Old town vs new downtown

Markham holds two downtowns in tension. Unionville’s Main Street is the heritage one — nineteenth-century storefronts, a millpond, patios, and a film-set charm that draws crowds every weekend. It’s one of the GTA’s prettiest historic strips, and the homes around it are priced for the privilege.

A few minutes away, Downtown Markham is the opposite bet: a built-from-scratch urban core of condo towers, offices, restaurants, and a cinema, designed to give the city a walkable, contemporary centre. Where Unionville is preserved, this is invented — glass and energy instead of clapboard and history.

Markham’s original Main Street to the north adds a third, quieter note of heritage. The choice between them is really a choice of era: buy into the past’s charm, or the future’s convenience. Markham, unusually, lets you live next to both.