Alinea Land Corp. has proposed a massive mixed-used, transit-oriented development where 36 buildings would rise on a vacant 121-acre site in Burlington, Ontario.

If approved, the site at 1200 King Road that Alinea has owned for two decades would be developed into a sprawling master-planned community including 600,000 square feet earmarked for institutional and educational uses, 141,000 square feet for offices and 126,000 square feet for retail. Moreover, the project would have a hotel, a community centre combined with an arena, and around 9,000 parking spaces at and below grade. The proposal’s current iteration calls for approximately 9,000 residential units.

The application tendered to Burlington’s planning department indicates some of the proposed 36 high-rise towers will have elevations up to 53 storeys. In greater Toronto, such heights are typically only permitted in large transit-oriented projects.

According to the project website, “1200 King Road’s approach to creating a complete community involves thoughtfully combining housing, retail, recreation, entertainment, mobility and green space — making it a connected, vibrant, and diverse mixed-use precinct that is a catalyst for innovative city building.”

Burlington, a municipality on Hamilton’s eastern border, has a population estimated at 199,712 as of this year, up from 186,948 in 2021. Its population is projected to grow to approximately 265,000 by 2051, according to Invest Burlington, the city’s economic development arm. Burlington’s growth plans adhere to the province’s intensification mandate in The Places to Grow Act of 2005, with plans to curtail sprawl through vertical residential density.

Nearby public transit options include the Aldershot GO Station, John C. Munro Hamilton International that’s approximately a half-hour drive and Toronto Pearson International Airport about 45 minutes away, CoStar data said. Burlington is also roughly an hour away from Kitchener-Waterloo.

But the key will be the Burlington Transit Strategic Plan 2026-2030 — with which Alinea’s master-planned development proposal appears in lockstep — that seeks to create a framework that augments Burlington’s status as a transit-oriented city. The city’s website defined as the strategic plan as delivering “a clear, compelling and implementable road map for transit improvements and sustain further modernization over the next five years.”

The city touts transit-oriented development as a means of better connecting its citizenry with employment nodes and to reduce the costs associated with car ownership, and promoting environmental sustainability and healthier lifestyles through mobility and communal connectivity.

Burlington-based Alinea has a long history of development in its home city. Its current projects Appleby GO West, Eagle Heights and Bronte Creek Meadows.

The team for the as-yet unnamed project at 1200 King Road so far includes architecture firm Giannone Petricone Associates and landscape architect NAK Design Strategies. In addition to Alinea, Mackay-Mackay & Peters is another local company involved with the project, tapped to work on servicing along with Toronto-based ASI Archaeological and Culture Heritage Services.

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