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General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours
I love this idea, progressive thinking from a downtown faith community, good on them. I wish the 4 churches project would have happened, but this sounds like the next best thing. Very forward thinking.
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Too bad the church beside the K2 condos site in Waterloo doesn't think about there property the same way trinity church thinks about there's.
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(12-05-2014, 12:52 AM)TMKM94 Wrote: Too bad the church beside the K2 condos site in Waterloo doesn't think about there property the same way trinity church thinks about there's.

This is an apple and oranges comparison.  The Orthodox Church has a small parcel of land with which there were very few options without finding a partner.  Trinity United has a large piece of land which means that they can have more control about what is done with the property.

I wonder if Knox at Caroline/Erb in Waterloo is kicking themselves and wishing that they had been able to something similar when they rebuilt.
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My guess is they probably could have if they really wanted to.
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Not really a project but the Region is selling a number of properties along Benton St next month. I wonder if these properties will attract interest from developers.

December 7, 2014

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For sale: Five lots on Queen, Benton in Kitchener
July 9, 2014 | Paige Desmond | Cambridge Times | LINK



Quote:WATERLOO REGION — The region will sell a handful of properties on Queen and Benton streets that it has owned for at least 30 years.

Ownership of the properties was obtained by the region in 1975 and 1984 from the City of Kitchener for the Queen/Benton diversion project.

The project was shut down after resident pushback.

The properties make up about half of the Benton block between Courtland Avenue East and Mitchell Street and include 152, 156, 176 and 180 Benton St. and 533 Queen St.

Coun. Tom Galloway said he isn't aware of any expressions of interest on the project, though he wouldn't be surprised if there was interest from developers.

"I'm not aware of any development intent," he said. "As far as I know, we're not co-operating with anybody with respect to any assembly of land or anything."

In 2012, the region sold 168 Benton St. to Polocorp for about $280,000, according to property records. The company owns two large properties that front on Queen Street and back onto some of the Benton properties.

Polocorp president Paul Puopolo said he couldn't comment on whether the company is interested in the land.

"At this stage, we have no comment on it," Puopolo said.

Regional staff is completing appraisals on the properties prior to listing them for sale on the Multiple Listing Service, as approved by regional councillors when they declared the land surplus in June.

Three of the properties are vacant. Two have tenants.

Galloway said the region decided to sell the land after years of renting out the homes and using them for regional housing. "It's really a matter now of we're not really in the business of being landlords and holding properties indefinitely if there's no future purpose for them."

The region also acquired 20, 24, 30 and 34 Mill St. for the Queen and Benton diversion but has not sold the properties.

The region assumed a number of roads from local cities after it was formed in 1973.

As part of that, several parcels of property along Benton, Mill, Mitchell and Queen streets were also transferred to the region so Queen and Benton could be connected.

That plan was abandoned in the late 1990s with the widening of Victoria Road South.

"The die was cast quite a number of years ago that the Benton/Queen diversion project was not going to go ahead as planned," Galloway said.

Only now are they being sold as the region re-evaluates the properties it owns.

"We've been renting out those properties. I don't think they cost the taxpayer anything, I think they've paid their way and they've been maintained to a certain level to allow for rentals," Galloway said. "But I think it was just a rationalization that took place with a variety of properties."

It cost the region about $60,000 annually for utilities, taxes, repairs and management fees for the homes, but rent costs covered most of that.
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The headline is rather over the top (not D'Amato's fault, I know), but otherwise a good column on the Trinity Church redevelopment concept.

http://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/5...-downtown/
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I've noticed a number of miovision scout collection units deployed along Queen St lately. Are these being used by the city, the Region, developers? Are they counting pedestrian, bikes, vehicles, all?
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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At Bread & Roses housing co-op, they're counting the vehicles in and out of our front parking lot.
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I don't want to be starting/spreading rumours, but I wonder has anyone heard anything about a new Downtown supermarket?
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(12-12-2014, 11:26 AM)panamaniac Wrote: I don't want to be starting/spreading rumours, but I wonder has anyone heard anything about a new Downtown supermarket?

Spill the beans panamaniac.  You are our #1 downtown source.
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(12-12-2014, 11:26 AM)panamaniac Wrote: I don't want to be starting/spreading rumours, but I wonder has anyone heard anything about a new Downtown supermarket?

I don't want to start any rumours but am I the only one who saw the neighbour's wife sleeping with the milkman? Tongue
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Yeah, turned out to be less than first heard - just the site of an eventual supermarket (Charles and Francis, behind Ziggy's), not about who or when there might actually be a supermarket.

In other news, B&T Supermarket is stocking shelves so I imagine they will be re-opening very soon.
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There has been some digging this week at the apartment project site on Courtland Ave. Not sure if it's the beginning of excavation, or just cleaning up the property.
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The Record's arts and culture columnist, Martin de Groot has concerns about the idea of tearing down Trinity United Church. He sees Trinity's value not as a heritage structure in itself, but as part of the larger collection of Downtown churches and other structures; and he sees the Trinity proposal as a bad precedent for other Downtown churches. He has a point with the first concern, but I'd be sceptical about the second. For me, it will come down to the quality of the development that's proposed to replace the existing church. If it includes well-designed social housing and space for the congregation along with a (non-ugly) condominium tower, I think it would be hard to argue for preservation of the existing building.

http://www.therecord.com/whatson-story/5...precedent/
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Quote:Under such a standard, very few of our churches, or any other kind of structure, would quality.


For a born conservationist reactionary, this a nightmare vision.

On the other hand if anything mildly remarkable can never be torn as de Groot suggests then landlords will only build the most mediocre of structures lest they loose a chance to redevelop in the future.
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