Vaughan: no longer just Wonderland and Bass Pro Shops
Vaughan Metropolitan Centre is a template for suburban transit oriented development
Condo towers in Vaughan. I didn't really believe it. Intellectually, sure. Toronto is growing fast and doesn't have much room left to sprawl. So it makes perfect sense that a place like Vaughan would density. But, really? Vaughan? I had to see it with my own eyes.
I used to drive between Sudbury and Toronto reasonably often. When heading back North, Vaughan was the sign that you'd left Toronto traffic behind. Once you saw the roller coasters at Canada's Wonderland, you were in the clear. The only time I remember stepping foot in Vaughan (outside of Canada's Wonderland) was visiting the giant Bass Pro Shops with my dad. Didn't seem like there was much else going on. How times have changed.
I drove back to Sudbury recently for the first time in a decade. I was in a rush, so I wasn't paying much attention to my surroundings. But the new condo and office towers jumped out at me. I did not expect to see 50 story buildings on the side of the highway. I stopped in for a quick look, and decided a proper visit was in order.
I decided to meet a friend who works in Vaughan Metropolitan Centre (VMC) for lunch. About a year ago casually mentioned that his new office was in Vaughan. I had to ask him to repeat that. It was a bit like if someone told you they bought a timeshare in Alaska. Sure, I knew the subway had been extended up there. But they have major corporate offices now? I had to see it up close.
Vaughan is directly north of Toronto, which sounds relatively central until you realize just how big Toronto is. Vaughan Metropolitan Station is a 45 minute subway ride north of Union Station. It is now the terminus of the University side of Toronto's Line 1 subway. It is home to offices of three of the four big global accounting firms, where a friend of mine works. It's a long commute from Union, and a longer one from East Toronto (about an hour and fifteen minutes). The man across from me was already boarded and sleeping when I got on. I nodded off a few times myself.
Vaughan is an example of the type of growth that needs to happen outside of Toronto. With the GO train buildout, the GTA had many opportunities for transit-oriented development. Building this type of cluster around subway stops not only brings more housing an amenities to suburban communities, but jobs. Having offices of three major accounting firms all surrounding a single subway stop (and serviced by two other regional bus services) is a powerful magnet. None of these employers would bother with Vaughan if there wasn't such a dense cluster of offices and housing units. It’s a bit of a chicken and egg problem. But in a severely constrained housing market, plunking down a bunch of towers near a transit station is bound to generate some interest.
A lot has gone right here. But there are still limitations. Vaughan Metropolitan Centre is still surrounded by old industrial buildings and strip malls. You can certainly walk to many of the surrounding strip malls, as we did (there's a nice Italian sandwich shop over about five minutes west). But VMC is better connected to the highway or subway than the surrounding area. That should change as it grows.
And grow, it will. There are thousands of more units planned for the area, including a new master-planned community expected to house 6500 new residents. You see that giant parking lot with the derelict building on the left in the image below? It won’t be there much longer. That’s going to be condo towers.
The City estimates that the number of residents and jobs in Vaughan Metropolitan Centre will roughly triple by 2031 to 25,000 and 11,500 respectively. That will give the area the raw ingredients to turn into a community, rather than a glorified office park.
Vaughan Metropolitan Center also has the potential to become a transit hub north of Toronto. Viva and Züm transit (representing York Region and Brampton) service the bus terminal across from the subway station. And the Finch LRT, scheduled to open in 2024, will connect to Line 1 a few stops south of Vaughan. So that will give people more commuting options to (or from) Vaughan Metropolitan Center.
Of course, it needs to be more than a series of office and condo towers with good transit connectivity if it is going to turn into a thriving community. As my friend noted when we were walking around, there aren’t many lunch options yet and there’s nothing to keep people there after hours. But that’s all coming. Not just restaurants and bars either. Greenspace too. There’s a ten acre urban park in the works. Have a look at the conceptual drawings. If it turns out half that nice, Torontonians are going to be mighty jealous.
Vaughan has really set the bar for other GTA communities looking to capitalize on the region’s rapid growth. It’s unusually well situated given its proximity to Toronto and transportation options, including a TTC subway stop. But other cities in the region can learn from their success.
Not every town with a GO train stop will achieve this level of success. But the basic ingredients should work most places. Allowing more density near train stops and building nice pedestrian infrastructure isn’t rocket science. People need to live somewhere, and if that somewhere has good rail access, some greenspace, and a few coffee shops and restaurants, it will look appealing to a lot of people. If you build it in the GTA, they will come.
VMC is still second in terms of oddest locations for suburban town centres in the GTA. The first is Markham’s, which isn’t even properly connected to the nearby Unionville GO Station. VMC is odd only because it’s in a low density, heavily industrial area, but it’s already being planned so much more smartly, even if it’s a geography of jarring juxtapositions right now. And VMC is still my favourite of the new Line 1 stations.