Ontario Construction News staff writer
Despite challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Oshawa recorded nine building records in 2020:
- March residential: $87.6 million (surpassing 2015’s record $63.25 million)
- March apartment units: 505 (highest of any month – surpassing 1976 record 455)
- April residential: $124.4 million (surpassing 2015’s record $63.4 million)
- April apartment units: 371 (surpassing 1981’s record 171)
- April total residential dwellings: 452 (surpassing 1981’s record 281)
- June industrial: $62.9 million (surpassing 1986’s record $16.47 million)
- November townhouse units: 98 (surpassing 1991’s record 77)
- December townhouse units: 94 (surpassing 2016’s record 68)
Also, 2020 was Oshawa’s fourth highest total construction value on record at $480.5 million.
“Oshawa is a strong and resilient city and our building services branch is a fine example of how we have risen to the occasion during these unprecedented times to meet the needs of our business community,” said Oshawa Mayor Dan Carter.
See: Oshawa – Tour of Growth and Development (City of Oshawa site)
“Just as local businesses have had to pivot in 2020, Oshawa has changed the way we do business. By going fully digital in our building permit and inspection services, we’ve managed to smash even more building records in spite of a global pandemic.”
In 2020, the city issued 1,434 permits for a total of $480.47 million in construction value. Of that, $363.9 million was residential construction, $63.8 million industrial, $38.96 million commercial construction and $13.8 million was governmental/institutional.
A total of 52,434 square metres of new industrial floor space, 12,820 square metres of commercial and 682 square metres of institutional floor space were created in 2020. There were 1,561 new residential units consisting of 960 apartment units, 300 townhouses, 150 accessory dwelling units, 133 single-detached and 18 semi-detached dwelling units.
Major projects issued in 2020 included:
- Bond & Mary Phase II Development Inc. – Apartment building – 370 units, commercial & underground parking (80 Bond St. E.) – $95 million
- Tribute (Simcoe Street) Limited – Apartment building – 504 units & parking garage building (2550 Simcoe St. N.) – $91.7 million
- CSPAC Industrial Thornton & Wentworth – Industrial building (883 Thornton Rd. S.) – $49 million
Oshawa has kept monthly building records since 1965, while yearly records date back to 1964. For more information on Building Permits & Inspection Services, visit the Building and Renovating webpage.
“The remarkable surge of building permits in Oshawa in the past year gives an exciting boost to the City’s economic outlook. During a time when there is so much uncertainty, fortunately the growth in all construction sectors around the City in 2020 indicates the strong potential for Oshawa’s healthy rebound from the pandemic,” said councillor Rosemary McConkey, vice-chair, development services committee.