Central Park East will integrate beautifully designed natural, public, private and commercial spaces Into a pedestrian friendly, mixed-use community for young families, active adults and seniors. It will make sustainable living easy, attractive and affordable by allowing homes, shops and services to transform into opportunities to live, work, play and relax.
This proposal plans to introduce a curiously un-suburban mixed use presence along Harwood Avenue, replacing the aging Ajax Plaza in the process.
The proposed development will feature two classically modernist Zeidler Partnership Architects-designed, 10-storey residential buildings with a total of 268 condominium units. The buildings will feature roughly 30,000 square feet of retail at ground level and at least 25,000 square feet of office space on floors 2 and 3. Grand Harwood Place plans calls for a number of sustainable building elements and green initiatives, including environmentally conscious roofing systems, improvements to pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, and measures to reduce storm water runoff.
Despite the loss of an entire plaza full of retail, an initial inspection of the numbers points towards a positive financial impact for Ajax. Construction alone would pay out approximately $60.7 million in labour income and provide 1,100 person years of employment. Region, Town and school boards are projected to collect approximately $35 million in property tax revenue as a result of the development in the first 20 years. Projections over the same timeframe without the development only amount to $4.5 million. Once the project is completed, the town is expected to net approximately $1.7 million in property tax revenue in the first 10 years, as well as $660,000 per year once the initial 10 year period expires.