City Centre/Young Condominiums | 17, 25 & 6 fl | U/C

[rangersfan]

High hopes for downtown condos on Centre Block

September 8, 2010 | Jeff Outhit | The record | LINK

KITCHENER — Developer Andrin Homes will soon promote the condominiums it hopes to build on city-owned land in downtown Kitchener.

Ground was broken Tuesday for a sales centre on the partly vacant Centre Block facing King Street, east of City Hall.

The project is Kitchener council’s third attempt to redevelop the block it spent about $13 million to assemble. “I’m pleased that we’re at this point,” Mayor Carl Zehr said.

Andrin has until Nov. 30, 2012 to take out building permits for its first phase. If this happens, it gets the site for just over $3 million. The city also plans to partner with Andrin on a parking garage.

If the project falters, the deal is off and council seeks another use for the site. “I doubt that will happen,” Zehr said.

The sales centre will likely open to the public in January, featuring model suites for one and two bedrooms. Andrin is the firm that put lofts into the former Kaufman factory at King and Victoria streets.

Sales will target singles and young couples, first-time buyers who aren’t seeking houses with lots. The first phase could open in 2013.

“I think there is a real desire for people who are in that segment of life, that they’re not looking for a home, to live in downtown Kitchener,” said Anne Marchildon, Andrin’s vice-president of sales and marketing.

The completed development, estimated at $105 million, is anticipated to include 397 residential units in two towers. Retail space is planned on King Street.

A website at http://www.livingatcitycentre.ca invites interested buyers to state a price range starting at $180,000.

City council started assembling the site a decade ago, to block the opening of a movie theatre for X-rated films. Two redevelopment efforts have since failed, including an abandoned proposal to relocate the main library to the site.

Way paved for Kitchener Centre Block condos

October 26, 2013 | Terry Pender | The Record | LINK

KITCHENER — The City of Kitchener signed off Friday on the sale of land to a Brampton-based developer, clearing the way for a mixed-use re-development on a strategic parcel of land in the core.

All of the agreements are now in place for Andrin Homes to begin construction on what it calls City Centre Condominiums.

"Obviously the big issues were getting the financing in place, finalizing the agreements, completing the transaction, getting the building permits," Coun. Berry Vrbanovic said.

"They have communicated they plan on getting into the ground immediately," Vrbanovic said.

The land is next to city hall and the first phase of the project will see an underground-parking garage built in the centre of the block bounded by King, Young, Duke and Ontario streets. A two-storey building will wrap around the corner of Young and Duke streets, and a 13-floor condominium will rise above it. There will be about 179 units in the first phase.

When construction does begin it will mark a major milestone in the city's long-running efforts to revitalize the land it called Centre Block. In 2000, the city bought up several properties on the western half of the block, paying about $9.6 million for the land, buildings and compensation for the uprooting several businesses.

"I am happy we are at a point where the project is going forward," Vrbanovic said. "This is something that has been anticipated for a long time in the downtown."

Andrin and the city signed a development agreement years ago saying construction was to start no later than November 2012. The deadline was extended more than once.

"Obviously the recession slowed things down significantly, which was unfortunate, but the fact that it is going forward is a further indication there is confidence in the downtown," Vrbanovic said.

The city started buying the properties in 2000 when it learned one owner was about to open a pornography cinema.

But the interest and other costs associated with the land purchases pushed the price to about $14 million so far to assemble slightly more than one hectare (2.6 acres). That does not include the city's share of the costs for the underground-parking garage that will be built on the site — about $9 million.

Andrin paid $3.1 million for the property in the heart of the city.

At one point city staff dragged the municipality into national disrepute by claiming the historic Forsyth factory on Young Street a danger to people walking past it, declaring it must be demolished right away. Councillors were given no opportunity to vote on the destruction of the buildings because it was a question of public safety.

Heritage Canada ranked that as the worst loss of built heritage anywhere in Canada in 2005 and a leader of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario said city officials should be horse-whipped and turned into poster boys for stupidity.