Waterloo Region Connected
General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - Printable Version

+- Waterloo Region Connected (https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com)
+-- Forum: Land Development and Real Estate (https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=4)
+--- Forum: Urban Areas (https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=5)
+--- Thread: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours (/showthread.php?tid=8)



RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - BuildingScout - 10-18-2014

(10-18-2014, 03:59 PM)Markster Wrote: Welcome to the life of being a Downtown dweller.
It's getting better. Slowly.

Exactly. Every time I'm in Kitchener during business hours I think "man this place has turned the corner", but every time I'm there on weekends and after hours I feel "man this place still has a ways to go".


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - Spokes - 10-19-2014

(10-18-2014, 02:52 PM)REnerd Wrote: I was downtown Kitchener today thought I would stop by the 'Duke Street Food Block' for a bit.  Unfortunately, Holy Guac and Cheeses Murphy were both closed.

Its a shame for the downtown if they close (or feel that they have to close) on weekends....

My guess is once one of the residential projects is done, that changes considerably.


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - Spokes - 10-19-2014

(10-18-2014, 05:07 PM)BuildingScout Wrote:
(10-18-2014, 03:59 PM)Markster Wrote: Welcome to the life of being a Downtown dweller.
It's getting better. Slowly.

Exactly. Every time I'm in Kitchener during business hours I think "man this place has turned the corner", but every time I'm there on weekends and after hours I feel "man this place still has a ways to go".

I think that speaks to the amount of employment space there is downtown vs the amount of residential space there is.


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - Markster - 10-19-2014

(10-19-2014, 09:53 AM)Spokes Wrote: My guess is once one of the residential projects is done, that changes considerably.

I've been able to see this change.
When Arrow Lofts completed, there was a vague sense of a few downtown locations staying open until 7pm, as opposed to the previous, near-universal 6pm.

City Centre is going to make a real impact across downtown.
One Victoria will certainly see an uptick in status for all those west-of-Water-St eateries.


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - panamaniac - 10-19-2014

If the new cinema on Ontario at Duke is successful, that might encourage the DFB places to stay open later.  I continue to be astonished by the number of eateries that have opened Downtown and the extent to which so many of them are dependent on the Mon-Fri lunch crowd.  I keep expecting a bit of a shake out, at some point.


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - Shawn - 10-20-2014

(09-26-2014, 07:40 PM)panamaniac Wrote: I just drove past the former Boa Nova Restaurant at Charles and Ontario St and noticed that workers are on the site working on the interior (I was surprised because it was after 7pm).

I walked past the Boa Nova Sunday Oct 19th and the windows are all papered up.  There doesn't look much has happened since panamaniac saw workers there.

Perhaps they were only there to remove contents from the previous tenant instead of actual renovations??


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - panamaniac - 10-25-2014

Interesting to see two mobile cranes working Downtown today on rooftop projects at City Hall and the Tannery.


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - Smore - 11-08-2014

I saw this today.  I'm going to say this is an oppourtunity for market square?


Quote:
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Edit: how do I post a tweet? Can someone fix this? Thanks!


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - panamaniac - 11-08-2014

Don't leave us hanging Smore, what was the tweet? The bit I can read seems like bad news.


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - REnerd - 11-08-2014

I just searched twitter:

"Such an amazing day of good news for me today. Found out that @Stantec #kitchener is moving to North campus @UWaterloo in fall 2015 #designhttps://twitter.com/AndreArseneault

Such bad news for downtown Kitchener.  Stantec WAS an anchor of the downtown for so long... now they are moving to the sterile lands north of U of W.


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - BuildingScout - 11-08-2014

(11-08-2014, 10:48 AM)REnerd Wrote: Such bad news for downtown Kitchener.  Stantec WAS an anchor of the downtown for so long... now they are moving to the sterile lands north of U of W.

I think this is great news. Hopefully now we can start thinking about demolishing market square, and aberration that should never have been built in the first place.


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - panamaniac - 11-08-2014

Well, Market Square will not be demolished, so the question (if the tweet is accurate) becomes one of how long the office space will remain empty?  Personally, I had hoped that the Stantec office would someday be expanded by putting a couple of floors of glass above the existing space to hide a bit of the ugly parking garage.

Unless Simons decides to come to town and open a department store in the space, in which case I could live with it!  (caffeine fuelled fantasy this morning)


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - REnerd - 11-08-2014

(11-08-2014, 11:01 AM)BuildingScout Wrote:
(11-08-2014, 10:48 AM)REnerd Wrote: Such bad news for downtown Kitchener.  Stantec WAS an anchor of the downtown for so long... now they are moving to the sterile lands north of U of W.

I think this is great news. Hopefully now we can start thinking about demolishing market square, and aberration that should never have been built in the first place.

Market square torn down is just another empty parking lot. 

I can't see anything positive about it.  It will leave a giant empty space downtown.  It will mean a couple hundred less office dwellers lunching and walking in the centre.  It will mean less LRT users (North Campus is all about parking IMO).  It will be a further gutting of building that already has major problems.

Also, Stantec was considering staying in the downtown core with talks of a new construction (a la Google).   Now that would have been big news...


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - BuildingScout - 11-08-2014

(11-08-2014, 03:02 PM)REnerd Wrote: Market square torn down is just another empty parking lot. 

I can't see anything positive about it.  It will leave a giant empty space downtown. 


I seriously doubt this, given the pace at which downtown is developing. I bet it would turn into a mixed development faster than one can say Andrin or spell Momentum. But frankly an open square with benches and food trucks would be better than that unfriendly monstrosity.


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - KevinL - 11-08-2014

If you want to look on the positive side, Stantec moving out gives a good chance to further rework the Market Square interior. For example, removing or altering the atrium gaps to the basement will allow the now-awkward ground floor to be reconfigured to better provide retail space, and hopefully have it face the street. With an Ion station immediately adjacent on Frederick, they can expect a real uptick in foot traffic.

That short distance to transit should also attract a replacement office client, I'm sure.