SmartCentres and Penguin, owned by Mitchell Goldhar, have teamed up on a 15.48-acre site next to the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre.

The joint venture will also relocate an existing Walmart, which will open up land near the VMC, close to the TTC VMC University line and York Region Bus Terminal.

Once the old Walmart moves in 2020, SmartCentres will redevelop the land for mixed-use density creating space for at least six more residential condos and/or purpose-built rental towers. This move will also provide lands needed to complete the 55-storey Transit City 1 and Transit City 2 condominium towers and the 225,000-square-foot, mixed-use tower that now houses PwC’s new offices.

The total mixed-use density available from the old Walmart store lands is expected to exceed 4.5 million square feet.

“We see this as a tremendous opportunity to unlock significant value for us on the lands beside the VMC subway station,” said SmartCentres President and CEO Peter Forde. “At the same time, we are able to provide Walmart with a new prototype store with great visibility, highway and transit access and proximity to this urban centre of Vaughan and provide convenient access to food and general merchandise to this new community, which is expected to have an additional 40,000 to 50,000 residents when complete.”