General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours

[tomh009]

"City must prepare for thousands of new downtown residents"
https://www.therecord.com/news-story/987...residents/

Generally in agreement with the story (and the professor), although I am mystified why this building boom would cause problems for condo boards, any different than what those boards deal with today.

I believe that any condo being built will have a solid idea of proper condo fee's for maintenance. I believe that the current ones are far from cheap, more than enough to cover any serious issues.

The developers tend to err on the low side with the condo fees, unsurprisingly so. But once the condo board does the first reserve fund study, the reality hits, and the reserve contributions are reset to a sufficient level. Unless the board intentionally hides the presence of short-term rentals, the engineering firm will account for those in the reserve fund study and adjust accordingly.

[danbrotherston]

Ah so an incorrect fact about RoboCop?

The article said Robocop 2.  There was a Robocop remake filmed entirely in Canada (Really a Robocop 4 I think)…. perhaps that filmed at "futuristic" City Hall.

Coke

I have never heard of this, and now I'm really curious.

But it's definitely not "RoboCop 2" which is definitely the hollywood sequel to RoboCop.

And yes, the legislation around condo board maintenance is really quite strict, every four years a study must be done to assess the condition of the building and the future maintenance requirements, the board must then fund this account according to the requirements. Usually prices go up so most studies show a need for increasing the account, and certainly the developer's initial amounts are too low (not sure why they get away with this) to make the property look more attractive, but this is rarely an issue of maintenance, only of missed expectations for the owners.

I'm not totally clear on how short term rentals would even affect this, it's unlikely to affect things like replacing expensive equipment on the roof, etc. and any damage to the property caused by short term renters can probably be assessed back to the unit owner.

[tomh009]

I'm not totally clear on how short term rentals would even affect this, it's unlikely to affect things like replacing expensive equipment on the roof, etc. and any damage to the property caused by short term renters can probably be assessed back to the unit owner.

Most of the additional wear and tear from short-term rentals would likely be on hallway walls etc.

The wild card is the potential for damage from irresponsible short-term renters. Within the unit it's a unit-owner responsibility, common areas would be condo corporation. It might be possible to charge back to the unit owner if there is sufficient (video or otherwise) evidence to identify the people causing the damage.

[Spokes]

How could you go about having a mixed building? Do you only allow approval with x% of units allowed to be bought by the region? Or does the region just simply buy them on their own?

[taylortbb]

Getting Facebook ads for The Bright Building, I'm assuming somewhere on Breithaupt from the name and description. Anyone heard anything? 

https://www.thebrightbuilding.ca/

   

[KevinL]

An adaptive re-use of Boehmer Box?

[taylortbb]

An adaptive re-use of Boehmer Box?

The fact they're asking for random people on FB to sign up makes me think it's residential. I thought that building was too close to the tracks for residential use.

[Square]

The old McDonald's site?

[tomh009]

The old McDonald's site?

This is what I'm thinking, too.

[robdrimmie]

The 3 minute drive from downtown and uptown feels like it needs to be closer to Mt Hope? Could it be whatever is replacing Electrohome? "Bright" might be a reference.

[jeffster]

The 3 minute drive from downtown and uptown feels like it needs to be closer to Mt Hope? Could it be whatever is replacing Electrohome? "Bright" might be a reference.

That would make a lot of sense, actually. Probably equally close to DTK and UTW give or take a minute or 2?

Not 100% sure where DTK begins, but I always thought around Victoria, but perhaps Francis. Waterloo is a tougher guess, William for sure, but perhaps Allan.

The old Ron's Diner is about 3 or 4 minutes from Allan, depending on lights, but pretty close to DTK for sure. Bright saying that it's steps away from Google, though, seems to suggest Ron's Diner. Map seems to indicate travel time between two town centres suggest Electrohome (along with "Bright").

[panamaniac]

The 3 minute drive from downtown and uptown feels like it needs to be closer to Mt Hope? Could it be whatever is replacing Electrohome? "Bright" might be a reference.

...

Not 100% sure where DTK begins, but I always thought around Victoria, but perhaps Francis. Waterloo is a tougher guess, William for sure, but perhaps Allan.

.....

DTK used to end at Francis, then it became Victoria.  Eventually, if not already, it will be the train tracks.  UTW is William, although those living between William and the Mutual would probably insist that they’re in Uptown, given the premium they’ve paid ....

[Spokes]

The old McDonald's site?

This is what I'm thinking, too.

Would LOVE this

[neonjoe]

Has anyone noticed if the McDonalds property was for sale or has sold. McDonalds tends to own their own real estate and then leases the land/building to the franchise. They are one of the largest real-estate owners in the world.

[jeremyroman]

The developer seems to be HIP Developments (the terms of service say so).