Mississauga Miracle In Mississauga Condos | ?m | 18s | Pemberton

interchange42

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One of Pemberton's communities that has pretty much escaped UT's attention is Papillon Place along the south side of Eglinton west of Erin Mills Parkway in Mississauga. Three buildings now stand - towers 1 and 2, a third called Nouvelle - and the fourth and final phase has recently broken ground. Its name is Miracle in Mississauga. (Pemberton is building a similarly named Miracle on Yonge in Richmond Hill).

MiracleMiss_GB_Nov10.jpg



Finding the name of the architect for 'Miracle Miss' has been a bit of a chore, and while we're listing it as Burka Architects in the thread title despite a dearth of direct evidence for that, we're still 99% sure we are right. If we have misidentified the architect, we will change the name in the title when we are corrected.

While Pemberton is not publicizing the architect's name, and Burka's website does not claim credit for the complex, we did find a single internet reference on www.skyscraperpage.com to Burka Varacalli (Varacalli has since split from Burka for Bazis) as the Papillon Place architect. The design has changed little over the four towers, and as Burka has designed Pemberton's similar Port Royal Place towers in Etobicoke as well as several other Pemberton projects, it's not too big a stretch to credit them here. One more business day and we'll be able to confirm all this with a phone call of course, but sometimes deadlines are deadlines, and we are putting a home page story out now.

So, why all the fuss about Miracle Miss's architect here? Well, it's just not UrbanToronto without a credit for a project's design, and it has never before been this difficult to determine who to give it to. It all begs the question as to why that has been the case. An easy answer? Maybe Pemberton knows that the kind of people who care much about current architecture would not likely be interested in this project. Certainly many early Pemberton high-rises have not been the type of building that gets much notice here.

More recently designed Pemberton projects are getting more notice at UT however. While Uptown near Bloor and Yonge has its detractors and its supporters, everyone can agree that Pemberton decided it was time to up their architectural game with it. Like Papillon Place, Uptown's architect is Burka, and with it Burka was allowed to stretch their wings more widely than they did with their earlier designs for Pemberton. (Burka's work for other developers, like London on the Esplanade for Cityzen, was already showing more sophisticated work than what Pemberton had been demanding of Burka.)

Even newer than Uptown, Pemberton's U Condos takes the next step in architectural sophistication with two soaring glass towers featuring strong criss-crossing diagonal elements that are expressed in the cladding and in the balcony design. U Condo's design is by architectsAlliance, and its recent groundbreaking has many at UT anticipating a very exciting addition to Toronto's uptown core.

In the meantime, this article returns to Eglinton and Glen Erin in western Mississauga, where, aesthetic criticism aside, the less architecturally adventurous Miracle in Mississauga's 18 storeys will sell just fine. The three existing towers at the site, and a myriad of similar structures across the GTA prove that. Here is what is going up:

MiracleMissRendering.jpg



Closest to the viewer in the rendering above is the existing Nouvelle at Papillon Place, to the left is Miracle. Below is a rendering of the complex's lobby. We believe the interior designer is Flora Di Menna.

MiracleMissLobby.jpg



Below is the site plan, showing the location of Miracle in Mississauga on the Papillon Place grounds.

MiracleMissSiteplan.jpg



Meanwhile, look for UrbanToronto's coverage of another new Pemberton condominium, Bluwater, designed by Rafael + Bigauskas Architects, and located on the shore of Lake Ontario in Oakville elsewhere in Projects and Construction.
 
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Nothing that Pemberton has ever built can be called a "miracle" including these dated clunkers. Is it too late to rename Uptown "Disaster on Balmuto"?
 
No, we have not been paid to advertise this. We seek out information from developers about all of their projects, and it can take some guts on their part to do that because not every project gets the rosiest review here.

What are you having a hard time believing about the first post?

42
 
Well, it seems pretty obvious why this project has escaped any sort of interest around here...
 
This is no "miracle" - it's just a bunch of old. dated apartment buildings with no design, no class and no appeal. Is there no design criteria in Mississauga? How did Marilyn get approved here?
 
Condos-in-the-Park anyone?

Yeah I forgot how tower-in-a-park this is especially considering that its location. Evergreen and Tuscany Gates are both also located outside MCC and along Eglinton but they were built close to sidewalk. This is located across from Erin Mills TC and it's a towers-in-a-park development? It's surpising the city still allows such huge setbacks at all, let alone in one its future major nodes and along Eglinton, one its three major transit corridors... "Old" and "dated" is right. This is definitely one the worst residential high-rise developments in Mississauga in the past 30 years, if not the worst. 60s/70s styles, FTL.
 
To your point, last spring I saw a notice of adjustment to reduce the set-back by 20-25 feet re: a proposal to build four condo/apartment buildings across the street on the west side of Eglinton (across from the LCBO), I'm not sure what came of it. If I rememeber correctly, the request was put forward by the Erin Mills Business/Improvement Associated or something like that....

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This complex may not be most pleasing to the eye, but it's an ideal building/location for someone living in Mississauga. It's along two major bus routes (Eglinton and Glen Erin) and across from a transit hub that provides access to the entire city. There's a massive shopping complex directly across the street --- including cafes, bakeries, big box pubs, shopping and recreation centres --- making it possible for residents of these buildings to rarely use their cars, even if the building is set back from a road where the speed of drivers often exceeds 80 km/hour. The complex itself provides unparalleled 24/7 concierge service, something devoid in Toronto for anywhere near the price of these condos (from my scourings of real estate listings, anyway), which, added to the buildings' close proximites to EMTC makes the complex a desirable place to live in Mississauga ---- even better than around Square One. Honestly, the comment about "no class" and "no appeal" is ignorant and pretentious. Like I said, these buildings provide easily accessible transit, excellent shopping within walking distance and the ability to live car-free: that's appealing to my classless self (all hail the proletariat!). And the surrounding park is an excellent place where the community gathers to enjoy sunny days of summer --- it's great! That said, if "no class" and "no appeal" was within the context of the architecture, I'll *kinda* agree. Either way, my rant on loving Mississauga will continue. ;)

It seems like many people don't know Mississauga well enough to critique it as much as they do. I try not to make critiques of Toronto because, apart from going downtown to shop and party, I don't know that much about living in the city. I do plan to live in Toronto sometime in the near future --- I love what I perceive as the organic feel of many neighbourhoods in the city --- but I will miss the well-planned, suburban feel of Mississauga. Sometimes Mississauga's uber planning pays off, and I think this Pemberton project is a good example of that, even if the design is a little lacklustre.
 
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Big Daddy, I misread what you meant by "no class," I think you're just referring to the building architecture. Sorry for my snide remarks then, my bad. But I still believe in Mississauga!! Ha?
 

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