3241-3247 King St E and 108 Cameo Dr | 24, 23, & 19 fl | U/C

[Acitta]

'Topping Out' completed at Kitchener rental tower development

The SYLK Towers on King Street in Kitchener has hit an important construction milestone.

A Topping Out ceremony was held Wednesday after the 25-storey tower at 3241 King Streeet East reached its highest point of construction.

The Vive Development project will offer 304 affordable rental apartment units.

“The entire building's 10 per cent below market [value] and then 20 per cent of the units are at 70 per cent of median household income.” said Stephen Litt, Chief Development Officer of Vive developments.


“That makes the units around $1,700 per month rather than $2,200,” Litt added.

Litt says the project was made possible though initiatives from the federal government.

Around $115 million dollars in financing came from the federal Rental Construction Financing Initiative.

“The funds coming direct from the Federal Reserve, there's no intermediate lender, so it's lower cost … without that my interest rate would be doubled effectively in a project like this,” said Litt.

Litt says this type of purpose-built rental helps cut out investors who are looking to turn a profit on rental units.

“90 per cent of new high-rise condos are bought by investors. In that regime there's a developer looking to make a profit, then [an] investor, then a tenant. In this case, it's [from the] developer right to the tenant,” said Litt.

As part of the agreement, the units must remain affordable for 21 years.

Litt said the plan is to have tenants move in this year, and he said phase 2 and 3 of the SYLK Towers are in the planning stages.

According to Vive’s website, when construction is complete, the project will bring more than 1,000 new rental units to Kitchener.

Tenants are expected to be able to start to move in sometime in early 2025.

[tomh009]

“The entire building's 10 per cent below market [value] and then 20 per cent of the units are at 70 per cent of median household income.” said Stephen Litt, Chief Development Officer of Vive developments.

This is good. It'd be better to have more, and in a more walkable location, but this is still a good boost for affordability.

[neonjoe]

“The entire building's 10 per cent below market [value] and then 20 per cent of the units are at 70 per cent of median household income.” said Stephen Litt, Chief Development Officer of Vive developments.

This is good. It'd be better to have more, and in a more walkable location, but this is still a good boost for affordability.

Even though it would be somewhat in the middle of nowhere, I do think that a future iON stop at River Rd could potentially be a decent mid-way stop between sports world and fairway. Somewhat unideal as everyone would have to Cross Highway 8 via river but the catchment area if King E keeps intensifying could help build ridership. For instance cutting through Hofstetter park to where River would cross the highway is ~400-500m. A station there would be 1.7km from Fairview Station. It's not ideal but the node there does keep intensifying provisions for a potential station could perhaps be included so that a full buildout later would be easier. It's about 4.4km from Fairway Station to the Future Sportsworld station so a mid block station could eventually make sense.

[ZEBuilder]

This project now has a ZBA/OPA submitted to the city. Vive is intending to change the height of the third phase of the project from 19 floors to 29 floors. The planning documents haven't been made public yet but Vive will be asking for amendments to the OP for density (FSR of 4.94 whereas 4.0 is the max), reduction in parking spaces (871 instead of 1038) for a rate of 0.8 spaces per unit (slightly lower than this).

[tomh009]

This project now has a ZBA/OPA submitted to the city. Vive is intending to change the height of the third phase of the project from 19 floors to 29 floors. The planning documents haven't been made public yet but Vive will be asking for amendments to the OP for density (FSR of 4.94 whereas 4.0 is the max), reduction in parking spaces (871 instead of 1038) for a rate of 0.8 spaces per unit (slightly lower than this).

Is the ZBA/OPA for phases 2 and 3?

[ZEBuilder]

This project now has a ZBA/OPA submitted to the city. Vive is intending to change the height of the third phase of the project from 19 floors to 29 floors. The planning documents haven't been made public yet but Vive will be asking for amendments to the OP for density (FSR of 4.94 whereas 4.0 is the max), reduction in parking spaces (871 instead of 1038) for a rate of 0.8 spaces per unit (slightly lower than this).

Is the ZBA/OPA for phases 2 and 3?

The documents aren't public facing but from the description it's only phase 3.

"The purpose of the application is to increase the height of Tower ‘C’ from 19 storeys to 29 storeys. The changes to the original approved Site Plans include an increase in building height, and corresponding increases to residential density and Floor Space Ratio, which requires an Amendment to both the Official Plan and Zoning By-Law."

[Square]

https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...67769.html


"A developer wants to add 10 storeys and dozens more apartments to a building planned for a three-tower complex in Kitchener.

Vive Development is requesting the change for a project at 3241-3247 King St. E., and 108 Cameo Dr., which is already approved and underway.

The first of three towers at the site, near River Road, is expected to be ready for occupancy later this month, while ground was broken for the second tower this week.

When the project was initially approved in 2022, the towers were planned at heights of 24, 23 and 19 storeys.

Now, Vive is asking to add 10 storeys to the third tower and bring it to 29 storeys. The total number of rental apartments across the three buildings will rise from 946 to 1116.

Vive’s Stephen Litt referenced “the deep need for housing of all sorts in Kitchener” as he discussed the change during an online information meeting on Thursday night.

“We believe that as a private housing developer, the best way for us to attack and help alleviate the housing crisis in Canada is to build supply.”

Twenty per cent of the units in the first two buildings will be affordable according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation guidelines, Litt said.

The height increase requires official plan and zoning bylaw amendments, for increased density, reduced parking and a reduced rear yard setback.

City planning staff will make a recommendation that will be considered at planning committee and council meetings this fall.

The third tower is planned for the back of the property, near Cameo Drive. It is expected to have 300 one-bedroom and 115 two-bedroom units, along with a ground-floor daycare centre.

Additional units have also been added to the plans for the second tower, but its height and footprint aren’t changing.

The property’s neighbours include existing residential buildings ranging from six to 11 storeys in height, single-detached homes and townhomes and commercial buildings and a new gas station across King Street.

The complex will include 871 underground, podium and surface parking spaces and almost 600 bicycle spots. Once complete, the site will be accessed from either King Street or Cameo Drive.

Outdoor and indoor amenity space is proposed for each of the towers.

A number of the questions asked during Thursday’s session related to current construction and included dust and construction parking on Cameo Drive and adjacent lots. Other questions and comments related to such things as shadow and traffic impacts and green space.

Senior city planner Eric Schneider said the city and the Region of Waterloo are both reviewing an updated traffic impact study.

Schneider said the region, which oversees regional roads such as King Street, didn’t mention any plans for King Street reconstruction in this vicinity when the development was first approved; work is expected nearby from 2027 to 2032 for the planned River Road extension.

Asked about the possibility of adding a crosswalk on King Street, Schneider said the city will continue to raise the question with the region.

“It has been expressed several times by residents in the neighbouring buildings … that it’s unsafe to cross midblock there and it’s a long walk both ways to River Road to the east or Fairway Road to the west.”

In terms of a construction timeline, Litt said he expects the second tower will be completed in two years, while the third building should be done in 3.5 years."

[ZEBuilder]

Phase 2 as alluded to in the previous post is under construction. Shoring appears to be completed and excavation is well under way. They have a mobile crane moving stuff around on site so presumably there is some rebar being installed, there is no foundation permit in the system but you can no longer see permit applications in the cities system so it may be in progress. I don't have a photo as I was just passing by and caught a glimpse through the King St driveway.

[ZEBuilder]

The crane is now up for phase 2. This marks Vive's third high rise in some stage of construction (95 cumulative floors) the most they've ever had. They have this, 864 King (shoring), and 1001 King (a month or two until top out of phase 1, phase 2 is still to come).

[tomh009]

Had to think about that for a moment until I realized that it's 864 King W and 1001 King E. 😊

[ac3r]

This thing looks like a North Korean attempt at contemporary minimalist architecture or something. What an eyesore.