Vaughan Mills

Vaughan Mills Terminal
Vaughan Mills Terminal
	Vaughan Mills Terminal
General information
Location	1 Bass Pro Mills Drive,Vaughan,ON
Owned by	Regional Municipality of York
Operated by	York Region Transit
Bus stands	8
Bus operators	York Region Transit
History
Opened	November 4, 2004

Vaughan Mills
	Aerial view of Vaughan Mills
Location	Vaughan,Ontario,Canada
Coordinates	43°49′31.75″N79°32′20.32″W/ 43.8254861°N 79.5389778°W
Address	1 Bass Pro Mills Drive
Opening date	November 4, 2004;19 years ago
Developer	Mills Corporation
Management	JLL
Owner	Ivanhoé Cambridge
No. of stores and services	245
No. ofanchor tenants	16
Total retail floor area	1,276,324 sq ft (118,574.4 m2)
Website	Vaughan Mills

Vaughan Millsis a regionaloutlet malllocated at the southeast quadrant of theHighway 400andRutherford Roadinterchange inVaughan,Ontario,just south ofCanada's Wonderland.It is one of thelargest enclosed shopping centres in Canada,and the largest shopping mall inYork Regionwith almost 1.3 million square feet (120,000 m²) of retail space. The complex has over 200 retail stores, restaurants, and entertainment outlets.

The mall is served byYork Region Transitbus routes at theVaughan Mills Terminal,with frequent service toVaughan Metropolitan Centre subway station,the northern terminus ofLine 1 Yonge-Universityof theToronto subway,2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to the south alongJane Street.

History

Vaughan Mills food court before renovation in 2017, March 2015

The shopping centre was designed and built byIvanhoé CambridgeandMills Corporation,the latter of which owned a portfolio of malls across the United States. JPRA served as the design architect for the centre, with Bregman + Hamann Architects as the project architect. Like its American counterparts, Vaughan Mills incorporates a "race track"layout to maximize the exposure of the mall tenants. When Vaughan Mills was conceived in 1999, it was meant to be a slightly larger complex at 1.4 million square feet (130,000 m²), with up to 18 anchor retailers and a combined 245 stores and services.^[1]

The shopping centre was intended to be a stepping stone for American retailers who wanted to enter the Canadian market, however Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World was the only U.S. retailer to make its exclusive launch there, while other anticipated retailers such as Bed, Bath and Beyond andBurlington Coat Factorynever opened at Vaughan Mills.^[3]In September 1999,Bed Bath & BeyondandSun & Ski Sportswere among the six American retailers that were announced as Vaughan Mills' first anchor tenants. AnESPN X Games Skateparkwas also planned as the main entertainment venue site.^{[citation needed]}

Construction of the mall began in June 2003^[4]^[5]and opened on November 4, 2004, and was the first regional enclosed shopping complex to be opened in theGreater Toronto Area(GTA) since theErin Mills Town Centrein 1990 as well as the first in the GTA built in the 21st century. The mall had its two-millionth visitor less than two months after its opening.^[6]Vaughan Mills receives over 13.5 million patrons per year.^[1]In August 2006, the Mills Corporation sold its stake in Vaughan Mills to partnerIvanhoé Cambridge.

In January 2013, plans were announced for an expansion of 150,000 square feet and 50 new stores to the mall, which opened in late 2014.^[7]On March 17, 2016,Saks Off 5thopened a 32,000 square feet (3,000 m²) store in the mall.^[8]

StyleSenseandNASCAR Speedparkwere closed in early 2012. They have been replaced byCalvin KleinandLegoland Discovery Centre.^[9]

In 2018, Japanese retailerUniqloannounced an expansion to open four new locations in malls, including Vaughan Mills, which opened on September 28, 2018, in the formerHR2location (which had opened in 2013).

Name

The mall was named following a trend by one of the real estate companies involved, The Mills Corporation, who named their "Landmark" mall developments ending in "Mills", hence "Vaughan Mills" was used for the mall name.

The local origins of the name "Vaughan Mills" can be traced back to the location of a saw mill built near a farm on the main branch of the Humber River on Lot 12, Concession 8 in the 1830's,^[10]up the river fromWoodbridge.A grist mill was later added to the site.^[11]This area was known as "Vaughan Mills" in historical maps and was located around where the present-day Vaughan Mills Road crosses the Humber River in the west end of the city, a notable distance away from the today's shopping mall complex. The farm and surrounding lands were redeveloped into residential housing in the 1990's.

Neighbourhood 1 seating area
Neighbourhood 2 seating area after the renovation
Shops in Neighbourhood 4
Expansion Area opened in late 2014
Food Court after renovation in 2017
Uniqlolocated in Neighbourhood opened in 2018

Public transit

The Vaughan Mills Terminal is aYork Region Transit (YRT)transit terminal located at 1 Bass Pro Mills Drive, near the northeast corridor of Vaughan Mills near the intersection of Rutherford Road and Jane Street. The terminal hasoneRideticket machines. Only YRT routes connect to this terminal.^{[citation needed]}

Sister malls in Canada

Ivanhoé Cambridgestated in 2011 that their strategic plan was to have four sister malls in Canada, with Vaughan Mills as the first, and additional locations to be located near Calgary, Vancouver and Montreal.

CrossIron Mills,located outside of Calgary, Alberta, opened on August 19, 2009. It has a number of the same retailers as the Vaughan Mills Mall, including Bass Pro Shops. The CrossIron Mills location opened in the spring of 2009, several months ahead of the main mall. The construction, leasing, and opening of the mall has paralleled Vaughan Mills to a degree, as it, too, has occurred during an economic recession.

Tsawwassen Mills,located in Delta, British Columbia, at Highway 17 and 52nd Street on Tsawwassen First Nation Lands south of Vancouver. Construction began in January 2014 and the mall opened on October 5, 2016. Tsawwassen Mills is designed in a similar format to its sister malls and includes approximately 111,500 square metres (1,200,000 sq ft) of retail. Plans call for 16 anchor retailers, including the first Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World location in British Columbia announced as the first anchor tenant.

Ivanhoé Cambridgehad originally planned to build what would have been calledLaval MillsinLaval, Quebecnear Montreal, at the intersection ofQuebec Autoroute 440andQuebec Autoroute 25.However, after three years of planning and analysis, these plans were abandoned in May 2011 citing that their criteria of feasibility and profitability were not met, partly because environmental issues as construction would have disrupted a number of wetlands on or directly connection to the project. At the time the project was cancelledIvanhoé Cambridgestated they would continue plans for a Mills mall to be built in the Montreal region.