A 10-storey residential tower and a cluster of townhouses may soon overlook the Sunningdale Golf and Country Club in London’s north end, just the beginning of a massive home-building boom north of Masonville.

Corlon Properties has put an eight-hectare parcel of land on the market, overlooking the golf course on Sunningdale Road, between Richmond Street and Wonderland Road, and it’s zoned for townhouse and tower development.

That development has been dubbed Sunninglea, and Corlon has another 110 hectares it will sell for residential development in the area as urban growth creeps north.

“The market is very strong. This property has fantastic attributes, overlooking the golf course. It’s a tremendous opportunity,” said Gord Thompson, president of Corlon Properties and also president of the Sunningdale Golf and Country Club.

Thompson downplayed the suggestion that development there represents urban sprawl, adding “a city should embrace all types of development, suburban and infill intensification.”

Of the 110 hectres up for grabs for building, about half is now used for agriculture.

“There is plenty of demand in the north end. We have been building here since 2001 and have never seen a drop in demand. It has been very strong in this area.”

Work may begin on Sunninglea later this year, but it will take as long as 20 years to build out the 110 hectares, he said.

It’s not yet known how many towers or townhouses will be built at Sunninglea, but they could combine to total about 500 units, said Thompson.

Lou Pompilii, manager of  development planning with city halll agreed the development doesn’t exemplify unfettered growth, saying it’s adjacent to existing subdivisions.

“I don’t see it as urban sprawl. It is in the urban growth boundary and is a medium-density form of development. It is an extension of a developed area,” said Pompilii.

“It provides for appropriate land uses and densities. It is the scale of housing we are looking for.”

Corlon is not alone developing the largely agricultural space to the city’s north, even though the London Plan, a blueprint for the city’s growth, wants to see infill development in existing neighbourhoods.

Tricar Group has built two highrise towers on Sunningdale, west of Richmond, and has applied for another tower just south on North Centre Road.

Drewlo Holdings plans a massive development, as it now has 36 hectares just north of Sunningdale and east of Richmond.

“I am concerned about sprawl. We turned this down” when Sunninglea went to city council’s planning committee, said Coun. Maureen Cassidy.

“We don’t have transit up there. City services don’t go to Sunningdale.”

City hall’s London Plan has set as its target that 45 per cent of development be infill, and of that 75 per cent should be on transit lines.

“That is why urban sprawl is so expensive. We have to extend services,” said Cassidy.

Corlon has been busy in the area, adding homes since 2001. It built the Meadowlands of Sunningdale neighbourhood and both phases of construction — more than 160 homes — have been sold out.

When Corlon first applied to build Sunninglea, it was denied by city politicians but city planners and Corlon eventually reached an agreement on density, although not before the builder applied to take the issue to the Ontario Municipal Board.

The OMB, which adjudicates land-use decisions provincewide, ruled in favour of the settlement, said Pompilii.

Corlon has another application for development with city hall for 114 single-family lots on the south side of Sarnia Road.

Corlon has divided its eight hectare parcel near the golf course into five lots, which went on sale this week.

Already, there’s been a lot of interest from builders, said Andrew Johnson, a commercial realtor with Cushman Wakefield.

“It looks over the golf course. It is a great neighbourhood. It is where people want to be,” said Johnson. “The disposition of land over time has been part of the overall strategy,”

The lots are on the north side of  Sunningdale, east of the golf course.

Thompson is the third generation in a business family whose grandfather, J. Gordon Thompson, was founder of Supertest Petroleum, which was bought by British Petroleum in 1971.

Thompson’s grandfather began buying land in the Sunningdale area in the 1930s, before the golf course opened.

When London completed a massive land annexation from its neighbours 25 years ago, the land — it was in the former London Township and not designated for development —  came into the city and could be rezoned in a process that took years of planning before the company could sell lots to developers.

In 2001, they sold their first subdivision, a 48-hectare parcel on Sunningdale Road.