Manulife (King Centre) redevelopment project

[nms]

I stand corrected on the ownership of the Park & Jubilee. The Region owns Courtland south of Queen.

Relative to its size, and depending on the time of day, Park/Jubilee is relatively busy.

[dtkvictim]

I noticed today looking through the windows where this building crosses Charles, there is a large Google mural on the wall. No idea how long it's been there,

[Bjays93]

I noticed today looking through the windows where this building crosses Charles, there is a large Google mural on the wall. No idea how long it's been there,

No surprise. Google is the tenant

[BruceAshe]

I noticed today looking through the windows where this building crosses Charles, there is a large Google mural on the wall. No idea how long it's been there,

Google started renovations on the top floor of the building almost 2 years ago. The renovations are almost done and they are possibly starting to move people into the building in January. The basement and main floor are still empty and Manulife is currently trying to lease them.

[ac3r]

They've got a heck of a lot of office space in the region. This and the Breithaupt complex. How many employees do they have here?

[Lebronj23]

They've got a heck of a lot of office space in the region. This and the Breithaupt complex. How many employees do they have here?

I read somewhere (I think in The Record) by 2022 there will be like 3000 employees in Kitchener

Edit : found the article

https://www.therecord.com/business/2020/...egion.html

Won’t this make it one of the largest employers in the Region?

[taylortbb]

They've got a heck of a lot of office space in the region. This and the Breithaupt complex. How many employees do they have here?

They publicly announced they were building for 3000 in KW by end of 2022, https://kitchener.citynews.ca/local-news...er-2075115 . However, internal communication within Google has been that they expect to exceed the 3000 person capacity. I think they're currently planning for 5000, but there isn't a specific timeline associated with that.

The Manulife space is officially temporary while they figure out a 4th building for the Breithaupt campus. Rumour is that Spear Street's purchase of the plaza at Victoria/Duke is for Google, but I'm skeptical. Perimeter/Allied has also said they might build a Breithaupt phase 4 on the remaining parking lot.

[CP42]

They've got a heck of a lot of office space in the region. This and the Breithaupt complex. How many employees do they have here?

They publicly announced they were building for 3000 in KW by end of 2022, https://kitchener.citynews.ca/local-news...er-2075115 . However, internal communication within Google has been that they expect to exceed the 3000 person capacity. I think they're currently planning for 5000, but there isn't a specific timeline associated with that.

The Manulife space is officially temporary while they figure out a 4th building for the Breithaupt campus. Rumour is that Spear Street's purchase of the plaza at Victoria/Duke is for Google, but I'm skeptical. Perimeter/Allied has also said they might build a Breithaupt phase 4 on the remaining parking lot.

Would they ever occupy the future commercial space at Station Pioark? It's right across the street from the Breithaupt campus, although I assume they'd stick with Perimeter/Allied?

[taylortbb]

Would they ever occupy the future commercial space at Station Pioark? It's right across the street from the Breithaupt campus, although I assume they'd stick with Perimeter/Allied?

It certainly sounds plausible to me, but that's pure speculation, and it probably won't be their next move.

I think tower 5 at Station Park (the one with office) will be the last to be built, so it probably won't break ground for a while (until towers 3/4 are getting close to done). I can see Google doing a Breithaupt phase 4 with Perimeter/Allied now, and then if they still need more space after that they'd look to Station Park.

[Lebronj23]

This glaringly large Manulife parking lot has to be the largest parcel of land in downtown, hopefully something gets done here soon. Also based on this pic the Kaufman parking lot would be prime for density as well 

[attachment=8113]

[tomh009]

This glaringly large Manulife parking lot has to be the largest parcel of land in downtown, hopefully something gets done here soon. Also based on this pic the Kaufman parking lot would be prime for density as well 

The Manulife property is about 10% bigger than the old bus station block.

Kaufman Lofts parking is very large because they have no structured parking. Developing that might not be so simple though given that it's owned by the condo corporation.

[danbrotherston]

This glaringly large Manulife parking lot has to be the largest parcel of land in downtown, hopefully something gets done here soon. Also based on this pic the Kaufman parking lot would be prime for density as well 

The Manulife property is about 10% bigger than the old bus station block.

Kaufman Lofts parking is very large because they have no structured parking. Developing that might not be so simple though given that it's owned by the condo corporation.

It's worse than that, it's owned by 100s of individual owners.

But money solves a lot of problems. If the land is sufficiently valuable, they could probably convince 2/3rds of the owners to work through a sufficiently non-disruptive plan.

That being said, while I like big developments, I think there are tons of smaller parcels. Like, most of Charles St. is parking...these I think are the real opportunity if only we can eliminate the obstacles to developing these kinds of things.

[ac3r]

Doesn't GRH have rights to a lot of that parking? Afaik the hospital staff use that for staff parking so redeveloping it will be hard unless we want to shaft health care workers even more, many of which drive from out of town. I've always thought it would be a great place to redevelop but I think the hospital relies on it for staff parking since they have thousands of employees (and very little money to sink into another parking garage).

[neonjoe]

Doesn't GRH have rights to a lot of that parking? Afaik the hospital staff use that for staff parking so redeveloping it will be hard unless we want to shaft health care workers even more, many of which drive from out of town. I've always thought it would be a great place to redevelop but I think the hospital relies on it for staff parking since they have thousands of employees (and very little money to sink into another parking garage).

I believe you may be thinking about the Sun Life lot, not the Manulife Lot

[plam]

The Manulife property is about 10% bigger than the old bus station block.

Kaufman Lofts parking is very large because they have no structured parking. Developing that might not be so simple though given that it's owned by the condo corporation.

It's worse than that, it's owned by 100s of individual owners.

But money solves a lot of problems. If the land is sufficiently valuable, they could probably convince 2/3rds of the owners to work through a sufficiently non-disruptive plan.

That being said, while I like big developments, I think there are tons of smaller parcels. Like, most of Charles St. is parking...these I think are the real opportunity if only we can eliminate the obstacles to developing these kinds of things.

Turns out that where I live (condo townhouses), the parking (which is immediately outside my unit) is actually exclusive-use common area. I don't know how Kaufman is set up, but it may be like that, so that only the condo corp needs to be convinced, which is easier.