2021, as the City allocated $8.4M for a Council-approved Affordable Housing Strategy, invested more than $16 million in streetscaping work as part of the new Integrated Downtown Plan, and launched BHive Brampton for international entrepreneurs in Brampton’s Innovation District, with 14 start-ups accepted.

In addition, it is facilitating Rogers Communications’ relocation through a proposed new development that would move 3,000 employees into a 200,000-sq.-ft. space in the downtown. The new campus would consist of mixed office and retail space, with room for additional offices to be added in phases. The project will help spur a vibrant transit-oriented community and situate the new Rogers Brampton office at the centre of Canada’s Innovation Corridor.

Brampton is also investing in education, having recently collaborated with Ryerson University for the Ryerson University-led Innovation Hub and Cybersecure Catalyst in downtown Brampton. This includes the Chang School of Continuing education expanding its cybersecurity courses; launching the Brampton Incubation/Innovation Hub; and the Cybersecure Catalyst, a new national centre for innovation and collaboration in cybersecurity.

Managing such growth requires planning, including the City’s Vision 2040, a long-term vision to reinvent Brampton. The plan includes such key transformations as: Complete living (including model new neighbourhoods); everything connected (transit network, new core loop, walking and cycling networks); beauty brought back (streets for people, trees everywhere, designed communities, handsome buildings); and nature brought back (new eco-park and sustainability built into everything).

Such developments are part of what has earned Brampton recognition from Forbes as one of Canada’s Best Employers 2022, ranking 98th out of 300.

Highrise development

While condominiums might not naturally spring to mind when thinking of Brampton, that is changing.

Median condo prices in the city, for example, shot up 26.5 per cent year-over-year for the fourth quarter of 2021, to $559,900 from $442,600 in 2020, according to Royal LePage. This is among the strongest condo price gains in the entire province for the period.
As development of more types of housing spreads out of the Toronto core and into surrounding 905 areas – and buyers follow – Brampton is poised to take advantage.

These are among the reasons National Homes, traditionally a lowrise builder, committed to its first condo project in the city.
“In partnership with Brixen Developments, DUO Condos coming to Brampton in early 2022 adds high density to National’s repertoire, while working to meet rising real estate demands,” Deena Pantalone, managing partner of National Homes, recently told Condo Life.

It’s not all strictly business in Brampton, however. Proximity to nature also helps deliver quality of life in the city. There’s Gage Park is Brampton’s oldest municipal park, opened in 1903; Heart Lake Conservation Area, occupying 169 hectares in the Etobicoke Creek watershed; and Chinguacousy Park, a 40-hectare park in the Bramalea section of town.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

Population 593,638
42 kms from Toronto, 20 kms to Mississauga

KEY LANDMARKS

Gage Park
Heart Lake Conservation Area
Chinguacousy Park
Bramalea City Centre
Shoppers World

SELECT CONDO DEVELOPMENTS

Bristol Place Condos
By Solmar
solmar.ca

DUO Condos
By National Homes
nationalhomes.com

Shoppers World Condos
By RioCan Living
riocanliving.com

Stella Condos 2
By i2 Developments
i2developmentsinc.com