Main Street Unionville officially reopens after $14.8M restoration
After nearly two years of work and a $14.8 million investment, the historic Markham streetscape has been fully revitalized with new infrastructure, widened sidewalks, and modern amenities.
Main Street Unionville officially reopened Saturday after a nearly two-year, $14.8 million restoration project that transformed the historic Markham streetscape.
Politicians and community members gathered for a grand reopening ceremony featuring free, family-friendly events. The last major renovation happened 40 years ago, and the street was "looking tired," according to Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti. The project modernized what's visible — repaved streets with interlocking brick and cobblestone, broadened sidewalks, additional tree canopies, and new benches and lighting — while also investing in invisible infrastructure like relined watermains and Wi-Fi connectivity.
The reopening comes ahead of the Unionville Festival and the NTT IndyCar Series racing event coming to Markham in August. For businesses that endured the construction, the payoff is immediate. An ice cream shop employee told CBC she wished the celebration happened on her day off so she could enjoy it. "The road has been completely redone. It's been bringing in a lot of people," she said, noting traffic had dropped dramatically during construction.
Residents compared the revamped street to the Distillery District — charming, walkable, and pedestrian-friendly. The broader sidewalks made a particular difference for families with strollers, one attendee said. For the broader GTA, Main Street Unionville has become a destination worth the drive north.
neighborhood_hint: Markham