GTA Suburban Market Snapshot: Oakville
As the most populous region in Canada, the GTA can be overwhelming when examined as a whole. The surrounding suburbs, comprised of four regional municipalities encompassing 24 communities, represent a wide range of unique opportunities in corporate real estate. Over the next few weeks, we will be examining the GTA suburban landscape with market snapshots of significant areas within the GTA.
Today, we will be examining the Town of Oakville*, found in Halton Region. Modern-day Oakville is the product of the amalgamation of the town of Oakville and the villages of Bronte, Palermo, Sheridan, and Trafalgar Township, and now has a population of 188,900.
Proximity and access
Found at the epicentre of Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe, Oakville is a dynamic suburb in the Greater Toronto Area with one-quarter of Canada’s population living within a 160-kilometre (100-mile) radius.
Oakville’s proximity to major U.S. markets (one-hour drive to U.S. border crossing and Niagara Falls and Buffalo, New York) and approximately 7 million consumers in southern Ontario, the town also benefits from its premium access to Toronto’s financial, technology and life sciences sectors and availability to capital, research resources and other services in the downtown core.
Located within a major transportation corridor, Oakville is surrounded by three 400 series highways, intermodal rail facilities, two international airports and two shipping ports.
Talent pool
Oakville’s close proximity to a number of post-secondary educational institutes has generated a highly-skilled labour force, with approximately 79 per cent of the workforce having a post-secondary education, higher than the provincial average. And, because of Oakville’s location in the economic heart or the GTA, businesses can also take advantage of the mobile workforce of 1.2 million with a 30-kilometre radius.
While Oakville has long been a leader in manufacturing expertise, the town is currently seeing a surge in professional or business services, real estate, finance and insurance, construction and health care.
Key industries
Oakville is the carefully selected location for over 300 national and international corporate headquarters, with industry leaders representing:
Life sciences
Advanced Manufacturing
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
Digital Media and Animation
Corporate developments
Business opportunity is on the upswing in Oakville, one of North America’s fastest growing corporate real estate markets. With approximately 1,450 acres of employment land scheduled to be serviced for development and one of the lowest non-residential property tax rates in the GTA, Oakville is focusing on the welcoming knowledge-based industry headquarters to the area.
While we expect to see more office and flex office developments announced in 2016 as quality product becomes scarcer in Oakville, here are some corporate real estate developments to watch in the coming months include:
2201 Bristol Circle
208,000 LEED certified office tower
Constructed on spec by Westbury International
Larger spec development project in Oakville since previous Westbury developments completed on Upper Middle in 2007/2008
610 Chartwell Road East
New 100,000 SF LEED Gold development by First Gulf Corporation
MMM Group is the anchor tenant leasing approximately 50% of the building
Ian Martin Group, HR consultants, have also leased space
QEW exposure and close to Oakville midtown core to be completed Summer 2016
Joshua Creek Corporate Centre Phase 2
Carttera’s Joshua Creek development of flex office properties on north side of QEW
Phase 2 now complete after lease up and sale of Phase 1 to BC-based Nicola Crosby Real Estate
Completion of the North Service Road access extension through Ford Drive opens area to easier access
*Statistics and information compiled from The Town of Oakville.