Scarborough City Centre

Scarborough City Centre
Neighbourhood
Buildings at the Scarborough City Centre
Coordinates: 43°46′22″N 79°15′27″W / 43.77278°N 79.25750°WCoordinates: 43°46′22″N 79°15′27″W / 43.77278°N 79.25750°W
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
City	Toronto
Community	Scarborough
Changed Municipality	1998 Toronto from Scarborough
Government
• MP	Salma Zahid (Scarborough Centre)
• MPP	Brad Duguid (Scarborough Centre)
• Councillor	Glenn De Baeremaeker (Ward 38 Scarborough Centre)

Scarborough City Centre is a city centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Once considered a central business district for the former city of Scarborough, which was amalgamated with the rest of Toronto in 1998, the city centre remains as one of the major commercial districts outside of Downtown Toronto. It is roughly bounded by Kennedy Road to the west, Markham Road to the east, Ellesmere Road to the south, and Sheppard Avenue to the North. At its core is the Scarborough Civic Centre (including Albert Campbell Square), Scarborough Town Centre, the Canada Centre (Government of Canada), the Scarborough Centre rapid transit station, and the Scarborough Centre Bus Terminal.

Condominium towers surround these central buildings and public spaces, forming the skyline. The major office towers in the area are those at Consilium Place, which was completed in 1991. In a band around the southern side of the city centre are densely forested parklands, between Borough Drive and Ellesmere Road. Outside the immediate city centre is mostly industrial parks and low-density housing.

History

Prior to the 1940s, the area was mainly agricultural and the closest communities were Agincourt and Malvern. One farm was the farm of George and Lena Bick, who founded the Bick's Pickle brand from pickles grown and processed on their farm. Although the farm was eventually converted to residential and industrial land, the production facility was located on Progress Avenue until 2001.^[1] Development in the area had first come in the 1950s when Ontario Highway 401 was built through the area. One early development was the TV studios of CFTO-TV at the intersection of the 401 and McCowan Road.

Scarborough became part of Metropolitan Toronto in 1954. As part of the federation, a planning policy was to build "sub-centres" to the central business core of the then-City of Toronto. Scarborough Civic Centre, built to house the Scarborough and Metro district offices and the accompanying mall of Scarborough Town Centre were built in the 1970s. The area was connected to the core by rapid transit in the 1980s. Under policies to build up the area, office towers and condominium towers have been built to surround the complex.

References

1. "Bick's Pickles". cooksinfo.com.