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Station Park | 18, 28, 36, 40, 50 fl | U/C
#91
In the render above, the small office building north of the funeral home used to be owned by Ratz and Bechtel before they decided that they didn't need it any more. Will it be absorbed soon? Maybe this will become the amorphous project that never stops growing... "It came from the north side of the tracks..."
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#92
I am not crazy about the retaining wall along king St but everything else is wow. I'd like for see a significant commercial and retail element here.
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#93
(01-06-2016, 08:28 PM)rangersfan Wrote: I am not crazy about the retaining wall along king St but everything else is wow. I'd like for see a significant commercial and retail element here.

My thoughts exactly. If this comes through I'd say it shows that KW has arrived as a city instead of a sleepy town.
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#94
(01-06-2016, 07:34 PM)modernizt Wrote: Looks awful to me. The massing makes no sense, the King Street frontage is brutal to the street, and it overwhelms the old funeral home building. Why the vehicular entry and servicing is placed along King Street is also questionable.

I think this is just an early "vision", and essentially nothing more than a rendering. Or at least I hope so.

Seconded. It looks very nice, but it would be terrible to have that kind of wall (lack thereof) along King.
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#95
(01-06-2016, 08:41 PM)MidTowner Wrote:
(01-06-2016, 07:34 PM)modernizt Wrote: Looks awful to me. The massing makes no sense, the King Street frontage is brutal to the street, and it overwhelms the old funeral home building. Why the vehicular entry and servicing is placed along King Street is also questionable.

I think this is just an early "vision", and essentially nothing more than a rendering. Or at least I hope so.

Seconded. It looks very nice, but it would be terrible to have that kind of wall (lack thereof) along King.

Is a wall of some sort not inevitable as part of the underpass, at least on the eastern half of the site?
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#96
Wow.  This was not what I was expecting.  I like it a lot.  This is MUCH bigger than I expected.  

If my eyes don't deceive me, the tallest tower looks around 32 floors.  Nice.
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#97
(01-06-2016, 09:38 PM)panamaniac Wrote:
(01-06-2016, 08:41 PM)MidTowner Wrote: Seconded. It looks very nice, but it would be terrible to have that kind of wall (lack thereof) along King.

Is a wall of some sort not inevitable as part of the underpass, at least on the eastern half of the site?

That's what I was thinking
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#98
(01-06-2016, 09:38 PM)panamaniac Wrote:
(01-06-2016, 08:41 PM)MidTowner Wrote: Seconded. It looks very nice, but it would be terrible to have that kind of wall (lack thereof) along King.

Is a wall of some sort not inevitable as part of the underpass, at least on the eastern half of the site?

Yes and no. If there was a spot where a retaining wall would be necessary, it would be on the eastern half, before Moore. But as the render seems to indicate, there's an access road there, so it's possible that not even that is necessary (though it would have to be included in the current construction, which is not likely). 

The grade is supposed to be at it's normal level again once it reaches about Moore, so the retaining wall from thereon is not necessary. That's my gripe.
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#99
That was one of the proposals and easily one of the largest. IMO, from working in this field, you definitely won't be seeing anything like that in Kitchener anytime soon. The other proposals are a lot smaller and more realistic at this point in time.

After a few years of the ION being around and the transit hub being redeveloped, you'll see bigger projects like this (that is, that proposal) go up. The economic projections are wild. Waterloo Region will be like another Mississauga in terms of residential and office development with the industries we have here. Lots of changes ahead.
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Unlike the Albert/Columbia site that Waterloo refused to bankroll the development charges of, this location does not have hostile zoning as an excuse for making retail/interaction inward facing. Within itself, sure, it seems neat, but as is, you've written off the ability of anyone to walk into Kitchener on that side of the tracks without much detouring around the site, especially the vehicular access. On one hand, I like the open space, and I could be convinced that a single, car-focused entrance that doesn't have any pedestrian conflicts is good. But without the ability to walk parallel to King Street without detouring, without real interaction and interest for people making that walk, it feels as closed off and exclusionary (without explicitly being so) as Kitchener's Tame the Lane party last summer.
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A huge market for this development will be the Breithaupt Block, and the small/house offices that're proposed to be on the other side of the street. If the crosswalk can't be used because it's in the middle of a retaining wall, and thus you would need to either backtrack, or take an uninviting/unsafe/non-accessible stairway down to it, this will be considered a failure. I expect the re-grading is meant to bury parking, but there has to be a better way, yes?
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What density is allowed? And how far off are the proposals from what is allowed?
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It will be nice when all the information is out in the open. Re density, why would there be any concern about density at this site?
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(01-07-2016, 11:17 AM)Spokes Wrote: What density is allowed?  And how far off are the proposals from what is allowed?

(01-07-2016, 11:20 AM)panamaniac Wrote: It will be nice when all the information is out in the open.  Re density, why would there be any concern about density at this site?

Can't remember the exact density allowed...

There's no concern about density, but there are rules about what is allowed (Floor area ratio, zoning, etc)... I think the FAR for this site is 4, but not really sure.
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It would be nice to see what the street wall is anticipated to look like.  It looks a bit cold to me.....
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