Strata | 16 & 22 fl | Proposed

[tomh009]

The way things seem to be going, Uptown will be preserved as a low-rise, boutique-y central shopping district with few inhabitants, and Downtown will be a healthy mix of scale and uses. There's so much pressure from well-heeled residents near to Uptown that this seems very likely to me, for reasons that Viewfromthe42 describes.

I'd be okay with this. I think it would be bad for (the City of) Waterloo, but good for the Region. Uptown can fill a niche; Downtown can provide everything else.

Edit: The way things seem to be going, the University area will wind up a healthier mix of uses and a more important core than Uptown, too. The developments there lately are great.

I agree that this seems a likely outcome. Intensification will be much more limited in Waterloo, so it will remain more suburban while urban development will be primarily in Kitchener. Maybe the university area will develop into a modern urban area in the longer term, but the city isn't really directing development in that direction, either.