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+--- Thread: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours (/showthread.php?tid=7)
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - Tony_Plow - 05-08-2021
(05-07-2021, 09:10 AM)westwardloo Wrote: Angies Kitchen is closing down to make way for redevelopment. Looks like the rumor a couple weeks ago were true. Hopefully eventually the whole parking lot get redeveloped in the future. I know there are probably serious water issues with the parking lot as Laurel Creek runs close to the site. I wonder how big the parcel of land is? I believe the city owns the parking lot north of the LRT station.
https://www.kitchenertoday.com/local-news/angies-in-uptown-waterloo-closing-down-3758080
Do you think it would be realistic for the developer to buy the city parking lot behind Angie's and the Atrium to extend the building footprint closer to Waterloo Town Square - and add visitor parking in their podium?
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - taylortbb - 05-08-2021
(05-08-2021, 01:53 PM)Tony_Plow Wrote:(05-07-2021, 09:10 AM)westwardloo Wrote: Angies Kitchen is closing down to make way for redevelopment. Looks like the rumor a couple weeks ago were true. Hopefully eventually the whole parking lot get redeveloped in the future. I know there are probably serious water issues with the parking lot as Laurel Creek runs close to the site. I wonder how big the parcel of land is? I believe the city owns the parking lot north of the LRT station.
https://www.kitchenertoday.com/local-news/angies-in-uptown-waterloo-closing-down-3758080
Do you think it would be realistic for the developer to buy the city parking lot behind Angie's and the Atrium to extend the building footprint closer to Waterloo Town Square - and add visitor parking in their podium?
Most of that parking lot is in the Laurel Creek floodplain. The creek also runs underneath some of it. It'll likely remain mostly a parking lot for a very long time.
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - Nextasy - 05-08-2021
I don't understand how they can't. The Angies and Atrium properties, to my knowledge, don't actually abut one another. They must have that parking lot too.
I wouldn't mind at all if the carved out a huge chunk to make a proper trail connection/pedestrian plaza from King St to Laurel Trail at Caroline.
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - ijmorlan - 05-08-2021
(05-08-2021, 03:04 PM)taylortbb Wrote:(05-08-2021, 01:53 PM)Tony_Plow Wrote: Do you think it would be realistic for the developer to buy the city parking lot behind Angie's and the Atrium to extend the building footprint closer to Waterloo Town Square - and add visitor parking in their podium?
Most of that parking lot is in the Laurel Creek floodplain. The creek also runs underneath some of it. It'll likely remain mostly a parking lot for a very long time.
The creek runs in a box culvert south of the tracks, not in that portion of the parking lot.
That being said, I’m sure floodplain issues and ground quality issues are a concern in this location, so I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that lots of ideas which look nice at the surface are infeasible given the local context.
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - danbrotherston - 05-08-2021
(05-08-2021, 04:21 PM)ijmorlan Wrote:(05-08-2021, 03:04 PM)taylortbb Wrote: Most of that parking lot is in the Laurel Creek floodplain. The creek also runs underneath some of it. It'll likely remain mostly a parking lot for a very long time.
The creek runs in a box culvert south of the tracks, not in that portion of the parking lot.
That being said, I’m sure floodplain issues and ground quality issues are a concern in this location, so I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that lots of ideas which look nice at the surface are infeasible given the local context.
Certainly this would make a large development infeasible, but something like a 3-6 story building as are present along King should be possible without much in the way of underground works.
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - allknowing2012 - 05-09-2021
(05-08-2021, 04:47 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:Across the street is 10-15 floors .. so there cant be too many restrictions.(05-08-2021, 04:21 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: The creek runs in a box culvert south of the tracks, not in that portion of the parking lot.
That being said, I’m sure floodplain issues and ground quality issues are a concern in this location, so I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that lots of ideas which look nice at the surface are infeasible given the local context.
Certainly this would make a large development infeasible, but something like a 3-6 story building as are present along King should be possible without much in the way of underground works.
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - ijmorlan - 05-09-2021
(05-09-2021, 11:43 AM)allknowing2012 Wrote:(05-08-2021, 04:47 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Certainly this would make a large development infeasible, but something like a 3-6 story building as are present along King should be possible without much in the way of underground works.Across the street is 10-15 floors .. so there cant be too many restrictions.
Not necessarily. I don’t know the geology, but in the extreme case the Marsland Centre could be built on a huge rock while the parking lot is built on sediment from the creek.
As far as I know, nothing in town is built on bedrock, but it’s still possible that the parking lot is much less able to take a really large building than the other side of Erb St.
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - danbrotherston - 05-09-2021
(05-09-2021, 11:43 AM)allknowing2012 Wrote:(05-08-2021, 04:47 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Certainly this would make a large development infeasible, but something like a 3-6 story building as are present along King should be possible without much in the way of underground works.Across the street is 10-15 floors .. so there cant be too many restrictions.
Even better, if we eliminate the entire parking lot, we could close the driveway on Erb, maybe turn the space in behind into a bigger public square.
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - mastermind - 05-10-2021
You could put a building on piles in any soil type, we could have a 50 story building here if someone really wanted (engineering-wise).
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - Rainrider22 - 05-10-2021
(05-10-2021, 08:18 AM)mastermind Wrote: You could put a building on piles in any soil type, we could have a 50 story building here if someone really wanted (engineering-wise).But at what cost would the engineering and work arounds cost ? It might be cost prohibitive... I have no idea, I am just asking ?
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - mastermind - 05-10-2021
(05-10-2021, 09:31 AM)Rainrider22 Wrote:Yes I'm sure it would be cost-prohibitive up to a point. I'm not sure where the numbers start making sense but I do know that there's an 8-story building going up in one of our neighbouring towns soon that will be supported fully on piles because it's near the river and is also built on many years of some factory dumping grounds or something. So the math must make sense at some point. I'm sure land value and real estate prices would play into it, like usual.(05-10-2021, 08:18 AM)mastermind Wrote: You could put a building on piles in any soil type, we could have a 50 story building here if someone really wanted (engineering-wise).But at what cost would the engineering and work arounds cost ? It might be cost prohibitive... I have no idea, I am just asking ?
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - Tony_Plow - 05-10-2021
(05-10-2021, 10:26 AM)mastermind Wrote:(05-10-2021, 09:31 AM)Rainrider22 Wrote: But at what cost would the engineering and work arounds cost ? It might be cost prohibitive... I have no idea, I am just asking ?Yes I'm sure it would be cost-prohibitive up to a point. I'm not sure where the numbers start making sense but I do know that there's an 8-story building going up in one of our neighbouring towns soon that will be supported fully on piles because it's near the river and is also built on many years of some factory dumping grounds or something. So the math must make sense at some point. I'm sure land value and real estate prices would play into it, like usual.
There's also a large condo tower proposed for 80 King (corner of Willis Way and King). That property appears very close to Laurel Creek (see map across the street on Regina), yet they're planning to build a 20+ floor condo on that site.
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - nms - 05-10-2021
The Angie's and Atrium properties do abut each other. The driveway entrance/exit to Erb is east of the Atrium. I believe The Atrium was built in the 1970s. Fun fact: the Angie's house used to be owned by the Town of Waterloo Police chief who then could walk across Erb to the police station which was also housed in the Town Hall which is where the Marsland Tower now stands.
From what I understand about that block in general, the City owns all of the parking lots up to the walls of most of the buildings. The Atrium and Angie's may have a little bit of green space in their parcels. According to the Kitchener Today article on the Atrium sale, the Duke of Wellington hopes to be able to return to a space in the new building. According to the comments section in the same article, a former owner of the Aroma Café in the Atrium claims that the building was up for sale back when she owned it (exact date unknown). The Atrium was a neat retail space, especially the upper floors with their 1.5 storey retail areas. Not at all accessible, but cosy with a unique charm that is not found in most retail spaces today.
On a related note, Waterloo, Belgium is home to a pretty swish Atrium itself:
Quote:With over 7.000 square metres of bespoke office space, Waterloo Atrium combines fully-serviced modern business requirements with comfort and convenience on a human level. Perfectly located and easy to access, Waterloo Atrium’s location means great mobility, which means more freedom and flexibility to concentrate on what matters most – you, your team, and your business.
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - ijmorlan - 05-11-2021
(05-10-2021, 11:36 PM)nms Wrote: The Angie's and Atrium properties do abut each other. The driveway entrance/exit to Erb is east of the Atrium. I believe The Atrium was built in the 1970s. Fun fact: the Angie's house used to be owned by the Town of Waterloo Police chief who then could walk across Erb to the police station which was also housed in the Town Hall which is where the Marsland Tower now stands.
That’s not what the GIS locator says. It shows each of the two properties sitting on its own plot, with the former driveway between them part of the parking lot plot.
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - nms - 05-12-2021
(05-11-2021, 08:33 AM)ijmorlan Wrote:(05-10-2021, 11:36 PM)nms Wrote: The Angie's and Atrium properties do abut each other. The driveway entrance/exit to Erb is east of the Atrium. I believe The Atrium was built in the 1970s. Fun fact: the Angie's house used to be owned by the Town of Waterloo Police chief who then could walk across Erb to the police station which was also housed in the Town Hall which is where the Marsland Tower now stands.
That’s not what the GIS locator says. It shows each of the two properties sitting on its own plot, with the former driveway between them part of the parking lot plot.
Well what do you know, I stand corrected. Now that you mention it, I seem to recall that there may have been another active driveway there before the parking lot was rearranged. Back in 1942, there was a service station in this vicinity according to the 1942 Fire Insurance Maps.