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General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours
Looks like 5 Michael st, Kitchener could become an office for a local tech company.


old article:

Heritage building offered up for potential high-tech use
June 17, 2011 |  Rose Simone | The Record | LINK



Quote:KITCHENER — The owners of another turn-of-the-century heritage building in downtown Kitchener have decided to sell or lease it for potential high-tech or professional office uses.

Bill Labron, co-owner with Lynn McRuer of 5 Michael St., says with the Tannery high-tech office space about two blocks away filling up quickly, he has been getting expressions of interest in the building.

Labron and McRuer run Music Plus Corp., which sells sheet music, books and instruments, and the Beckett School of music from the building. Both are thriving businesses, “but there are a lot of places where we can do what we do,” Labron says.

Labron says he had already been thinking about other locations for the Beckett school because it now has 1,500 students a week and continues to grow. The school already has a satellite location in Pioneer Park.

“So realistically, we will need to look at a larger location or a different location,” he says.

Darren Shaw of DTZ Barnicke, the real estate firm handling the listing, says that with just over 31,000 square feet of space, the Michael Street building is perfect for a medium-sized high-tech company, or engineering or marketing firm with perhaps between 100 to 150 employees.

There are about 40 parking spaces on the site and some on-street parking, and it is close to the transit routes, making it attractive to a number of businesses, he says.

It is the type of building the technology sector is interested in right now, he adds.

The brick and beam building with large windows and a working historic elevator was built by Charles Ahrens in 1910 to house the Ahrens Shoe Co.

In the 1970s, it became a Greb factory outlet shoe store and from 1979 to 1999, it was the home of the Cline Shirt Co., a shirt manufacturer.

When Labron and McRuer bought the factory in 2000, they completely renovated the inside while keeping heritage features such as the wooden pillars and posts, beams and floor boards.

They were among the first in the city to get into the “adaptive reuse” of an old industrial space that they converted into a “talent factory” for budding musicians.

Now, the timing is right for a different owner or user to continue the building’s history, Labron says.

“We have had a huge development going on in this part of the city, and with the new transit hub coming on, there is tremendous excitement in terms people wanting to be here.”




Whitney Real Estate Services currently has a lighting for this building, which can be viewed here.

There is a City of Kitchener Planning & Strategic Initiatives Committee report from Feb 2, 2015 that details a zoning change application for 5 Michael St.


Quote:RECOMMENDATION: That Zone Change Application ZC14/08/M/KA for 1397036 Ontario Ltd. for the purpose of changing the zoning from Neighbourhood Institutional Zone (I-2) with Special Use Provision 281U to Neighbourhood Institutional Zone (I-2) with amended Special Use Provision 281U be approved in the form shown in the “Proposed By-law” dated December 18, 2014 attached to Report CSD-15-005 as Appendix ‘A’.

REPORT: he subject lands are located at 5 Michael Street which is located a block outside of the boundary of the downtown. The site currently contains a music retail store and music school. The owner of the site has entered into an agreement of purchase and sale with a local high-tech office user who plans to expand their local operations into the subject building as additional office space for employees. It is intended that client and public functions would be handled out of the main office location in the downtown. 
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Messages In This Thread
RE: General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours - by rangersfan - 03-08-2015, 11:22 AM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by Markster - 06-09-2015, 03:36 PM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by KWchick - 06-09-2015, 03:43 PM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by panamaniac - 06-09-2015, 03:51 PM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by KWchick - 06-09-2015, 03:53 PM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by tomh009 - 06-09-2015, 04:02 PM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by LakesidePark - 06-10-2015, 07:34 AM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by BuildingScout - 06-12-2015, 09:47 AM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by tomh009 - 01-16-2023, 09:09 PM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by CedarHillAlum - 01-17-2023, 03:55 PM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by Owen - 06-12-2015, 10:17 AM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by panamaniac - 06-12-2015, 10:27 AM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by neonjoe - 06-12-2015, 10:57 AM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by tomh009 - 06-12-2015, 11:58 AM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by tomh009 - 06-12-2015, 12:10 PM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by BuildingScout - 06-12-2015, 12:17 PM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by panamaniac - 06-12-2015, 02:47 PM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by Owen - 06-12-2015, 03:11 PM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by plam - 06-12-2015, 07:27 PM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by mpd618 - 06-12-2015, 09:15 PM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by DHLawrence - 06-12-2015, 09:43 PM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by Owen - 06-15-2015, 10:38 AM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by BuildingScout - 06-15-2015, 10:53 AM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by panamaniac - 06-15-2015, 11:24 AM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by mpd618 - 06-15-2015, 04:15 PM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by REnerd - 06-15-2015, 09:54 PM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by Owen - 06-15-2015, 10:03 PM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by tomh009 - 06-15-2015, 10:31 PM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by Section ThirtyOne - 06-16-2015, 11:36 AM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by Owen - 06-16-2015, 11:41 AM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by Section ThirtyOne - 06-16-2015, 11:51 AM
RE: Mayfair Hotel - by Owen - 06-16-2015, 12:32 PM
RE: The Glove Box | 6 fl | Proposed - by Spokes - 11-02-2018, 08:53 AM
RE: The Market Flats | 7 fl | Completed - by ac3r - 01-10-2023, 12:50 PM
RE: The Market Flats | 7 fl | Completed - by ac3r - 01-10-2023, 02:06 PM

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