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A vast skyline of high-rise towers could be in Oakville’s future if an ambitious mega-development is approved.
Developer Rose Corporation has proposed an enormous new community that would bring 16 towers to a site just east of Oakville GO station, one that could not just break but completely shatter local height records.
The proposal for 420 South Service Road East — a site east of Trafalgar Road pressed against the QEW — was purchased by Rose in mid-2024 for $45 million, and the developer has since proposed a whopping 16 towers ranging from 30 to 48 storeys, containing almost 7,000 residential units.
The tallest of the bunch would rise 148.5 metres, more than double the 73-metre height of Oakville’s tallest building — the 21-storey Rain Condominiums built in 2016.
In fact, even the shortest building in this proposal would rise just under 95 metres, meaning this project intends to build 16 towers that would each individually break the record for Oakville’s tallest building if constructed today.
However, far taller buildings are in the pipeline for Oakville, which may soon boast a skyline with towers as tall as 63 storeys.
The new batch of towers proposed for this site feature designs by Graziani + Corazza Architects, the same firm that has openly shrugged off poor reception to its flagship Toronto development, Aura at College Park.
The community would be divided into four blocks served by a new road network, with three blocks of residential buildings and a fourth block reserved for a park.
This 1.87-hectare public space would serve as the main green space for the community, though two of the residential blocks will offer additional privately-owned public spaces.
Plans are still in a relatively early stage, and some key elements of the proposal have not yet been ironed out.
One notable aspect of the project is a heritage-designated low-rise office building that occupies a portion of the over 11,000-hectare site fronting onto South Service Road East.
Conspicuously absent in renderings of the new community, the heritage structure, constructed in 1948 as part of a General Electric lamp plant, has not yet had its fate determined by the project team.
Heritage consultants ERA Architects prepared a report for the project’s submission that outlines the existing building’s uncertain future, stressing that it is still to be determined whether the building is retained, repositioned to a new location, and/or incorporated into the base of one of the new towers planned on-site.
The immense densities proposed are supported by the site’s location in a provincially mandated Major Transit Station Area where higher-intensity developments are encouraged.
Despite this, the plan would dump over 4,700 vehicles onto local roads at full capacity, with its cavernous four-level underground parking garage suggesting that the majority of residents would still be expected to drive.
However, a sizeable bike parking component of almost 7,000 spaces is also proposed, giving residents the option to rely on cycling for local trips and the nearby GO station for longer commutes.
Graziani + Corazza Architects
