A vacant field in Mississauga could soon become a vibrant urban focal for the surrounding suburban community.

The massive proposal from developer Terracap seeks to bring transformative change to 1535 Dundas Street East, a block east of Dixie Road.

It's a plan that offers up a window into the future, but also a glimpse at what could have been.

First, a brief backstory.

The current vacant plot of land along Dundas was previously home to a car dealership until its closure in the late 2000s.

The building housing the former dealership was later painted over in bright green and blue to promote a shopping mall proposed for the site that would have been anchored by a Galleria supermarket flagship, known as the Galleria Centre.

That shopping centre plan failed to materialize, and the 5.69 acre/23,048 square-metre site was ultimately cleared of the former car dealership building sometime between mid-2016 and mid-2017, leaving an empty lot.

As Mississauga continues to experience a vertical transformation, so too has the plan for this now-vacant tract of land.

Taller proposals have been tabled for the surrounding blocks since the aborted Galleria Centre plan, leading to an updated proposal for the site that emerged in early 2023.

A curvaceous design from architects Gensler includes towers of 55, 40, and 30 storeys centred around a public courtyard. The complex proposes a mix of condominium, retail, and office space, as well as a community centre and daycare component.

Residential space represents the majority of the proposal, with 132,580 square metres of space and a planned 1,433 condominium suites planned in a breakdown of 242 studios, 560 one-bedrooms, 547 two-bedrooms, and 84 three-bedroom units.

Office space will take up the next largest — though comparatively small — fraction of the complex at 3,718 square metres, followed by retail space at a total of 1,084 square metres. A 721 square-metre daycare and 518 square metres of community space account for the remaining area.

The developer has proposed over 1,360 parking spaces along with storage for more than 950 bicycles. While this would seem an aggressive parking strategy by Toronto standards, things are a bit different out in the 905, where the car is still undisputed king.

In addition to the vast parking garage planned, residents and businesses will be situated steps from a stop on the future Dundas BRT transit line.