Chronicle 17-18 Issue 10_FIXED

Community chronicle.durhamcollege.ca March 27 - April 2, 2018 The Chronicle 3
New mall coming near campus
Outdoor
mall to open
doors in 2020
Shana Fillatrau
and Aly Beach
The Chronicle
Shoppers will have a new mall to
explore in Oshawa in late 2020 –
and it will be handy for students on
the main campus of Durham College
and the University of Ontario
Institute of Technology.
RioCan, in partnership with
Tribute Communities, is developing
an 839,000 square foot mall at
the southwest corner at Winchester
Road and Simcoe Street, off the
new Highway 407 extension.
The mall is meant to be a tourist
attraction to bring in people from
around Durham Region, says mayor
John Henry.
“It’s a gateway to the city of Oshawa,”
he says, adding he’s “really
proud to say that they’re moving
earth up there as we speak.”
The mall has been in the planning
stages for a long time.
Seven years ago, RioCan approached
Henry to propose the
large, outdoor shopping mall as
part of the residential development
in the Windfields Farm land.
Although the mall will be
Oshawa mayor John Henry.
The RioCan construction site at Simcoe and Winchester, where the company plans to build a new outdoor mall.
839,000 sq. ft., the total project is
estimated to be 1.5 million sq. ft.,
according to RioCan’s website.
Photograph by Aly Beach
There will be 868 additional
residential units built on Windfields
Farm lands.
Henry says the houses surrounding
the mall will provide an ‘already-there’
customer base.
The mall will be useful to local
households, since there will be
stores that Henry says shoppers
normally normally have to drive
to, but area residents will be able
to walk.
Although he doesn’t know all of
the businesses coming to the mall,
he can confirm a bank will be one
of the tenants.
The mall will serve a rapidly developing
part of the city and region.
RioCan estimates that by 2022,
there will be a three per cent increase
in population in the 20 kilometres
surrounding the development.
The company also estimates by
2022, there will be a 13.7 per cent
increase in household income in
this area, with the average income
becoming $112,109.
Robert Bedic, senior planner
for the city, says the mall will be
comparable to Oshawa’s Harmony
Shopping Centre and the CF Shops
at Don Mills. He says stores will
be along Simcoe Street and other
shops will be behind those.
“The proposed development
is intended to create a pedestrian-oriented
environment with
street-fronting commercial uses,
enhanced streetscape and on-street
parking along the new Windfields
Farm Drive,” says Bedic.
Kyle Benham, the director of
economic development at the City
of Oshawa, says the development
will create 350 to 500 permanent
jobs. Job opportunities will be focused
on youth. He says, “we use
that as their first sort of entry point
into the workforce.”
The mall development is
comparable to the size of about 10
Photograph by Aly Beach
Home Depot stores, he says.
The size of the development was
scaled back a bit because of changes
in the market, Benham says. There
will be 12 to 20 stores in the new
outdoor mall, he says.
Mayor John Henry says this mall
will be an “economic engine” for
the city.
“It’s not just about the shopping
experience, it’s about universities,
it’s about Durham College. When
you look at this city, we’re making
pick-up trucks here again. This city
is in a renaissance like never before.
This is only going to add to this
great success in the community,”
says Henry.
“What’s important about this
project is that when it’s finished,
it’s going to employ a lot of young
people.”
The completion date is set for
winter 2020, though Henry says
some of the development will be
open before then.
Youth unemployment drops in Oshawa
Cassidy McMullen
The Chronicle
Youth unemployment in Oshawa
has dropped.
Unemployment for people between
the ages 19 to 24 has dropped
to 7.7 per cent. It was 16 per cent
just this October.
John Aker, an Oshawa regional
and city councillor, announced the
findings at a City Council meeting
March 19.
The drop is attributed to a national
downward trend as well as
the $614 million in building permits
Oshawa issued in 2017, Aker
says.
About 15 major building projects
have been started in Oshawa
like the student housing apartment
on Simcoe Street near the north
campus of Durham College and the
University of Ontario Institute of
Technology, Aker says.
“The economy is firing on all
cylinders,” Aker says. “We got to
keep driving.”
Aker is optimistic the trend will
continue downward despite the
decrease being attributed to shortterm
jobs because General Motors
(GM) is planning on adding another
shift.
“We have one shift working
what’s called scheduled overtime,
which means six days a week,”
Aker says. “They’re (GM) hiring
for a second shift.”
“They’re currently producing
30,000 a year on one shift,” Aker
says. “They want to produce
60,000 trucks in total.”
There have been rumours going
around about GM’s commitment to
staying in Oshawa, but Aker isn’t
worried.
He says GM factories in the
United States will be temporarily
shutting down for equipment updates,
leaving Oshawa to pick up
the slack.
“One will go down, retool, start
building trucks. The other will go
down, retool, start building trucks,”
Aker says. “So, we’ll build the
trucks here for them.”
“We’re their backup,” Aker says.
Production will pick up for 11
months to a year, giving GM in
Oshawa an opportunity to prove
itself, Aker says.
“Someone could say that at the
end of two years we may not be
building trucks, but I think we’re
going to be,” Aker says.
With the Canadian dollar dropping
to 76 cents, and according to
Aker, on its way to 65 cents, it’ll be
cheaper to build trucks in Canada
compared to the U.S.
“What we build will be unbelievably
cheap for them,” Aker says.
GM added two new trucks,
Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra,
to its assembly line in February,
Aker says, but the automaker
decided not to do so with any fanfare.
“When General Motors started
building trucks here there was
no announcement, there was no
opening,” Aker says. “They don’t
want to offend the president of the
United States.”
Oshawa mayor John Henry says
the drop in youth unemployment
can be attributed to the progress
that’s been made to increase jobs
in Oshawa.
The Oshawa Centre (OC) remodelling
added 1,000 jobs alone,
Henry says.
Henry says youth employment
was what he ran on for his campaign.
He wanted to make it easier
for businesses to come to Oshawa
in order to create jobs.
“The companies that were coming
out here to establish themselves
didn’t go through the red tape and
delays so that you could attract
great opportunities,” Henry says.
While the remodelling of the OC
was a success, what’s really going to
make a difference is the redevelopment
of downtown, he says.
“We’ve capitalized on that and
we’re very forward thinking and
that’s paid off,” Henry says.