The Breithaupt Block | 16 m | 4 fl | Complete

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New life for former auto parts plant
Developer plans to renovate 'strategic property' in Kitchener
June 11, 2009 | Chuck Howitt | The Record | Link

KITCHENER - A former auto parts plant in downtown Kitchener could be turned into high-quality office and research space.

The former International Automotive Components plant, located at the corner of King and Breithaupt Streets, was recently purchased for $500,000 by David Gibson of Toronto.

Gibson is the chair of First Gulf Development Corp., a Mississauga-based commercial development firm. It is best known in this area for redeveloping Waterloo Town Square.

In an interview, he said he is retiring from First Gulf at the end of the year and purchased the Breithaupt Street plant through his own private company, Gibcor Holdings.

"It's a very strategic property, given all the things that are happening there," he said.

The plant is located on a prime downtown property in the heart of the city's "warehouse district." It is close to the new University of Waterloo health sciences campus, the Kaufman Lofts and the Lang Tannery redevelopment.

Gibson said the plant, a mishmash of old brick structures, additions and storage tanks, actually consists of four separate buildings developed over its long history.

Rather than tearing them down, he plans to gradually renovate the buildings as he can find tenants. The aim is to turn it into a "high-quality development including courtyards," he said.

"I think the market is very strong in that area for research and development and other high-tech users."

He has already hired the architectural firm Roberston Simmons to begin redesigning the property. The building has 250,000 square feet of space including basements and sits on 1.6 hectares of land.

Renovating old buildings has long been an interest of his, Gibson said.

A graduate in urban economics from Wilfrid Laurier University when it was known as Waterloo Lutheran University, he wants to continue working on projects in the Kitchener and Waterloo area, he said.

"I've always been interested in contributing to cities, doing mixed-use developments."

The facility has been empty since June 2008, when IACNA Soft Trim Canada, also known as International Automotive Components, closed the plant and put almost 90 people out of work. Gibson purchased the property from IACNA, based in Dearborn, Mich.

The original brick factory dates back to 1904, when workers began making rubber footwear at the facility.

Over its long history, the factory has also been owned by the Dominion Rubber Company, Uniroyal, Beckers Lay-Tech and Collins & Aikman.

Developer turning old boot factory into trendy commercial space
July 19, 2010 | Melinda Dalton | The Record | Link

KITCHENER — For more than a century, boots and auto parts were the products rolling off the line at the industrial buildings on King and Breithaupt streets.

But, as a second life is breathed into its yellow bricks by a Toronto-area developer, the complex could soon be known as the home base for a new generation of local innovation.

When its first phase opens next summer, The Breithaupt Block, as it’s been named by developer Perimeter Development Corp., will offer 175,000 square feet of trendy commercial space targeted primarily at the high-tech, research and creative sectors.

“In terms of people who like that type of space, they’re creative thinkers,” said David Gibson of Perimeter. “That’s the type of people we’re going after — design oriented type companies and the like. There are many good examples of this type of mix in Toronto and we think there’s a real demand for it in the Kitchener-Waterloo area.”

The developer added a slick wrap advertising the space on the face of old factory last week and has already seen significant interest.

Gibson — the former CEO of First Gulf Development, which was responsible for the redevelopment of a significant stretch of Uptown Waterloo — bought the complex in June 2009. Perimeter is also in the process of redeveloping several properties in downtown Galt.

Workers have spent the last year taking out 12,000 tonnes of heavy machinery from the former Kitchener auto parts plant. Clearing out the buildings is expected to take another month.

The complex — parts of which date back to 1903 — will see much of its exterior heritage features maintained with modern courtyards and drive ways added to break up the buildings into distinct sites.

The building at the corner of Breithaupt and King streets will get the most significant exterior makeover, with a modern glass facelift and the potential addition of an 50 to 60 space underground parking structure in what is now a basement. Gibson said they’re now looking for a signature tenant to occupy that 44,000 square foot space.

The other five buildings in the complex will be cleaned up, but their historical character will remain in tact, according to the developer. All six buildings will be leased out in stages.

In total, the site will have around 350 parking spaces, including those in lots across the street.

The building originated as the Merchants Rubber plant — a joint venture between Jacob Kaufman and T. H. Rieder — and started production of rubber for footwear in 1904. The company was later taken over by Canadian Rubber, then U.S. Rubber and, in 1926, Dominion Rubber.

Before the Second World War, the factory turned out more than 15,000 shoes a day. In 1944, Dominion bought up the adjacent and abandoned Old Berlin Piano factory, adding it to the production complex.

The complex further expanded in 1956 with the construction of the angled King and Breithaupt street building. The last rubber boots rolled off the line in 1966 and the plant became part of the general products division of Uniroyal Ltd.

The sign on the factory continued to change — from Beckers Lay-Tech to Perstorp Components to Collins & Aikman Corp. and finally International Automotive Components — until production stopped for good in 2008.

Rod Regier, the city’s head of economic development, said it’s encouraging to see the private sector respond so positively to change spearheaded by the city, which initiated significant spending to spur on development in the core in 2005.

“I expect that when this project is completed we will have at least 500 more people working in that block than were working there when Collins and Aikman was manufacturing car parts on the site,” he said.

Perimeter is in the midst of the site plan approval process and hope to have their final approvals completed by the end of the summer.

The company will have to complete a Heritage Impact Assessment before final approval is given, said the city’s interim director of planning, Alain Pinard. Because there is no need to rezone for this type of development, it does not need to go through a public process.

The other high-profile commercial redevelopment project in the core, the Tannery complex, drew significant public outcry when it became clear the developer planned on demolishing four former warehouse buildings to make way for temporary parking.

The power house building on Breithaupt, opposite the main buildings, will need to be demolished to make room for parking on that site, but it not part of the complex’s original structure.

Pinard said there is a difference between the two projects because the Breithaupt buildings are small compared to the ones proposed for demolition at the tannery.

The Tannery already has its site plan approved in principle. Final approvals could come as early as next week, according to city staff. Demolition can’t begin until that happens.

The Breithaupt Block developer hopes to start construction and some of the demolition work in the fall.

Gibson said he is not concerned about oversaturation in the market for the type of trendy office space that his revamped buildings will offer. He said there’s already a push on for companies to move out of the region’s north suburbs and into areas with walkable amenities.

“One of the exciting things about buildings like Breithaupt is there’s a huge demand for buildings like this,” he said. “There’s so many good things happening on that corner — it’s going to be the new centre of the universe for the Kitchener-Waterloo region, in my opinion.”