(11-23-2021, 02:46 PM)GtwoK Wrote: While the concept I am completely in support of (and excited about!), god it pains me that on a street rapidly being developed with mixed use, almost 30 story buildings, we're committed to keeping.... a warehouse. For decades to come. And at what is pretty much the epicentre of downtown.

(11-23-2021, 02:46 PM)GtwoK Wrote: While the concept I am completely in support of (and excited about!), god it pains me that on a street rapidly being developed with mixed use, almost 30 story buildings, we're committed to keeping.... a warehouse. For decades to come. And at what is pretty much the epicentre of downtown.

(11-23-2021, 03:12 PM)westwardloo Wrote: Unfortunately this project has been scaled back significantly in terms of design in the last couple months. The posted render is nothing close to what this will look like.  The architects had come up with a beautiful saw tooth roof structure running the opposite direction shown in the render. It would have allow light to get through the whole warehouse and would have created quite a unique building. Now it is a simple exterior brick reclad and a couple punched windows along the joseph street side. This is going to be a boring building. Hopefully the building serves its purpose and helps transform KW into a Medical technical hub.

(11-23-2021, 01:52 PM)CP42 Wrote:

University of Waterloo Innovation Arena

280 Joseph St, Kitchener

uwaterloo.ca/innovation-arena/

Although this was announced a year ago, I don't believe we have a thread for it.
The facility is estimated to be "coming in 2023".

Purpose
Per Waterloo EDC: 
The University of Waterloo has announced plans to launch an innovation centre that will focus on health innovation and medical technology with new facilities for the Waterloo startup community. Dubbed the "Innovation Arena" - a preliminary name that could change in coming years - the new 90,000 square foot centre will include a wet lab for chemical/materials science, four biosafety labs and product development space. 
The building housing the new health technology centre, a former warehouse, will also become the new home of Velocity - Canada's most productive tech incubator. The new location will mean a significant increase to its existing 36,000 square foot space. 

Per CTV:
The City of Kitchener has partnered with UW on this development and contributed $8.5 million, approximately 1/4 of the capital costs, which allows them to lease 5,000 square feet of space for $1 to be used by the Waterloo Region Small Business Centre. 
The University says the building will be among the first of its kind in Canada. 

Location and Current State

Off the corner of Victoria and Joseph Street, the Innovation Arena is situated next to the existing UW Health Sciences campus, across the street from Communitech and the current UW Velocity location, as well as Deloitte on the opposite corner of the intersection. It is just across the train tracks from Google's Breithaupt Block Campus and the Station Park Development


The building is a 90,000 square foot warehouse that is currently vacant and owned by The University of Waterloo.


This Google Street View image from October 2020 taken at Victoria and Joseph shows the building with Breithaupt Block in the background as well as a crane at Station Park. 

Supporting Links
https://uwaterloo.ca/news/innovation-arena-comes-waterloo
https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/uw-asks-city-of-kitchener-to-partner-on-35m-building-1.5167352
https://blog.waterlooedc.ca/uwaterloo-launch-medtech-innovation-centre
https://betakit.com/velocity-to-move-to-new-home-as-part-of-university-of-waterloo-city-of-kitchener-deal/

(11-23-2021, 02:46 PM)GtwoK Wrote: While the concept I am completely in support of (and excited about!), god it pains me that on a street rapidly being developed with mixed use, almost 30 story buildings, we're committed to keeping.... a warehouse. For decades to come. And at what is pretty much the epicentre of downtown.

(11-24-2021, 07:25 AM)cherrypark Wrote: My question: does UW own the little triangle of green shrubbery abutting the new MUT and behind the Mac/UW buildings? Would be really nice if the city could lobby them to clean it up a bit and open as park space once this project is complete to give a little more accessible green space downtown.

(11-24-2021, 12:48 PM)kps Wrote: Is the homeless camp still there? If they hold out ten years, it's theirs.

(11-24-2021, 02:52 PM)taylortbb Wrote: Land ownership is public, https://data.waterloo.ca/datasets/998a4ff2e1444a21aeb386033e561995_0/explore?location=43.452336%2C-80.499742%2C18.69 . That triangle is owned by Polyone, a plastics company. Apparently the land is heavily contaminated, they would sell it for $1 if anyone would buy it, but no one wants the liability for the cleanup.