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By "mixed use," they must mean commercial and retail. As in what's happening directly next door, across Bridge street. Seems like an exorbitant amount of parking for these uses, all are single storey, no indication that street-adjacent means street-accessible (and neither street is very pedestrian at this point). I can't imagine what "innovative" means in this context.
“Innovative” is just a buzz word. It’s an adjective without any real meaning.
I think we’d collectively be better-served if this piece of land continued to be cash-cropped. It’s kind of sad to see something so typically suburban and hostile to humans directly adjacent to an iXpress stop.
04-13-2016, 05:57 PM (This post was last modified: 04-13-2016, 06:22 PM by GtwoK.)
CTV just reported that Pioneer Plaza is getting a "major face lift" and "forcing businesses out", but didn't provide any more information than that. Anyone know anything more?
With some luck, maybe that Zehrs will be modernized. They're still using the logo from 2 rebrands ago, and the place is digusting-looking inside.
Edit: Er, scratch the no information part, they did provide this (barely legible) photo
So it seems the entire plaza is being completely trashed and rebuilt, save for Tim Hortons and Dairy Queen. Hm. On one hand, I'm happy it's being modernized, but on the other, it's going from being a Plaza in the center of a parking lot to a Plaza surrounding a parking lot, with its back to the street. Quite unfortunate.
(04-13-2016, 05:57 PM)GtwoK Wrote: CTV just reported that Pioneer Plaza is getting a "major face lift" and "forcing businesses out", but didn't provide any more information than that. Anyone know anything more?
With some luck, maybe that Zehrs will be modernized. They're still using the logo from 2 rebrands ago, and the place is digusting-looking inside.
Edit: Er, scratch the no information part, they did provide this (barely legible) photo
So it seems the entire plaza is being completely trashed and rebuilt, save for Tim Hortons and Dairy Queen. Hm. On one hand, I'm happy it's being modernized, but on the other, it's going from being a Plaza in the center of a parking lot to a Plaza surrounding a parking lot, with its back to the street. Quite unfortunate.
I assume this is related to the major building/renovation plan announced by Loblaws yesterday?
I worry this new plaza will suffer the same fate as Sportsworld Crossing.
I can't get a news link to stick for some reason, but it was widely reported (CBC, G&M) that Loblaws is spending $1B this year to build 50 new stores and renovate 150 existing stores this year.
Why would it mean a rebrand? Zehrs is by far their favoured brand in the region and Valumart is only really used for franchise operations as far as I know.
Why are you posting this in 'General Suburban Updates'? Maybe one of these stores will be in KW's urban core. Maybe one will the long-awaited downtown Kitchener grocery store.
Aw man, I was getting excited that they were flush against the road, and were more pedestrian accessible. Alas, they are still behind a small parking lot!
04-13-2016, 11:02 PM (This post was last modified: 04-13-2016, 11:08 PM by Lens.)
Interesting. I had thought Starbucks might move over but it didn't look like there was rooms for a drive thru. The addition of Nando's should be interesting, I'd also been wondering when they might open up shop here. I really doing see them splitting the space up into such small units though, buildings don't have a large footprint.
Also, I've heard a rumour that the Fairway Winners will be re-branded as a Marshall's/Homesense which really doesn't mean much.