Society 145 | 23 fl | U/C

[tomh009]

Wow ... the original thread goas all the way back to 2014!

[CP42]

Here is where things are at as of this evening!
This was taken from the Icon parking lot. Makes me wonder if these buildings will be sharing the same parking lot?

[ac3r]

Is this just going to be another ugly student dump? The lack of balconies suggests it'll be geared towards them since most condos have balconies included.

[CP42]

Is this just going to be another ugly student dump? The lack of balconies suggests it'll be geared towards them since most condos have balconies included.

Most definitely. It's wedged between other student buildings on each side of it. 
They've marketed as some up-scale luxury condominium but it is definitely just crammed student housing. 
Looking at the floor plans, it is the same as what they did with Icon where they'd have "1 bedroom" units that are designed to be used as 2 bedrooms with students where one doesn't even get windows:

[ac3r]

Thanks, I figured as much.

I don't get why Waterloo rarely approves any proper condo or apartment buildings in the city (especially uptown), yet these things multiply like a virus. I get that there are a lot of students in the city who need places to live, but they could approve both. Maybe there just isn't a market for anything else in Waterloo because it's a student city and there isn't much to do uptown unless you're in your early 20s. There have been so many projects that were proposed 5-10 years ago that never went anywhere - like Strata, 80 Dorset, 87 Regina - as well as large developments like the one on Westmount which also seems to have stalled. Meanwhile, Kitchener is building skyscrapers now and even Cambridge is approving a lot and they have yet to even get an LRT extension.

[nms]

Isn't capitalism great?

[Rainrider22]

As apposed to what ?

[nms]

Stability. Did Waterloo get stuck with a lot of developers who took the City for a bunch of rubes? "Let's propose something shiny, but the moment we get pushback (whether from the City, someone else, physical limitations on the site etc), we'll walk away with a shrug of our shoulders and let them deal with the aftermath."

[CP42]

[jwilliamson]

[Bjays93]

Icon is one of the few decent looking buildings in the area, despite a baffling podium.

[jamincan]

I was walking past the podium a while ago and I think it's actually pretty decent at street level. The big problem is the imbalance between the massive density on the east side of Phillip and the vacant parking lot on the west side. I think the university owns the land to the west, but I don't know if they have any plans to develop there anytime soon, unfortunately.

[CP42]

Both of these towers are topped out with mechanical penthouses framed up.

[nms]

I'm sure that the University has plans. I would imagine that something that replaced East Campus Hall would be first (since East Campus Hall includes the main shipping and receiving department among other things) and then a new building on the East Campus Hall site.

[jshamont]

These ones are nearing completion