A 26-storey, 352-unit, residential tower in Mississauga which is proposed by Edenshaw Developments is, if approved, destined to become a major draw for investors.

After Union Station, the Port Credit-Mineola sub-corridor along Hurontario Street is arguably the most coveted multi-modal transportation hub in the Greater Toronto Area.

As a result it’s unsurprising that Edenshaw, which has become prominent in southeastern Mississauga with six completed projects and two others proposed (in addition to this one), has tendered an application for a site on the corner of Hurontario Street and South Service Road, which parallels the Queen Elizabeth Expressway.

Mineola is one neighbourhood north of Port Credit, clustered around Hurontario Street — also known as Hwy. 10 — where a light rail transit project is being developed. The LRT will travel from Lakeshore Road north to Bramalea in the City of Brampton, with a key stop at Square One in Mississauga’s city centre.

Key hub for GTA mass transit

That is significant because there is a dearth of north- and south-bound rapid transit throughout the GTA, save for the subway along Yonge Street in Toronto’s core. With Port Credit’s GO Train providing access to Toronto’s Union Station in 25 minutes, as well as to Hamilton in around half an hour, Edenshaw’s proposed transit-oriented development could be the beneficiary of a truly intensified area.

Additionally, fewer than 10 minutes east of the QEW’s Hurontario ramp is the Hwy. 427 interchange, which connects to the Trans-Canada Highway, Toronto Pearson International Airport, and Hwy. 407, which recently received a $2.2 billion eastward extension.

In short, after Union Station, there’s nary a more efficient multi-modal transportation hub in the GTA than Hwy. 10 from Lake Ontario to the QEW.

“There’s a very clear strategy behind this acquisition,” Oscar Piovesan, Edenshaw’s executive vice-president, said of the decision to purchase the land parcel. “For a number of years, our strategy has been to acquire properties in well-established neighbourhoods in Mississauga that have great access to transit.

"This site isn’t an exception from that because it’s right in front of where the LRT is being built right now, and a few steps away from Port Credit’s LRT stop, which is actually a transition point to change to the GO Train on the Lakeshore line.

“It’s a few minutes’ walk, and with a quick jump on the LRT you can be downtown in 20 minutes. It’s a great location when it comes down to accessibility for transit.”

Mississauga a key multifamily growth area

Working in Edenshaw’s favour is the fact that the provincial government has targeted the creation of 120,000 new homes per annum until 2031. While Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie is rankled by what she has deemed excessive annual targets, there are few better building site locations in Mississauga, Canada’s seventh-largest city.

These supply-side changes to the regulatory framework are widely believed to be at least part of the solution to the region’s housing shortage.

Trillium Hospital, located on the Queensway, slightly west of Hurontario and a short shoot north of the QEW, is tripling in size in what will make it one of the largest hospitals in North America. With that imminent growth to its staff, demand for living accommodations along the Hurontario corridor will surge.

The old real estate adage of "location, location, location," still rings true today.

“We’re confident there will be huge demand for small-sized units given the Trillium Hospital expansion. We’re catering unit mixes to that market. For the time being it’s preliminary, but that’s what we’re thinking, and it will be a mix of one- and two-bedrooms, and maybe a smaller percentage of three-bedroom units,” Piovesan said.

“If you take a step back and think about real estate investment, particularly on the residential side, it comes down to value drivers of opportunity, like location and its associated attributes, (such as) good access to transit and amenities in the area, and an established demographic.”

The attraction for condo investors

With the aforementioned suite mix, the project will doubtless be hot on investors’ radars, Piovesan added.

“This opportunity, in our opinion, will be appealing to investors because it will allow renters to have easy access to amenities on Lakeshore,” he said of the gentrifying Port Credit district that’s become replete with bars, restaurants and boutique storefronts.

Moreover, Square One, the sprawling shopping centre owned by Oxford Properties, is also being transformed into the largest mixed-use development in Canadian history. Thanks to the LRT, access will be seamless for residents living up and down the Hwy. 10 corridor.

Long-term appreciation is crucial to investors’ exit strategies, and Mississauga’s transformation from a staid suburb 30 km west of Canada’s largest city into a bustling urban core in its own right will help them achieve those aims.

“If someone wanted, they could afford to live in Mississauga and not require a car,” Piovesan said.

Piovesan surmises today’s tumultuous interest rate environment will have moderated by the time closing costs on Edenshaw’s proposed project are due.

“From an investor standpoint on an appreciation play, the fundamentals of the market remain really strong,” Piovesan said. “We have strong immigration numbers, and out of that comes very solid demand for housing.

"At the end of the day, we live in a country with a housing crisis fuelled by low inventory, and when you put high demand and low inventory together, you get the results we’re seeing now in the Canadian market.”