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Shops at Waterloo Town Square
#76
I think I remember there being some back-and-forth between the developer and the city. City wanted a parkade, developer didn't want to pay for it, no one wanted to pay for it, so the deal fell through.
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#77
Does it have to default to bland as a result though?
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#78
(10-01-2015, 10:10 PM)notmyfriends Wrote: Does it have to default to bland as a result though?

I heard City Council was 'very pleased' with the proposed design/density/etc at last week's meeting to approve it. Yes, it has been completely approved. 3 storey business park building at the heart of the city and steps from an lrt station. Yet another wasted opportunity. Sad.
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#79
(10-01-2015, 11:30 AM)gomesjustin Wrote: I think I remember there being some back-and-forth between the developer and the city. City wanted a parkade, developer didn't want to pay for it, no one wanted to pay for it, so the deal fell through.

That was the issue stated publicly. Personally, I would have been comfortable seeing my tax dollars being spent on a parkade for that Westin development to have happened. The spin off from that hotel/conference centre being built Uptown would have been great. However, I'm imagining both Westin and Delta being Uptown. Perhaps if the City caved and Westin was built, the Delta wouldn't be. Who knows what was going on behind the scenes. Looking forward, eliminating flat parking space Uptown is good period. The development proposed is not exciting, but will definitely help build a more complete streetscape for Willis Way.
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#80
I don't know if this has been mentioned anywhere, but it fits tidily in with the conversation here.  It will warrant it's own thread soon I suppose.

Headline is about parking.  Shock and horror Uptown is losing parking spots.

http://www.waterloochronicle.ca/news-sto...town-core/
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#81
that headline is awful. What do they expect? its on the doorstep of the Ion! But, how does Primus intent to fill this place if the shops are empty?
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#82
(10-02-2015, 08:12 PM)Smore Wrote: that headline is awful.  What do they expect?  its on the doorstep of the Ion!  But, how does Primus intent to fill this place if the shops are empty?

It's mostly office, and demand for that remains high. The ground floor retail is external facing Willis Way, which has a much lower vacancy rate than the internal mall retail.
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#83
A Westin at that location would have been nice. Especially with train service...
_____________________________________
I used to be the mayor of sim city. I know what I am talking about.
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#84
Office+retail should be good for uptown core, even if it's not a super exciting project.

With the Delta at Barrelyards, and Homewood Suites/Holiday Inn at the north end (and the renovated Crown Plaza in downtown Kitchener), Waterloo is no longer as badly underserved by hotels.
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#85
Plus the Waterloo Inn and the Four Points across from Conestoga Mall.
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#86
(10-02-2015, 08:12 PM)Smore Wrote: that headline is awful.  What do they expect?  its on the doorstep of the Ion!  But, how does Primus intent to fill this place if the shops are empty?

It's even worse (the headline) because it connects the Primus development with the loss of all 114 spots. But that apparently isn't true: "The construction of the 86,000 square-foot office building will lead to a reduction of about 71 spots on Primus property, while the reconfiguration of the parking lot, the construction of a new Grand River Transit stop and other changes will lead to the loss of another 43 spots on city land."
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#87
(10-01-2015, 11:30 AM)gomesjustin Wrote: I think I remember there being some back-and-forth between the developer and the city. City wanted a parkade, developer didn't want to pay for it, no one wanted to pay for it, so the deal fell through.

This seems familliar to me.

This is one of the differences I see between Kitchener and Waterloo.  Kitchener was willing to invest money in it's core to spur development, and Waterloo was not.
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#88
Yet, it was the City of Waterloo that built the attractive Uptown Parkade at least 15 if not 20 years before Kitchener did the same. Waterloo also relocated the Cenotaph and built its new City Hall on the old CN railway lands before Kitchener managed to build its City Hall.

The City has certain goals and must work with private landowners to achieve those goals. Would the City receive the same level of criticism if the reason that a development fell through was because the developer didn't want to include some other form of transportation infrastructure into its planned building at the City's request?

I think the City of Waterloo has done just fine so far. The challenge that the City of Waterloo has had is that several private projects did not go as planned or according to schedule (eg 144/155 Park, Barrelyards, CIGI, Waterloo Town Square 2.0). We'll now get to wait for the next round to see how things change (eg former Post Office, Spotify, Waterloo Town Square 3.0 (or is that 5.0)?
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#89
Does Waterloo actually OWN their building? I was under the impression that they do not. Also, Kitchener built the Duke st. garage well before the Uptown parkade, and Uptown continues to deal with parking issues.
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#90
(10-05-2015, 02:00 PM)nms Wrote:  We'll now get to wait for the next round to see how things change (eg former Post Office, Spotify, Waterloo Town Square 3.0 (or is that 5.0)?


It's Shopify, not Spotify... it would be cool to have a Spotify office here though!
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