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General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours
(02-08-2016, 11:49 AM)panamaniac Wrote: In other news, Stantec has now moved out of its Market Square office.  The optimist in me wants to see this as an opportunity for some upgrades at Market Square.

Their ground-floor retail seems to be in transition - the shoe store has closed and there is a sign up at the hair salon that they will be moving. If Dream (the landlord) is letting leases expire, we may be seeing some transformation coming here.
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(02-08-2016, 12:27 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(02-08-2016, 11:49 AM)panamaniac Wrote: Deloitte will occupy the tannery building that is being restored.

That's definitely good news for the downtown, even though for Kitchener overall it's fairly neutral (Deloitte currently has a fairly large facility near Sportsworld).

Here's the article link: http://www.therecord.com/news-story/6267...de-house-/

Has anyone seen renderings? Curious whether it's entirely within the existing building, or if a building is being enlarged. We need a 195 Joseph thread!
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(02-08-2016, 12:27 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(02-08-2016, 11:49 AM)panamaniac Wrote: Deloitte will occupy the tannery building that is being restored.

That's definitely good news for the downtown, even though for Kitchener overall it's fairly neutral (Deloitte currently has a fairly large facility near Sportsworld).

Yeah I was definitely hoping for better news than this. As you say, good for downtown, but not a new addition to the community.
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(02-08-2016, 03:01 PM)KingandWeber Wrote:
(02-08-2016, 12:27 PM)tomh009 Wrote: That's definitely good news for the downtown, even though for Kitchener overall it's fairly neutral (Deloitte currently has a fairly large facility near Sportsworld).

Yeah I was definitely hoping for better news than this. As you say, good for downtown, but not a new addition to the community.

I wouldn't under-estimate this - news of actual jobs moving to the downtown is bigger news than a new condo tower. I'm very keen to see what they're doing with the site - primarily whether it's contained within the current building or if it somehow goes up. Huge amount of space on the site - can't imagine it remaining the way it is. Does anyone know if they purchased the land abutting Victoria? (Where the Beaver gas station used to be, that is now parking - at least ~10 years ago, it was not part of the tannery lands)
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(02-08-2016, 04:33 PM)Owen Wrote:
(02-08-2016, 04:23 PM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: Deloitte wants to show us how it can represent "innovative business solutions" to maximize potential. Their showcase of this is to take what should be one of the densest areas of the region and to develop it to have TWO usable floors. Undecided That's not the message I would want to send, especially since they're deciding how this should be built.

Tend to agree - however, Oak st. is called out as an 'established neighborhood' in the city policy documents and developments abutting it need to be sensitive (compatible) with that.

This is why I bring up the consequence of having 1/3 of Kitchener as a heritage property or neighbourhood; the reach, effect, and consequence of that is far larger than just the 1/3 of the core that's untouchable.
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(02-08-2016, 03:07 PM)Owen Wrote:
(02-08-2016, 03:01 PM)KingandWeber Wrote: Yeah I was definitely hoping for better news than this. As you say, good for downtown, but not a new addition to the community.

I wouldn't under-estimate this - news of actual jobs moving to the downtown is bigger news than a new condo tower.  I'm very keen to see what they're doing with the site - primarily whether it's contained within the current building or if it somehow goes up.  Huge amount of space on the site - can't imagine it remaining the way it is.  Does anyone know if they purchased the land abutting Victoria? (Where the Beaver gas station used to be, that is now parking - at least ~10 years ago,  it was not part of the tannery lands)

I'm not underestimating the impact. I think it will be significant for downtown. I am just a little disappointed considering the hype ("Organization with a global brand coming to Downtown Kitchener") seemed to imply a *new* employer coming to the Region. I guess I was expecting something like the Shopify announcement and instead we got a local relocation announcement with the chance of some modest employment expansion.
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(02-08-2016, 04:58 PM)KingandWeber Wrote:
(02-08-2016, 03:07 PM)Owen Wrote: I wouldn't under-estimate this - news of actual jobs moving to the downtown is bigger news than a new condo tower.  I'm very keen to see what they're doing with the site - primarily whether it's contained within the current building or if it somehow goes up.  Huge amount of space on the site - can't imagine it remaining the way it is.  Does anyone know if they purchased the land abutting Victoria? (Where the Beaver gas station used to be, that is now parking - at least ~10 years ago,  it was not part of the tannery lands)

I'm not underestimating the impact. I think it will be significant for downtown. I am just a little disappointed considering the hype ("Organization with a global brand coming to Downtown Kitchener") seemed to imply a *new* employer coming to the Region. I guess I was expecting something like the Shopify announcement and instead we got a local relocation announcement with the chance of some modest employment expansion.

Fair enough - it could have been something more exciting - but even though it is only modest employment expansion for the region (170 up to 200), the prospect of 200 employees moving to the downtown long term (15 yr lease) from such a stable company gives me a great deal of hope for the feasibility of all the condo development in the works - far more stable than startup employment.  A friend of mine works at the current Deloitte location and he has a house in the suburbs off 401 on highway 33 - I'm sure a lot of employees like him will consider moving to the downtown as presently he's going to be in for almost 2x the commute.
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(02-05-2016, 02:24 PM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: And in other news...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Big development in downtown Kitchener will be announced Monday. Look here more deets. We are talking about a global brand folks.</p>&mdash; TerryPender (@TerryPender) <a href="[url=https://twitter.com/TerryPender/status/695625993432735744">February]https://twitter.com/TerryPender/status/695625993432735744">February[/url] 5, 2016</a></blockquote>

I was really excited about what this 'big development' with a 'global brand' was going to be.  I now feel that Terry Pender's tweet was misleading.  Or, perhaps I read too much into it.
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It is a global brand. And it's very nice that the building will be developed and occupied. But, yes, the tweet made it sound even bigger.
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Notice that the main tannery building has improvements to its street level and a large rooftop space in the second photo.
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(02-08-2016, 11:07 PM)notmyfriends Wrote: I think it will be like the attached pictures - they were included in the  media release from Allied REIT today:

http://alliedreit.com/wp-content/uploads...8-2016.pdf

Nice!! I guess those original renderings are what's going ahead - notwithstanding missed opportunity to go bigger, I think it looks fantastic and it's great to see development stretching west (south?) along Victoria.
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Looks like Schreiters is selling their building for conversion: https://www.realtor.ca/Commercial/Retail...rio-N2G1Y6
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(02-12-2016, 08:48 PM)Lens Wrote: Looks like Schreiters is selling their building for conversion: https://www.realtor.ca/Commercial/Retail...rio-N2G1Y6

Is this the project insider was talking about, at Charles and Gaukel?
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I don't think so... this is simply selling the building, with no plans in mind. Insider seemed to have an idea of what would be constructed at the intersection.
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(02-12-2016, 09:46 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(02-12-2016, 08:48 PM)Lens Wrote: Looks like Schreiters is selling their building for conversion: https://www.realtor.ca/Commercial/Retail...rio-N2G1Y6

Is this the project insider was talking about, at Charles and Gaukel?


Iirc, insider hinted that the Schreiter property would be part of a larger development.

If Schrieters were to move rather than close, the Eatons Loft property would make a pretty decent show room.
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