Truthfully, most of the recent buildings in the region are cheap. As pointed out above, it was a micro-development boom. Most of it was related to the demand for universities. In 15-20 years these buildings are going to look gross...I know a lot about architecture and materials, believe me. It's safe to say most of the condominium buildings are going to age well - i.e not "fall apart" like apartment buildings tend to do as they age over the decades. But a lot of these low-rent student housing blocks are not. Call me cynical, perhaps, but I know it'll happen. It's something architects and developers dread within the industry. Little booms of cheap places that pepper a city, only to start having problems. CityPlace in Toronto is a good example of this. The buildings even *look* good - neomodern glass condos - but a quick search will show you even a couple years after being finished, many were plagued with problems. Now just think what block of student flats in a mid-sized city, built for a fraction of the price, will look like in a while.
You can easily tell apart one from another those buildings in Waterloo Region which are built to last - and will. They look good and are built good. And you can see (again, as mentioned above) that developers are more and more looking to build to a higher standard of quality. Student housing is what it is (you can't compare them to condos) but the city should have been a little more picky (maybe they really couldn't, I don't have any work involved in WR, so I don't know how the bureaucracy is here). The skyline uptown is nothing but these mammoth blocks of low-quality, low-rent buildings. Indeed, I hope some of them are covered up by better looking developments.
You can easily tell apart one from another those buildings in Waterloo Region which are built to last - and will. They look good and are built good. And you can see (again, as mentioned above) that developers are more and more looking to build to a higher standard of quality. Student housing is what it is (you can't compare them to condos) but the city should have been a little more picky (maybe they really couldn't, I don't have any work involved in WR, so I don't know how the bureaucracy is here). The skyline uptown is nothing but these mammoth blocks of low-quality, low-rent buildings. Indeed, I hope some of them are covered up by better looking developments.