12-02-2021, 07:22 PM
There's zero chance the old bus terminal gets turned into an Indigenous centre as much as I would love to have one in this region. I'm Indigenous and think it's a great idea, but this isn't the place for it. I know some of the people who had proposed this and they don't really understand what they're attempting to do. Aside from the costs involved, the bus terminal itself is not really the kind of structure you can use for anything but a bus terminal.
Inside, there are only 5 usable rooms in the building: 4 offices, an old break room and the restaurant downstairs. The rest of it is just the hallways, staircases, some washrooms under said staircases and electrical rooms (and surprisingly, a secure holding cell...I had no idea they had one). The building is also in horrible condition. I had done some work for my architecture firm this year and I had visited the site to scope things out since a developer we work with has been interested in this location. The mechanical aspects are seriously run down (HVAC, plumbing, electrical, elevators etc), the roof leaks, the windows need replaced etc. It'd cost millions of dollars to repair it and then transform it into usable space. And then you'd have to figure out what to do with the rest of the plot of land since it's basically just a bunch of asphalt bus lanes. Adding more structures would cost a lot of money and neither the Region of Waterloo nor the City of Kitchener would be willing to cover the cost to do that.
Inside, there are only 5 usable rooms in the building: 4 offices, an old break room and the restaurant downstairs. The rest of it is just the hallways, staircases, some washrooms under said staircases and electrical rooms (and surprisingly, a secure holding cell...I had no idea they had one). The building is also in horrible condition. I had done some work for my architecture firm this year and I had visited the site to scope things out since a developer we work with has been interested in this location. The mechanical aspects are seriously run down (HVAC, plumbing, electrical, elevators etc), the roof leaks, the windows need replaced etc. It'd cost millions of dollars to repair it and then transform it into usable space. And then you'd have to figure out what to do with the rest of the plot of land since it's basically just a bunch of asphalt bus lanes. Adding more structures would cost a lot of money and neither the Region of Waterloo nor the City of Kitchener would be willing to cover the cost to do that.