Welcome Guest!
In order to take advantage of all the great features that Waterloo Region Connected has to offer, including participating in the lively discussions below, you're going to have to register. The good news is that it'll take less than a minute and you can get started enjoying Waterloo Region's best online community right away.
or Create an Account




Thread Rating:
  • 13 Vote(s) - 3.85 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours
(10-28-2020, 08:21 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(10-28-2020, 07:10 PM)Acitta Wrote: Construction still continuing at furious pace in Kitchener

"From June 2019 to June of this year, the city issued permits for 3,672 residential units. That’s almost triple the number of units built the year before, when permits were issued for 1,302 units."

Notably 2,745 multi-residential units. This is what I am able to come up with, but I am clearly missing some (one of the Garment buildings, likely)
  • Drewlo - 488
  • Market Flats - 72
  • 387 King St E - 60
  • DTK - 300
  • Charlie West - 300
  • Garment St (27F) - 319
  • Young Condos - 306
  • 1430 Highland Rd W - 76
That's only 1,921, so the one missing Garment St building is not enough. Station Park, Ophelia and Civic 66 are all after the end of June.

Ok, but weren't most of those permitted *before* June 2019? I mean, many of those were already under construction.
Reply


(10-29-2020, 10:46 AM)ac3r Wrote: Understood!

It's a bit annoying how the process works. They've got the land, developed a massive project, demolished the old building, cleaned the site up, built a sales centre, started advertising yet don't have the permit.

I am by no means an expert, but I am assuming that the construction permit is different from permission to build something. Even the bank will loan you funds for a renovation before you get a permit from the city to do those renovations.

This isn't like they started selling units before receiving zoning variance to build what they are selling.
Reply
(10-29-2020, 01:30 PM)jeffster Wrote:
(10-28-2020, 08:21 PM)tomh009 Wrote: Notably 2,745 multi-residential units. This is what I am able to come up with, but I am clearly missing some (one of the Garment buildings, likely)
  • Drewlo - 488
  • Market Flats - 72
  • 387 King St E - 60
  • DTK - 300
  • Charlie West - 300
  • Garment St (27F) - 319
  • Young Condos - 306
  • 1430 Highland Rd W - 76
That's only 1,921, so the one missing Garment St building is not enough. Station Park, Ophelia and Civic 66 are all after the end of June.

Ok, but weren't most of those permitted *before* June 2019? I mean, many of those were already under construction.

I checked, and they were not. Many of them had demolition or foundation permits, but not ones for the actual buildings.
Reply
(10-28-2020, 07:38 PM)Momo26 Wrote: Another one bites the dust.

Just walked by Symposium uptown Waterloo - lease terminated.

Mostly because new Boardwalk location you reckon?

That one was a few months ago.

https://www.waterloochronicle.ca/news-st...rmanently/
Reply
UW is planning to expand the Health Sciences campus next to the School of Pharmacy with a 90,000 square foot, $35 million addition: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener...-1.5782101
Reply
(10-30-2020, 10:31 AM)KevinL Wrote: UW is planning to expand the Health Sciences campus next to the School of Pharmacy with a 90,000 square foot, $35 million addition: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener...-1.5782101

If my reading comprehension is OK, then it's a refurbishment of the existing warehouse building on Joseph St, rather than a new construction.

UW Accelerator Centre would also move there, freeing up space in the Tannery.
Reply
Ah yes, I believe you're correct. Looks like the warehouse is a solid two storeys, should be quite the refurb.
Reply


I mean, I'm all for reuse, but a warehouse isn't exactly a great formfactor for that area. That being said, my bigger concern is the giant surface parking lot...but given UWs parking policy both on their main campus and next door at the Pharmacy building, I'm not hopeful.
Reply
$35 million seems like a lot for a warehouse retrofit.  But I haven't seen any renderings or plans, hopefully the exterior renovations are high-end.  I would love to see them build a new building in the existing parking lot or in the field near the tracks. I assume that is the eventual plan as they expand their health sciences department over the coming decades. I think this is a good investment for the region.  There isn't much of a focus in the health sector in this region, so there is a lot of room to grow. I don't think we will ever become a London or Hamilton when it comes to healthcare, but there could be huge employment growth in this sector over the next couple decades, which will benefit the region.
Reply
(10-30-2020, 12:19 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: I mean, I'm all for reuse, but a warehouse isn't exactly a great formfactor for that area. That being said, my bigger concern is the giant surface parking lot...but given UWs parking policy both on their main campus and next door at the Pharmacy building, I'm not hopeful.

$35M buys a lot of warehouse renovation. I can see the project being a renovation like Breithaupt Block phase 2, which is barely recognizable as the former building. Probably without the added storeys on top, but still. It may not be super dense, but I don't think UW needs that much space just yet.

You're right that the parking policy is more of a problem. I think that rules out that corner of Victoria/Joseph for any redevelopment any time soon, UW loves their surface parking. Given the hints made here about a redevelopment project on that corner, I wonder if the owner of The Tannery is thinking about something for the Deloitte parking lot.

(10-30-2020, 03:01 PM)westwardloo Wrote: I would love to see them build a new building in the existing parking lot or in the field near the tracks. I assume that is the eventual plan as they expand their health sciences department over the coming decades.

The university doesn't own the field by the tracks. There's three properties here, the current pharmacy/med school property, the warehouse property, and the landlocked property by the tracks. The field by the tracks is so heavily contaminated that the owner couldn't sell it for $1, as no one wants to take on the liability for cleaning it up. Nevermind the problems of being landlocked. It'll be a long time before we see anything happen in that field.

   
Reply
https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...treet.html

Includes render.
Reply
(10-31-2020, 08:05 AM)creative Wrote: https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...treet.html

Includes render.
Here is a direct link to the render. 280 Joseph concept
Reply
I like the look of that - the saw-tooth skylights give it a bit of an industrial look.

Re the contaminiation of the neighbouring site, is there a source for this?  I'm wondering why that area would be more contaminated than the rest of the old Goodrich site
Reply


The site was Epton Industries.
Reply
The materials don't look the greatest...I can picture a similar building without the metal cladding, maybe keeping the original brick and using some CORTEN steel around the windows, but still, it's nice to see UW building another campus building here.
Reply
« Next Oldest | Next Newest »



Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 13 Guest(s)

About Waterloo Region Connected

Launched in August 2014, Waterloo Region Connected is an online community that brings together all the things that make Waterloo Region great. Waterloo Region Connected provides user-driven content fueled by a lively discussion forum covering topics like urban development, transportation projects, heritage issues, businesses and other issues of interest to those in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and the four Townships - North Dumfries, Wellesley, Wilmot, and Woolwich.

              User Links