Phase one of an ambitious community build in Port Credit was officially launched earlier this month.

Brightwater is a master-planned community located on a 72-acre site at Lakeshore Road W and Mississauga Road. It was designed by award-winning architects Giannone Petricone Associates and design and planning firm Urban Strategies—both of Toronto. Development work on the site is being provided by a group called the Port Credit West Village Partners, which includes Kilmer Group, DiamondCorp, Dream Unlimited, and FRAM + Slokker

The community features nearly 3,000 new housing units across an array of types: condominiums, townhomes, and 150 affordable housing units. The masterplan also calls for a wide array of urban and community amenities, including more than 300,000 square feet of retail, restaurants and office space, a new elementary school and community centre.

The development also calls for 18 acres of green spaces, including a nine-acre waterfront park, as well as walking and cycling promenades, pedestrian mews and public plazas.

“When we started our work on Brightwater more than five years ago, we were so motivated by our vision of what the future of Port Credit Village and the waterfront could be,” says Bob Blazevski, president and COO of DiamondCorp.

Brightwater I and Brightwater II, both designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects, are the first phase to be released from the community. Brightwater I is a five-storey mixed-use building with 76 suites; Brightwater II is a 14-storey residential mixed-use building with 235 suites.

The buildings will be complemented by a single-storey retail building that will feature a dramatic, curvilinear green roof that creates a rolling living landscape in the village square. The building was inspired by heavy-timber design, and provides a natural warmth to the neighbourhood, a habitat for birds, and helps consume carbon.

“We were greatly motivated by the Brightwater team’s vision to bring exceptional, sophisticated design to this site,” says Donald Schmitt, principal at Diamond Schmitt Architects. “We challenged ourselves to create unique architectural forms that dialogued with each another yet stood striking on their own. Every detail, from the materials to the variation of colours were all reviewed at length with the partners to ensure we were setting the right tone and bringing Port Credit’s character through to the future.”

Located at the corner of Lakeshore Road W. and Mississauga Road, the gateway to the Brightwater community will be a prominent commercial building that will feature the LCBO as its anchor tenant.

Designed by Turner Fleischer architects, the LCBO’s façade features horizontal white slats, reminiscent of shipbuilding techniques, and metal and glass elements as a nod to the industrial past of the site. Bookending the building will be a modern grocer, featuring a façade that uses wood tones with an expansive canopy, further animating the lively streetscape.

“We are thrilled to be welcoming Brightwater to Mississauga’s waterfront. Brightwater will help redevelop and reanimate our waterfront into a hub for innovation, culture and tourism,” says Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie. “Most importantly, it will bring 150 much-needed affordable housing units to the Port Credit community. I look forward to seeing these former brownfield lands revitalized into a vibrant waterfront destination that will attract residents from Mississauga and beyond.”