Markham mayor Scarpitti attends Upper Unionville ribbon cutting
At Upper Unionville’s ribbon cutting ceremony last Friday, many people involved in this exciting community dropped into our sales centre tent to support the housing project in Markham. Mayor Frank Scarpitti of Markham came forth announcing his support for the Upper Unionville community and the general growth of Markham, while TACC Construction‘s Silvio DeGasperis spoke with pride as he thanked his fellow partners and the Town of Markham for making Upper Unionville a reality. Along with the speeches, a $500,000 cheque was presented to the Markham-Stouffville Hospital Foundation.
(See all of the event’s photos here.)
“We want communities that respect our history in Markham,” Mayor Scarpitti says. The site of Upper Unionville will now include the 1917 house of the family-owned Beckett Farm as a preserved historical site. The Philip Eckardt Log House, circa 1820, will also be protected; Eckardt’s Log House one of the oldest buildings in Markham, York Region and the GTA, and the only remaining log house in Markham on its original site.
“We’d like to thank [the Beckett Family] for choosing us as their developers, because they had lots of choices,” says DeGasperis. “This farm has fed a lot of people in the last 95 years, and I understand with their new modern facility in Keswick, they will feed a lot more people [and] continue their farming tradition.”
The $1.2-billion Upper Unionville project on Beckett Farm at 16th Avenue and Kennedy Road will release approximately 600 new home sites for Phase I. Over the next five years, Upper Unionville will provide 1,700 new homes and welcome 5,000 new residents.
Another highlight of the event included the dedication to Markham’s Trees for Tomorrow program. “We want to plant more trees than in the last decade,” says Scarpitti. With an original target of 75,000 new trees in the community, the program ended up planting 130,000 thanks to the community’s support and the donation from Upper Unionville.
DeGasperis announced a big thank you to Mayor Frank Scarpitti, Deputy Mayor Jack Heath, and the following regional councillors: Jim Jones, Don Hamilton, Joe Li, Gordon Landon and Howard Shore. Without Markham’s Councillors, this project would not be possible.
For news on the event and the latest facts on Upper Unionville, visit YorkRegion.com.