466 Albert Street | 8, 9, 11, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21x3, 22, 30

466 Albert Street | 8, 9, 11, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21x3, 22, 30 | Proposed - Printable Version

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466 Albert Street | 8, 9, 11, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21x3, 22, 30 | Proposed - ac3r - 12-21-2023

Forgot to post this big project that was dropped last week.

A developer is proposing a large 13 tower development at 446 Albert Street. The architectural work is by PGD Studio (who are behind numerous student apartment projects in the area such as The Hub). Landscape architectural design has been done by The Planning Partnership (who are behind a few local projects - The Gaslight District and the proposed Westmount Place proposal).

The developer is proposing a series of 13 towers ranging from 8 to 30 floors tall. The 13 towers would include a total of 2833 residential apartment units ranging from 1 to 3 bedrooms, with a total of 97 units being deemed affordable. Commercial space is proposed within some of the towers, with units ranging anywhere from roughly 80 to 500+ square meters of usable space. 1366 vehicle parking spaces are proposed along with 1702 bicycle parking spaces. Numerous building amenities for residents are included. A central woonerf within the core of the developed has also been proposed.

The application documents can be found here: https://www.engagewr.ca/www-engagewr-ca-446-albert-st

RE: 466 Albert Street | 8, 9, 11, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21x3, 22, 30 | Proposed - KevinL - 12-21-2023

This is on the land of the former Clemmer Steelcraft factory, which shut down some 5 or so years ago.

RE: 466 Albert Street | 8, 9, 11, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21x3, 22, 30 | Proposed - ac3r - 12-21-2023

It sure isn't pretty but it's something. This will have to go through numerous zoning bylaw amendments, so whether or not it gets approved in this state - or at all - remains to be seen. But this project stands to inject thousands of new residential units to the local housing stock and considering it is only about 5-10 minutes from R&T Station meaning it is mostly low density, low rise area (most of the residential in the area consists of low rise modernist apartment buildings on Hazel Street) then approval may be easier to obtain.

RE: 466 Albert Street | 8, 9, 11, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21x3, 22, 30 | Proposed - tomh009 - 12-21-2023

I've certainly seen worse in Waterloo. Any word on what the split between the bedrooms is? 500 sqft (I'm sure it's not 500 m2!) is a rather small three-bedroom if those numbers are correct.

RE: 466 Albert Street | 8, 9, 11, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21x3, 22, 30 | Proposed - ac3r - 12-21-2023

(12-21-2023, 05:07 PM)tomh009 Wrote: I've certainly seen worse in Waterloo. Any word on what the split between the bedrooms is? 500 sqft (I'm sure it's not 500 m2!) is a rather small three-bedroom if those numbers are correct.

They are as following:

1 bedroom - 2561 units
2 bedroom - 239 units
3 bedroom - 33 units

No word on what the proposed 97 units of affordable housing will be made up of out of the available mix. Forgot to link the documents but they're over on EngageWR (will update the OP so it's easier): https://www.engagewr.ca/www-engagewr-ca-446-albert-st

RE: 466 Albert Street | 8, 9, 11, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21x3, 22, 30 | Proposed - taylortbb - 12-21-2023

(12-21-2023, 05:07 PM)tomh009 Wrote: I've certainly seen worse in Waterloo. Any word on what the split between the bedrooms is? 500 sqft (I'm sure it's not 500 m2!) is a rather small three-bedroom if those numbers are correct.

That 80-500 range was for the commercial units, for which square meters are likely correct.

RE: 466 Albert Street | 8, 9, 11, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21x3, 22, 30 | Proposed - ac3r - 12-22-2023

Oh, yeah those sizes refer to the commercial units. I can't recall if they list the residential unit sizes or not. If so, check the architectural drawings file.

RE: 466 Albert Street | 8, 9, 11, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21x3, 22, 30 | Proposed - tomh009 - 12-22-2023

(12-21-2023, 05:53 PM)ac3r Wrote:
(12-21-2023, 05:07 PM)tomh009 Wrote: I've certainly seen worse in Waterloo. Any word on what the split between the bedrooms is? 500 sqft (I'm sure it's not 500 m2!) is a rather small three-bedroom if those numbers are correct.

They are as following:

1 bedroom - 2561 units
2 bedroom - 239 units
3 bedroom - 33 units

Thanks. So, still about 90% 1BR units ...

RE: 466 Albert Street | 8, 9, 11, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21x3, 22, 30 | Proposed - nms - 12-23-2023

I would be concerned that given the number of single units that there not be enough non-commercial communal space, either outside the building, nor inside the building. From just looking at the pictures, all the exterior space seems designed for travel to and from the buildings and on/off the property.

RE: 466 Albert Street | 8, 9, 11, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21x3, 22, 30 | Proposed - cherrypark - 01-10-2024

Proposal like this, especially if approved, seems to make the lack of an ION stop at McCormick more and more of a head scratcher. Can't remember what became of that other high density proposal on the other side of Albert from a while back in the same area.

RE: 466 Albert Street | 8, 9, 11, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21x3, 22, 30 | Proposed - KevinL - 01-10-2024

(01-10-2024, 03:36 PM)cherrypark Wrote: Proposal like this, especially if approved, seems to make the lack of an ION stop at McCormick more and more of a head scratcher. Can't remember what became of that other high density proposal on the other side of Albert from a while back in the same area.

This one's about the same distance to R&T station as to McCormick, so less of a problem here. Still, the planned developments up there would give that station option more weight, absolutely.

RE: 466 Albert Street | 8, 9, 11, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21x3, 22, 30 | Proposed - ac3r - 01-10-2024

I suspect a big reason why they didn't build a station there is because it is lower income, most of the area is already developed and all that forested/swampy area is designated parkland. There's not much there besides low density SFH and low rise apartment/town house blocks. I also don't see why a very dated, postmodern community centre would warrant having a rapid transit station built near it. Unless the goal is to totally gentrify that area by kicking out the poor people and razing a busted up old community centre, then having a transit station there makes little sense.

Also first and foremost, the LRT was conceived more as a tool for economic and urban growth. The stations were also placed strategically in order to make it much easier to redevelop the surrounding areas because outside of the stations placed in the urban cores, most are in low density areas where the main feature are large retail spaces, former industrial lands and an absurd amount of parking. And you can also easily argue that the LRT in the cores served the same purpose...the region was really just an irrelevant dump before 2010.

It wasn't designed the way something like a subway would, where you have existing dense numbers of people living somewhere and you need to build rapid transit to move them, they were betting on a Transit Oriented Development/TOD design philosophy. Build it and they will come, basically. They already came to where McCormick is...a long time ago. And the bet paid off, despite the absolutely astronomical flaws in the LRT itself.

RE: 466 Albert Street | 8, 9, 11, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21x3, 22, 30 | Proposed - Spokes - 01-11-2024

Not surprised to learn they designed The Hub as I thought it WAS the hub when I saw it

RE: 466 Albert Street | 8, 9, 11, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21x3, 22, 30 | Proposed - westwardloo - 01-12-2024

(01-11-2024, 04:21 PM)Spokes Wrote: Not surprised to learn they designed The Hub as I thought it WAS the hub when I saw it

God the HUB turned out so bad. The Region never ceases to disappoint in terms of design quality. Somehow Brampton is seeing much better redevelopment proposals.

This development, the Waterloo Inn development and the one beside wildcraft are all hideous. You would think we would get at least 1 out of 3 redevelopments to a standard we see in the GTA.

RE: 466 Albert Street | 8, 9, 11, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21x3, 22, 30 | Proposed - ac3r - 01-12-2024

Well the Waterloo Region isn't the GTA so you'll never see the same prestige of local development as we have in the GTA. This region just doesn't matter that much. It's really just a GTA suburb, but one that is so far that it can't quite be as connected to the GTA as it should be, but also not far enough that it can become its own significant region/city. As such, it's sort of stuck being this pseudo-big city where you see tall buildings, large projects, infrastructure improvements etc but they're all sort of really mediocre at best.

Stuff like this is as good as it's going to get, really. At least for the next 30-40 years.