Hamilton Development

[westwardloo]

That is basically my point. There is no incentive for the owner of the property to sell/ development when they have tenants giving them money. It would have been better in my opinion to suffer 5 more years of an empty retal space and then demolish and start from scratch. In order to make it pleasing to the eye and have a good street presence they will have to spend a lot. Conestoga would be better off buying a lot dt and starting from scratch.

Two questions: If you were the owners and your place was near empty, would you suffer for 5 years and hope someone with a lot of money to come around and redevelop the property? Other question: If you're Conestoga College and you're looking to expand further, do you buy and empty lot and start from scratch, and wait years for the project to be finished to start your new course?

I think the answer is No in both circumstances. I do see Conestoga as improving that building, much like they did University Heights, and perhaps The Record will move somewhere else DTK.

I think it's easy to want something or something else when it's not our money or our decision to make. As it stands, businesses do things to stay afloat, and schools that are on the public dime, need to use their money wisely. In this case, it's working for both of them.

Ok first off this discussion was meant to be purely fantasy urban planning talk because I want to live in a beautiful world class city. 
Second to be honest I am a giant urban dreamer. Constantly thinking of ways to improve the cities landscape. So in fact if I did have the money and I did own the block. I would demolish it in a heart beat. Build something to reinvigorate the king street front, maybe build a nice square to play homage the the city hall roots. Obviously if I was an extremely wealthy developer I would probably be looking to make a profit, but at the end of the day I would more concerned about try to create a beautiful function space for the city I live in.
Of course conestoga isn't going to build something until they know the market for their expanded business program.
That renovation on university ave was 58 million dollars. Personally I would prefer they use that to buy and construct a new campus even if the did it over by the climbing gym. Might even help jumpstart the development around borden station. Rather than extend the life of a failed mall and a blight on kitchener heritage and urban planning record.
I can't believe I am in an argument with someone over market square, I thought it would be universally hated on a forum like this. Goes to show how much a bubble I can live in sometimes. 
I understand what you are saying. all I am saying is if Hamilton can redevelop a failed mall we can too. But due to the conestoga college situation I don't see it happen this decade, which I think is unfortunate.