TEK Tower (30 Francis) | 45 fl | U/C

[ZEBuilder]

Tower crane installation is scheduled this week.

From IN8:

Dear Neighbour,

This letter is to inform you of a full road closure which has been approved by City of Kitchener for Francis Street from Charles Street to King Street for the erection of tower crane for the following dates, February 21st to February 24th.

Time for another picture? Progress seems a bit slower this week. They got this big crane assembled today on Francis.

The weather this week has obviously not helped in the progress of the site or the tower crane erection. Looking on the city's website they've extended the road closures until the end of next week, so seems as if the crane isn't going up this week anymore.

[jwilliamson]

They're putting the crane up now.

[CuilTard]

They're putting the crane up now.

Yep! So much for weather delays and needing an extra week to put it up.

   

   

   

   

[ac3r]

I guess it'll be up by Monday then.

[CP42]

Looks like the erection has finished  

[CP42]

A clearer photo:

[ac3r]

Can't wait to see the final product. Will it be a bait and switch like DTK? The design of that looked drastically different than the final building. Then the final building managed to get even uglier when they added the final touch of what looks like stripes of dyed white and black Minecraft wool, but then added some flashing lights after realizing the public thought it was horrendous. They're seemingly using more glass on this which should hopefully help things, but when you remember it is an IN8 and SRM collaboration who have a trademark on being terrible, I do wonder if they'll manage to somehow screw this one up too (I think where it will suffer will be in the use of cheap materials).

I never realized how tiny the fitness room is on this thing either. These units are going for like...over 900'000 on average, aren't they? The rendering of the fitness room shows enough room for 2 treadmills, 2 other machines and a weight bench. If I was paying that much money for a unit, I'd expect a gym with a bit more size than a single car garage.

[cherrypark]

Can't wait to see the final product. Will it be a bait and switch like DTK? The design of that looked drastically different than the final building. Then the final building managed to get even uglier when they added the final touch of what looks like stripes of dyed white and black Minecraft wool, but then added some flashing lights after realizing the public thought it was horrendous. They're seemingly using more glass on this which should hopefully help things, but when you remember it is an IN8 and SRM collaboration who have a trademark on being terrible, I do wonder if they'll manage to somehow screw this one up too (I think where it will suffer will be in the use of cheap materials).

I never realized how tiny the fitness room is on this thing either. These units are going for like...over 900'000 on average, aren't they? The rendering of the fitness room shows enough room for 2 treadmills, 2 other machines and a weight bench. If I was paying that much money for a unit, I'd expect a gym with a bit more size than a single car garage.

Yeah zero expectations this meets the already low bar of the proposed renders. Just hope that this time they at least make the street level part closer to design.

[tomh009]

I never realized how tiny the fitness room is on this thing either. These units are going for like...over 900'000 on average, aren't they? The rendering of the fitness room shows enough room for 2 treadmills, 2 other machines and a weight bench. If I was paying that much money for a unit, I'd expect a gym with a bit more size than a single car garage.

For 515 units? That's ridiculous. Our building has three treadmills, four bikes, two ellipticals, a rower plus a bunch of other stuff ... for 135 units.

[ac3r]

Yeah, unless they have additional rooms this is all they show for the "fitness centre":

[tomh009]

They can maybe squeeze another machine or two in, but it's definitely small.

Only one accessible parking space? Or there are more on other levels? Where is the bicycle parking?

I do note that the "commerical spaces" get their own "commerical garbage room". Doesn't anyone check their marketing documents any more before releasing them?

[taylortbb]

Commercial spaces on Charles St seems like an interesting choice. I'd think Water St, where they could be seen from King St, would be more successful. But maybe they're thinking long term with the parking lots getting developed (or more likely they're not thinking about commercial at all).

[nms]

If you're largely selling tiny boxes to investors from out of town who are renting anyways, (or maybe just hoping for a quick flip long after you're gone as builder), do you really care what the amenities are?

[KaiserWilhelmsBust]

If you're largely selling tiny boxes to investors from out of town who are renting anyways, (or maybe just hoping for a quick flip long after you're gone as builder), do you really care what the amenities are?

It's become such a race to the bottom in this city. I recently went to a few other similarly sized Canadian cities and couldn't get over how much high quality the developments were. 

Right now, there is no real incentive for a group here to take the risk and raise the bar (vanmar and momentum seem like the only groups that remotely care). 

It is the developers getting pressured from various financial groups (equity and banks) but that doesn't resolve them. The developer and their consultants are complicit in constantly lowering the bar

[ac3r]

Yeah VanMar and Momentum are the only two doing serious work here. And you know at least Auburn and Drewlo will be around as they have deep pockets (albeit ugly buildings). Most of the rest...yeah. Low bar, funny money.