Charles St GRT terminal redevelopment

[danbrotherston]

This has created good discord. I like the debate.

Lol...it certainly has created that. I think the discourse has been interesting at least, and civil. Although it hasn't stopped the downvotes from lurkers.

I already shared i think it needs to be a mix of loads of things.

I am okay with an arena/premier sports AND entertainment venue but I think if we are doing the office and condos, we should take inspiration from The Well, Distillery District and Celebration Square.

I put more details in an earlier post. To build on that we could have a nice community space, RecRoom type all ages gaming business, plenty of restos with patios, something like planetarium and a larger Museum space  and have clear linkages to the park and Immovation area as well as to King Street proper all whilst still paying homage to our roots and community members at large.


Then we need a Board for the Planetarium and Museum that goes hard and bringing the best and sought after exhibits to town. Selfishly perhaps, like Chicago, it should be FREE or heavily subsidized for Waterloo Region residents.

Just some thoughts.

Have a vision, spend the bux, and make Kitchener Waterloo a top 4 destination to live, play, work and visit in all of Canada (behind Toronto, Vancouver and say Montreal, as these are hard to top)

I certainly think this is a laudable goal (although top 4 is ambitious to say the least, you'd have to move ahead of not just peer Ontario cities like Hamilton, London, and Guelph, but also Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Victoria, probably others).

I think there are a lot of opinions here, but if the goal is to make DTK a premier destination to live and play rather than just work and visit, you have to think about the daily experience any development will generate. What does it feel like to be there on the other 300 days of the year of the year.

Ottawa did a big relatively urban development for the Red Black football team. I wandered into it during an off game. It was quieter than the rest of the relatively urban area, but it was still had some activity. There was a market, and a few other things going on. To me that's a great example to study, it's working better than something like London, but it still highlights how hard it is to activate a space where a huge amount of the space is effectively dead most of the time.

The other districts you mention are also good examples. I think anything that is "single use" is a risk, but I think most planners understand that at this point.