03-29-2016, 03:00 PM
And now for some more exciting news.... ! I think this one is going to need it's own thread 
http://www.therecord.com/news-story/6409...ch-future/
KITCHENER — The new owners of an art deco landmark on Victoria Street, the former MacIntosh Dry Cleaners building, want to lease most of the space to a tech startup, but keep enough at the front for a coffee shop or brew pub.
The interior of the 6,000-square-foot building has been stripped bare and sandblasted. The brick exterior, triangular metal overhang and yellow, black and green vitrolite tiles give the building at 130 Victoria St. S. a unique look.
It was the only drive-in dry cleaner in the region until it closed in 2015.
For years, Nusrat Govindji and her husband Nizar kept an eye on the 87-year-old building at the corner of Bramm Street and Victoria. They have owned an 11-unit apartment building two doors down from the dry cleaner for the past 15 years. It is rented out to students attending the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy down the street.
So they are familiar with that part of the downtown and watched as startups slowly but steadily leased space in the neighbourhood.
"We thought it was very close to downtown. The Tannery is right around the corner, one of my sons is a software engineer, so we thought it would be just perfect to have a technology company," Nusrat said.
The Govindjis hired Cory de Villiers of Natcordev Inc. as a project manager. In recent years, de Villiers and his wife, Natasha, have restored several old buildings in Hespeler and opened new businesses in the limestone landmarks. They won a heritage award from the Region of Waterloo.
"We are going to make this old building shine again," de Villiers said. "In terms of a wish list of tech companies, this building ticks off all boxes."
The 1,000-square-foot second floor has a door that opens onto a flat roof.
"One of the things that a lot of tech companies look for is rooftop patio space for employees," de Villiers said.
Standing on the roof, he looks back at the second floor of the building and talks about plans for a glass wall that would look onto a patio.
"You can just see the view of the city, Google's Canadian engineering headquarters, just fantastic," de Villiers said. "It will be a great amenity to have here."
Communitech, the organization that supports the region's tech sector, is located two blocks away in the Tannery building. The startups migrating out of the Communitech Hub have driven the demand for renovated, brick-and-beam office space in the downtown. In the past five years, about 45 startups have moved out of the Tannery building and employ more than 800 workers in the downtown.
Brick-and-beam space is now at a premium, and the Govindjis hope to capitalize on the shrinking supply. The 87-year-old building on Victoria Street has ceilings that are more than 12 feet high. All of the joists and beams are exposed. Ditto for the brick walls.
The City of Kitchener has branded the area of the downtown within a 10-minute walk of King and Victoria streets as the Innovation District. The dry cleaning building is located right on the edge of it.
"Tech companies that are growing and expanding are running out of room in the Innovation District are now looking at something like this," de Villiers said.
A big garage door opens onto a large room near the back of the building. It would be perfect for hardware startups and maker space, de Villiers said.
The Govindjis would like to see a coffee shop or maybe a brew pub in the front part of the building near Victoria Street.
All of the old equipment from the dry cleaning business and the interior walls are gone.
"We had all of the ceilings sandblasted," de Villiers said. "There was just a massive, massive amount of old dry cleaning equipment in here."
There are remnants of the steam engine economy in the building. Big pulleys made of wood hang on some walls. The belts and pulleys were connected to a steam engine in the basement that burned coal, and powered the equipment in the dry cleaning business.
"We are being careful to keep a lot of the old, cool, interior features," de Villiers said.
http://www.therecord.com/news-story/6409...ch-future/
KITCHENER — The new owners of an art deco landmark on Victoria Street, the former MacIntosh Dry Cleaners building, want to lease most of the space to a tech startup, but keep enough at the front for a coffee shop or brew pub.
The interior of the 6,000-square-foot building has been stripped bare and sandblasted. The brick exterior, triangular metal overhang and yellow, black and green vitrolite tiles give the building at 130 Victoria St. S. a unique look.
It was the only drive-in dry cleaner in the region until it closed in 2015.
For years, Nusrat Govindji and her husband Nizar kept an eye on the 87-year-old building at the corner of Bramm Street and Victoria. They have owned an 11-unit apartment building two doors down from the dry cleaner for the past 15 years. It is rented out to students attending the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy down the street.
So they are familiar with that part of the downtown and watched as startups slowly but steadily leased space in the neighbourhood.
"We thought it was very close to downtown. The Tannery is right around the corner, one of my sons is a software engineer, so we thought it would be just perfect to have a technology company," Nusrat said.
The Govindjis hired Cory de Villiers of Natcordev Inc. as a project manager. In recent years, de Villiers and his wife, Natasha, have restored several old buildings in Hespeler and opened new businesses in the limestone landmarks. They won a heritage award from the Region of Waterloo.
"We are going to make this old building shine again," de Villiers said. "In terms of a wish list of tech companies, this building ticks off all boxes."
The 1,000-square-foot second floor has a door that opens onto a flat roof.
"One of the things that a lot of tech companies look for is rooftop patio space for employees," de Villiers said.
Standing on the roof, he looks back at the second floor of the building and talks about plans for a glass wall that would look onto a patio.
"You can just see the view of the city, Google's Canadian engineering headquarters, just fantastic," de Villiers said. "It will be a great amenity to have here."
Communitech, the organization that supports the region's tech sector, is located two blocks away in the Tannery building. The startups migrating out of the Communitech Hub have driven the demand for renovated, brick-and-beam office space in the downtown. In the past five years, about 45 startups have moved out of the Tannery building and employ more than 800 workers in the downtown.
Brick-and-beam space is now at a premium, and the Govindjis hope to capitalize on the shrinking supply. The 87-year-old building on Victoria Street has ceilings that are more than 12 feet high. All of the joists and beams are exposed. Ditto for the brick walls.
The City of Kitchener has branded the area of the downtown within a 10-minute walk of King and Victoria streets as the Innovation District. The dry cleaning building is located right on the edge of it.
"Tech companies that are growing and expanding are running out of room in the Innovation District are now looking at something like this," de Villiers said.
A big garage door opens onto a large room near the back of the building. It would be perfect for hardware startups and maker space, de Villiers said.
The Govindjis would like to see a coffee shop or maybe a brew pub in the front part of the building near Victoria Street.
All of the old equipment from the dry cleaning business and the interior walls are gone.
"We had all of the ceilings sandblasted," de Villiers said. "There was just a massive, massive amount of old dry cleaning equipment in here."
There are remnants of the steam engine economy in the building. Big pulleys made of wood hang on some walls. The belts and pulleys were connected to a steam engine in the basement that burned coal, and powered the equipment in the dry cleaning business.
"We are being careful to keep a lot of the old, cool, interior features," de Villiers said.