CityPointe Heights in Brampton will be the first residential high-rise developed solely by Poetry Living, the residential arm of HBNG Holborn Group. (Courtesy HBNG Holborn Group)

As occupancy begins for 270 HBNG Holborn Group and TACC Developments low-rise homes at CityPointe Commons in the Greater Toronto Area city of Brampton, sales are about to begin for the high-rise component of the community.

CityPointe Commons is located at The Gore Road and Queen Street East, close to the borders of Vaughan and Toronto. Poetry Living, the residential arm of HBNG Holborn Group, was responsible for half of the site’s lots while Deco Homes and Opus Homes of TACC Developments each oversaw one-quarter of the development site.

“It started off with the low-rise side as the first priority,” HBNG vice-president of planning and development James Stevenson said of the partnership between his company and TACC.

“Now that we’ve completed that stage (CityPointe Commons), it’s about continuing on with the other elements within this community and moving into higher mixed-use development and completing the rest of the project.”

CityPointe Heights is next

CityPointe Heights will be comprised of 15,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, with a nine-storey podium, a 25-storey tower and a 35-storey tower housing 657 condominium units ranging in size from 470-square-foot, one-bedroom units to 870-square-foot units with two bedrooms and a den.

CityPointe Heights’ interior amenities will include a 24-hour concierge, co-working space, dining rooms, a games room, lounge areas, a gym, a yoga studio, a parcel delivery area and a pet wash. A 10th-floor outdoor amenity space will feature a jogging track, a theatre, barbecues and a dining area.

“SmartLiving” features will include contactless and keyless entry, guest video calling, package delivery notifications, amenity booking, a digital concierge in the lobby, smart door lock controls and guest SMS text access.

Sales for CityPointe Heights will launch later this month or in early June. No pricing information has been released.

The goal is to begin construction this fall, with first occupancy taking place in late 2025.

CityPointe Square — the commercial district at CityPointe Commons that was to act as a central hub with shopping, dining and office space — has been put on hiatus for now.

“When the pandemic hit, it put a pause on the office market,” said Stevenson. “So right now we’re trying to see what happens post-pandemic to see if the office market will come back to life.”

Location is a selling point

CityPointe Heights’ proximity to Brampton, Vaughan and Toronto, as well as highway and public transit access, forms a big part of the marketing push. There are elementary and secondary schools in the area, while post-secondary institutions and shopping malls are within relatively easy driving distance.

The site will also provide access to Brampton’s Züm public transit system, which connects to York Region’s Viva transit system as well as GO Transit and the Toronto Transit Commission’s Vaughan Metropolitan Centre subway station. It’s about a 10-minute drive to Toronto Pearson Airport and its Union Pearson Express train station.

“There’s going to be a lot of growth happening in this area,” said Stevenson. “There’s going to be a mix of employment, retail and residential. You’ll have great transit nearby, so they’re trying to promote a balance of everything.”

An emphasis is also being placed on the neighbourhood and nearby green space in marketing CityPointe Heights.

“A lot of the condos along Highway 7 and Queen Street are concrete on concrete and don’t really have a sense of community,” HBNG marketing director Sil Marrone told RENX.

“By being attached to CityPointe Commons, we feel that we’re developing a larger sense of community than just their building for the high-rise-unit residents.”

Poetry Living and HBNG

While HBNG and TACC each have a 50 per cent ownership stake in CityPointe Heights, sales, marketing and construction are being led by Poetry Living.

HBNG has partnered with other developers on high-rise projects in the past, but CityPointe Heights will be the first built solely by Poetry Living.

“This will be a unique opportunity for the various departments to gel together and do things under the one umbrella,” Poetry Living director of high-rise construction Carlo Nasturzio told RENX.

Stevenson said CityPointe Heights will be the first of many high-rise projects for Poetry Living, which began in 2014 by building detached homes at the Parkside community in Alliston, Ont.

It has grown to include other GTA low-rise projects at The View in Vaughan, Abbey Lane Towns in Markham and Ellis Lane in Caledon. The next phase of sales for Ellis Lane should launch in the fall of 2023.

HBNG is a fully integrated development company that can secure funding for the acquisition, development and management of real estate assets and provide independent investment and real estate management.

It has more than 30 years of experience as a developer and builder of industrial, commercial and retail properties, municipal infrastructure, institutional buildings and residential lands.

Other HBNG and Poetry Living projects

HBNG’s RGF Real Estate Fund L.P. has invested in The Pemberton, a 68-storey, 1,144-unit condo development at 33 Yorkville Ave. in Toronto led by Pemberton Group.

It’s under construction while sales continue and is scheduled for completion in 2027.

DRC (Markham) Inc., a joint partnership between Bratty Group and HBNG, recently acquired a 1.75-acre retail site at 8127-8149 Yonge St. in Markham for $26.5 million.

The location south of Highway 407 has excellent potential for a future mixed-use redevelopment incorporating high-rise residential, retail and commercial space.

Stevenson expects density of 30 to 40 storeys can be achieved on the site, which isn’t far from the proposed Royal Orchard subway station.

“That’s a longer-term project for us,” said Stevenson. “We want to time it with the subway so the two are coming together more or less in the same timeline.”

HBNG’s RGF (Mississauga) Developments Inc. purchased a 4.5-acre property on the northeast corner of Burnhamthorpe Road West and Confederation Parkway in Mississauga, which includes a YMCA building and its 182-space parking lot, for $90 million in January 2021.

Development of the property will take place over several phases and potentially consist of multiple mixed-use towers atop ground-floor retail.

Stevenson said a site plan application should be submitted in the next few months.

HBNG recently acquired a site in Norwood, Ont., east of Peterborough, where it plans to build approximately 475 low-rise homes. Sales could begin as early as next spring.