Lower Kitchener (534 Charles St E) | 32, 27, 15 fl | Proposed

[Rainrider22]

Forget that building, work the King Fish and Chips into the project. This place has arguably the best fish and chips in town,

[Momo26]

Can someone give me a one pic snapshot of what building we are talking about demolishing here?

[ac3r]

Can someone give me a one pic snapshot of what building we are talking about demolishing here?

It's this one: https://goo.gl/maps/gqkrndH8eGsqMnDU9 & https://goo.gl/maps/v6RqPAnFkk5twoRXA

[Momo26]

Not demolishing this is even a discussion point? Does it house a golden statue that I'm not aware of?

[danbrotherston]

Not demolishing this is even a discussion point? Does it house a golden statue that I'm not aware of?

Welcome to Kitchener.

[tomh009]

Not demolishing this is even a discussion point? Does it house a golden statue that I'm not aware of?

Welcome to Kitchener.

Are we talking about the Kitchener that wouldn't demolish two uninteresting houses on Queen St S, or the Kitchener that wouldn't save a unique brutalist facade at Fairview Mall?

[jeffster]

Not demolishing this is even a discussion point? Does it house a golden statue that I'm not aware of?

Everything is "heritage" in Kitchener, it seems. This is one building that really shouldn't be saved. But I guess if it's not your money, you can demand the government make it difficult for a builder. It all dates back to the old city hall, that was demolished when it shouldn't have been. Now it seems that everyone is triggered when we talk about demolishing an old(er) building.

Now so buildings should at least give us pause for thought, while others should be saved. I don't think building is in either category. That whole west side of King, from Ottawa to Stirling, needs work. And this proposal is a good start.

[danbrotherston]

Welcome to Kitchener.

Are we talking about the Kitchener that wouldn't demolish two uninteresting houses on Queen St S, or the Kitchener that wouldn't save a unique brutalist facade at Fairview Mall?

the Kitchener which had loud arguments about both.

[ijmorlan]

That being said, especially with the heritage component being so far back from the street, keeping it would give an outsized constraint on the overall development in this particular case. I would be quite surprised if it were retained.

On a different note, clearly there should be no parking minimum on this site. That close to an LRT stop the concept is absurd and offensive. I wonder how much parking the developers would like to provide? And what happens if they offer to replace a floor or two of parking with affordable housing?

I would have thought this would be a strong point of a creative proposal - use that space to create a small plaza, since a development of this size would be, one would hope, required to include public amenities and/or green space.

I agree with you as to site plan, and I think that it’s more unique and worthy of preservation than some people do. But either they would have to dig up only the two ends of the block, leaving the existing ground under the tower, or temporarily jack up the tower and support it on beams while the excavation happens underneath. This isn’t inconceivable — the proposal for John and King in Waterloo involves moving a heritage house — but I consider it relatively unlikely to happen.

Whether it should happen, I don’t really know enough about what is involved to make a judgement. I consider this particular feature to be interesting enough to think about and not just knock down blindly, but not interesting enough to go to enormous expense to save. But of course I’m not even sure what I mean by “enormous expense”.

[rangersfan]

I have always liked that building but really think of it as underutilized. If renovated I think it could be a star.

[Spokes]

Story in the record today about a "gateway" development in East kitchener. It will be a 3 phased development starting with a 32 storey tower. It will be a whole city block bordering borden, Charles, king and Ottawa. Developer is Vive and they will be submitting plans in the fall with hopes to start construction in 2021. They also criticized the city for parking minimums that will add significant costs to the project when it is right beside an LRT stop. Don't have the link but worth a read.

Another Vive Development? Hmmm.  Colour me very sceptical.

Unfortunately my first thoughts.  I hope we're wrong.

That being said, they're acquiring a ton of property.

[tomh009]

Another Vive Development? Hmmm.  Colour me very sceptical.

Unfortunately my first thoughts.  I hope we're wrong.

Why the concern with Vive in particular? Because they have not broken ground on OTIS yet? Or something else?

They have shuffled priorities on some projects (such as the Margaret/Victoria project) but I don't really see massive delays or project cancellations in their recent history. And they have construction under way at both Market Flats and Ophelia. Am I missing something?

[creative]

I have always liked that building but really think of it as underutilized. If renovated I think it could be a star.

That building was originally built for Onward Manufacturing. If you go to https://www.omcbbq.com/onward-story.html and click on 1964 in the timeline you will see a photo of the building. I have no luck uploading photos from my phone.

[jgsz]

Unfortunately my first thoughts.  I hope we're wrong.

Why the concern with Vive in particular? Because they have not broken ground on OTIS yet? Or something else?

They have shuffled priorities on some projects (such as the Margaret/Victoria project) but I don't really see massive delays or project cancellations in their recent history. And they have construction under way at both Market Flats and Ophelia. Am I missing something?

The windows on the American block are still no installed. It’ been like that she late winter. WTF?  Also the Marrow Flats gets a wall a week.

[ZEBuilder]

Why the concern with Vive in particular? Because they have not broken ground on OTIS yet? Or something else?

They have shuffled priorities on some projects (such as the Margaret/Victoria project) but I don't really see massive delays or project cancellations in their recent history. And they have construction under way at both Market Flats and Ophelia. Am I missing something?

The windows on the American block are still no installed. It’ been like that she late winter. WTF?  Also the Marrow Flats gets a wall a week.

it doesn't mean that it won't happen though. They are smaller compared to other developers so there progress just goes slightly slower but It doesn't mean that there projects won't happen it just means that they take longer.