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General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - Printable Version

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RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - tomh009 - 03-28-2016

Once it's due for surface maintenance, I agree with your statement. I don't know when that is, though.

My point is that this is not the only street in Kitchener that should be improved. The city needs to make choices every year, and I don't know where this ranks on their priority list.


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - 519 - 03-28-2016

Might be good to keep Benton at 4 lanes with expected intensification of Courtland between Benton and Ottawa:

1. Redevelopment of the Schneider plant
2. Potential rezoning of downtown stretch of Courtland to mixed use.
http://www.kitchener.ca/en/livinginkitchener/PARTS-Central-Stations-Study-Area-Plan.asp


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - Lens - 03-29-2016

According to ICX, the following businesses are for sale:

Quick Sandwiches
Fat Bastard Burrito
New City Supermarket (land and building)
Mon Ami Pizza
Easy Earthen Restaurant
Kinkaku Izakaya

This large land assembly has been sold in King East: http://www.coupalmarkou.com/features/Kitchener/KingStE_1015-1051sale.pdf

Also a big property beside the King St Mcdonalds has recently sold: http://www.whitneyre.com/propertyDetails.cfm?propertyID=E2071DF2-970F-B0AE-BA4B-90ADAB8B2FDD


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - Lens - 03-29-2016

Here are a few concept renders for the Macintosh Cleaner building:
[Image: d3ee6eaa0cd84062b325e2c9a1e51fc8.jpg]

[Image: 7ae2e717d4584bd58a8ef50b9adbaca8.jpg]


More photos of the site: http://www.loopnet.com/xNet/Looplink/Profile/Profile.aspx?stid=cbre/canada&LID=19674864&LL=true&UOMListing=&UOMMoneyCurrency=CAD&RentPer=PY&SRID=7133124701


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - taylortbb - 03-29-2016

(03-29-2016, 01:14 AM)Lens Wrote: According to ICX, the following businesses are for sale:

Quick Sandwiches
Fat Bastard Burrito
New City Supermarket (land and building)
Mon Ami Pizza
Easy Earthen Restaurant
Kinkaku Izakaya

It appears you're right, I found some of the listings.

New City: https://www.realtor.ca/Commercial/Business/16629116/220-236-KING-ST-E-Kitchener-Ontario-N2H1A1#v=d

Kinkaku: https://www.realtor.ca/Commercial/Business/16477578/Kitchener

Does anyone have any idea how often these listings are made? Do they indicate an active attempt to sell? Or just a passive listing indicating they might consider an offer?

That seems like a lot of businesses to be for sale, including some of my favourite places in downtown Kitchener. I'd be quite disappointed if a new owner more focused on short term profit than quality was to take over Kinkaku. But maybe I'm overreacting and these listings are standard. The description for Kinkaku doesn't even seem that accurate, "Easy To Find As They Have A Large Mermaid On Their Sign" isn't how I'd describe Kinkaku.


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - rangersfan - 03-29-2016

Interesting information Lens especially that large land assembly near Ottawa st.

Hard to believe New City Supermarket is on the market after all the expansion effort over the past couple of hours.


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - BuildingScout - 03-29-2016

(03-29-2016, 01:14 AM)Lens Wrote: According to ICX, the following businesses are for sale:

New City Supermarket (land and building)
Kinkaku Izakaya

Wow, these are two rather successful businesses. I wonder why the sale?


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - tomh009 - 03-29-2016

(03-29-2016, 02:10 AM)taylortbb Wrote: Does anyone have any idea how often these listings are made? Do they indicate an active attempt to sell? Or just a passive listing indicating they might consider an offer?

That seems like a lot of businesses to be for sale, including some of my favourite places in downtown Kitchener. I'd be quite disappointed if a new owner more focused on short term profit than quality was to take over Kinkaku. But maybe I'm overreacting and these listings are standard. The description for Kinkaku doesn't even seem that accurate, "Easy To Find As They Have A Large Mermaid On Their Sign" isn't how I'd describe Kinkaku.

Businesses are sold all the time, so it's not necessarily anything to worry about.  If the buyer is paying for the business (rather than just a building), he or she will be looking to make money with it by growing or at least maintaining the level of business.  Of course things can change (for better or for worse) as the buyer decides on a future direction for the business.

So I can at least entertain a faint hope that Kinkaku's new owner might offer the real izakaya model again, without mandatory AYCE. Smile


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - Markster - 03-29-2016

The Eatons Lofts Saga is finally at an end:

Eaton’s Lofts condo lawsuit settled after nine years
The Record
Quote:The owners of the 32 units of the Eaton's Lofts condominiums launched a $46-million lawsuit against developer Lorchrist Properties in 2007, after the developer failed to finish the units at 276 King St. W. in Kitchener.

Lorchrist responded by launching its own $100-million lawsuit against the City of Kitchener, several city officials and the provincial Electrical Safety Authority.

In the end, condo owners got a settlement for $850,000 from the defendants, including the architect, the city, the electrical authority, the developer and the original condo board of directors, made up of developer Loren Drotos, his wife, Christine Drotos, and his mother-in-law, Lorraine Barlow.

[...]

Owners were pleased that the settlement allows badly needed repairs to go ahead, such as $300,000 for a new roof, Rhodes said. It will also enable the building, in a former Eaton's store at King and Water streets in downtown Kitchener, to be spruced up and refreshed.

"Our lobby shows every scuff mark from people moving in over the last several years," Rhodes said. "We're looking to change that, to make everything fresh, and to have a proud building."



RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - MidTowner - 03-29-2016

(03-29-2016, 01:14 AM)Lens Wrote: Also a big property beside the King St Mcdonalds has recently sold: http://www.whitneyre.com/propertyDetails.cfm?propertyID=E2071DF2-970F-B0AE-BA4B-90ADAB8B2FDD

Thanks for the info! If someone could assemble this with the McDonald’s property, that’s nearly an acre and a tonne of King frontage with lots of access from Moore, too- lots of possibilities at either or both of these lots.

It would be nice to see something. Maybe if Midtown Lofts are a success, it won’t be such a long wait.


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - MidTowner - 03-29-2016

From the Record: City, diocese still in talks over fate of Sacred Heart convent

To be honest, from all of the fanfare surrounding Google taking occupancy of its new offices a five minute walk down Moore, I felt sure that the next we would hear of this was that the diocese planned on trying to sever this building and selling it to someone to renovate for office space. With hundreds of workers at Breithaupt Block and the supposedly high demand for character office space by tech start-ups, it seems odd that the debate would still be between affordable housing, and parking spots.

I wonder if the diocese has some internal opposition to selling off assets, even non-functioning ones. The twenty parking spaces are not the issue: that would not go very far towards meeting the church's parking demands, which are fully met now by the rather large lot behind the school next door.


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - Owen - 03-29-2016

And now for some more exciting news.... ! I think this one is going to need it's own thread Big Grin

http://www.therecord.com/news-story/6409293-former-dry-cleaning-building-in-kitchener-has-high-tech-future/

KITCHENER — The new owners of an art deco landmark on Victoria Street, the former MacIntosh Dry Cleaners building, want to lease most of the space to a tech startup, but keep enough at the front for a coffee shop or brew pub.

The interior of the 6,000-square-foot building has been stripped bare and sandblasted. The brick exterior, triangular metal overhang and yellow, black and green vitrolite tiles give the building at 130 Victoria St. S. a unique look.

It was the only drive-in dry cleaner in the region until it closed in 2015.

For years, Nusrat Govindji and her husband Nizar kept an eye on the 87-year-old building at the corner of Bramm Street and Victoria. They have owned an 11-unit apartment building two doors down from the dry cleaner for the past 15 years. It is rented out to students attending the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy down the street.

So they are familiar with that part of the downtown and watched as startups slowly but steadily leased space in the neighbourhood.

"We thought it was very close to downtown. The Tannery is right around the corner, one of my sons is a software engineer, so we thought it would be just perfect to have a technology company," Nusrat said.

The Govindjis hired Cory de Villiers of Natcordev Inc. as a project manager. In recent years, de Villiers and his wife, Natasha, have restored several old buildings in Hespeler and opened new businesses in the limestone landmarks. They won a heritage award from the Region of Waterloo.

"We are going to make this old building shine again," de Villiers said. "In terms of a wish list of tech companies, this building ticks off all boxes."

The 1,000-square-foot second floor has a door that opens onto a flat roof.

"One of the things that a lot of tech companies look for is rooftop patio space for employees," de Villiers said.

Standing on the roof, he looks back at the second floor of the building and talks about plans for a glass wall that would look onto a patio.

"You can just see the view of the city, Google's Canadian engineering headquarters, just fantastic," de Villiers said. "It will be a great amenity to have here."

Communitech, the organization that supports the region's tech sector, is located two blocks away in the Tannery building. The startups migrating out of the Communitech Hub have driven the demand for renovated, brick-and-beam office space in the downtown. In the past five years, about 45 startups have moved out of the Tannery building and employ more than 800 workers in the downtown.

Brick-and-beam space is now at a premium, and the Govindjis hope to capitalize on the shrinking supply. The 87-year-old building on Victoria Street has ceilings that are more than 12 feet high. All of the joists and beams are exposed. Ditto for the brick walls.

The City of Kitchener has branded the area of the downtown within a 10-minute walk of King and Victoria streets as the Innovation District. The dry cleaning building is located right on the edge of it.

"Tech companies that are growing and expanding are running out of room in the Innovation District are now looking at something like this," de Villiers said.

A big garage door opens onto a large room near the back of the building. It would be perfect for hardware startups and maker space, de Villiers said.

The Govindjis would like to see a coffee shop or maybe a brew pub in the front part of the building near Victoria Street.

All of the old equipment from the dry cleaning business and the interior walls are gone.

"We had all of the ceilings sandblasted," de Villiers said. "There was just a massive, massive amount of old dry cleaning equipment in here."

There are remnants of the steam engine economy in the building. Big pulleys made of wood hang on some walls. The belts and pulleys were connected to a steam engine in the basement that burned coal, and powered the equipment in the dry cleaning business.

"We are being careful to keep a lot of the old, cool, interior features," de Villiers said.


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - Lens - 03-29-2016

Has this been discussed here? http://catalyst137.com/


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - jgsz - 03-29-2016

(03-29-2016, 06:20 PM)Lens Wrote: Has this been discussed here? http://catalyst137.com/

Looks interesting!  I don't think it's been discussed here yet.  But it might be in The Record next week or next month.  Rolleyes


RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - GtwoK - 03-29-2016

There was article in some paper or another discussing that a few months back actually! That's the first we've seen of a website though.