22 Frederick St redevelopment | Completed

[taylortbb]

So the brick is being painted. Sigh. I was hoping for something better. The second photo shows some detail of the brick damage (sorry about the lack of resolution on my phone camera lens). The third photo shows more about the painting.

Is the SunLife sign coming off or going on? There is a gap in the black paint that looks like it was painted around one of the letters, but if it’s coming off wouldn’t they take it off before painting? And if it’s going on, wouldn’t they paint the whole wall rather than trying to skip exactly the small area to be covered by the letters?

It's definitely been there for a long time. So I assume they're just removing it temporarily for painting, but maybe it's coming down.

[GtwoK]

Eh, is it a best case scenario? Nah, but I like the darker colour they went with a hell of a lot more than the light gray, futuristic look on the first page

[panamaniac]

Maybe they'll use a lighter colour on the horizontal bands between the windows. This paint job is going to leave the place looking pretty cheap, imo.

[taylortbb]

Maybe they'll use a lighter colour on the horizontal bands between the windows.  This paint job is going to leave the place looking pretty cheap, imo.

It already looks cheap. I don't think anything short of a full re-clad will change that.

Apparently Europro sees 50 Queen and The Galleria as their major investments. They're the buildings getting substantial upgrades to make them appeal to higher end tenants. This building, and the one on King East, were probably judged as not a good use of significant money for upgrades right now given how much further they have to go.

[ac3r]

I don't think it looks cheap or anything. Physically deteriorated, certainly, but I've always thought this building had a strong Frank Lloyd Wright feel to it, similar to his old Johnson Wax Building. Standing next to contemporary buildings the red brick certainly stands out in 2019, but there's a charm in the way they used that material throughout modernism.

The grey paint is just obviously a result of the owners wanting to make it look newer, but it throws away any architectural distinctiveness as a result. It's going to look like a giant monolith or something once it's all done haha. If the goal is higher end tenants, I can understand the corporate decision by wanting a building that looks modern. But the greatest buildings are what they are through that virtue alone. The Chrysler Building wouldn't have the tenants it does if at some point they decided it's dated, and stuck some aluminium cladding on in the 1970s or something. Just as well, you can have a building like this updated and renovated without having to completely paint the thing grey.

[MidTowner]

This building is a good example of being in a trough of appreciation mostly because of its age. Whenever it's come up with anyone, I'm told it's ugly. I don't have very advanced aesthetic sensibilities, but I don't think it's ugly, and I like the red brick because I am used to it and it's unique in its surroundings, as you point out, ac3r.

The right decision is often to "do nothing" or "wait," but I guess Europro wants to feel like they are doing things to revitalize their assets here. I used to work in Galleria, so I'm curious about what happens there. I felt like the Sun Life building was pretty good as it is, and I've never heard very negative things about the building from people working there.

[clasher]

Oh boy another dark building for downtown.

[jeffster]

Eh, is it a best case scenario? Nah, but I like the darker colour they went with a hell of a lot more than the light gray, futuristic look on the first page.

Not bad....I do like how the SunLife logo sticks out a lot more. Looks good.

[dgoh0]

I like it. At least it's not another glass monolith bent on destroying the songbirds of the world. Instead it's a big ol' grey monolith bent on destroying the spirit of our fellow man.

[Tony_Plow]

It's not a great look, but it's probably the best they could do absent tearing it down. Europro's portfolio in downtown Kitchener is still really tired though. I don't think any amount of renovations to this building or Commerce House could make either a real appealing office option.

[jeffster]

I like it. At least it's not another glass monolith bent on destroying the songbirds of the world. Instead it's a big ol' grey monolith bent on destroying the spirit of our fellow man.

If it's a monolith then clearly this is related to the DTK development. This conspiracy is growing every day now!

[tomh009]

It's not a great look, but it's probably the best they could do absent tearing it down.  Europro's portfolio in downtown Kitchener is still really tired though.  I don't think any amount of renovations to this building or Commerce House could make either a real appealing office option.

50Q's renovations are pretty decent. At least based on their photos, the office place could be all right. Not glamorous, but all right. See the below post (in the urban Kitchener thread) for a brochure PDF.

EuroPro now has a brochure for 50Q:

[EdM]

They're cutting holes in the front portion now:
   

[panamaniac]

I've forgotten - is the pod going to be a restaurant?

[jeffster]

I've forgotten - is the pod going to be a restaurant?

I am pretty sure it's a small research facility for the shenanigans that are going on at DTK. But yeah, restaurant would be nice too.