General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours

[westwardloo]

This will replace an old Lawyers office in two houses and and a parking lot along weber and college. Definitely not a stand out tower, but seems like it was well thought out and will not be offensive to the eyes. This tower will receive some push back from the very strong NIMBY's in the olde berlin neighbourhood association. I will not be surprised if this one takes a long time to get shovels in the ground.

[the_conestoga_guy]

This will replace an old Lawyers office in two houses and and a parking lot along weber and college. Definitely not a stand out tower, but seems like it was well thought out and will not be offensive to the eyes. This tower will receive some push back from the very strong NIMBY's in the olde berlin neighbourhood association. I will not be surprised if this one takes a long time to get shovels in the ground.

This may be an overly optimistic take, but I really think that the Olde Berlin neighbourhood association has taken up much of council's patience with the 22 Weber St project - I'm guessing it'll be passed off as a token "win" to satiate them to let other projects through. The Park & Victoria development was blocked on the grounds that it was a massive project on the fringe of the downtown core and the 22 Weber project is on the Civic District's turf, but this project is a simple infill tower in a central area of the downtown. 

I'm not taking anything for granted, but I'm optimistic that councilors will have a bit more courage to approve projects after pacifying the neighbours.

[westwardloo]

Very optimistic of you, I hope you are right. This project is 13 storeys taller than the 22 weber street building, so I think the NIMBY's will be out in full force. Not sure on the zoning for this part of town, maybe the project doesn't need to go to city council.

[Bytor]

This will replace an old Lawyers office in two houses and and a parking lot along weber and college. Definitely not a stand out tower, but seems like it was well thought out and will not be offensive to the eyes. This tower will receive some push back from the very strong NIMBY's in the olde berlin neighbourhood association. I will not be surprised if this one takes a long time to get shovels in the ground.

I kinda wish that developers had give regular public updates as to the number of units with purchase agreements for a building, but maybe that's just the numbers geek in me. :-D

[Lebronj23]

Reminds me of Charlie West a bit. I haven’t seen anything about this proposal though, it’s not in any of the development maps or application lists. Hopefully it’s not dead. Given it has a current picture of Kitchener I’m optimistic this will be proposed still

[westwardloo]

Reminds me of Charlie West a bit. I haven’t seen anything about this proposal though, it’s not in any of the  development maps or application lists. Hopefully it’s not dead. Given it has a current picture of Kitchener I’m optimistic this will be proposed still

This is more than likely a new proposal at the beginning of its conception. The law office just sold the property to a developer last year. We will see how fast this progresses though.

[KaiserWilhelmsBust]

Reminds me of Charlie West a bit. I haven’t seen anything about this proposal though, it’s not in any of the  development maps or application lists. Hopefully it’s not dead. Given it has a current picture of Kitchener I’m optimistic this will be proposed still

This is more than likely a new proposal at the beginning of its conception. The law office just sold the property to a developer last year. We will see how fast this progresses though.

Hasn't been sold yet, they had this design for use in a bid process, which ended last week.

[Lebronj23]

@kaiserwilhelmsbust has all the insider info! Please tell us more haha

[BruceAshe]

Just drove past the former Club Abstract building and it looks like it's in the middle of being demolished. Has anything been announced for the property? The 20 year old me in the 90's is sad to see it go.

[Lebronj23]

From the top floor of Sun Life Tower

[attachment=8300]

[Acitta]

From the top floor of Sun Life Tower

Lots of room for more giant condo towers there.

[Bytor]

How is floor space ratio calculated?

Its it to the size of the entire lot?

Or just to the 55% of lot size from the maximum lot coverage rules in the zoning bylaws?

Like, with a 16,000 sq ft lot, are you using 16,000 as the denominator, or 8,800?

[danbrotherston]

How is floor space ratio calculated?

Its it to the size of the entire lot?

Or just to the 55% of lot size from the maximum lot coverage rules in the zoning bylaws?

Like, with a 16,000 sq ft lot, are you using 16,000 as the denominator, or 8,800?

My impression (as someone who has only read about these things, not actually applied for permits or read the legal documents) is that they are parallel restriction. If the FAR is 1.0 and there are setback requirements, you cannot build a 1 story building at a FAR of 1.0.

The I would also mention Donald Shoups book talks about how parking requirements often limited density below the actual density limits. I cannot remember if he specifically mentioned other zoning restrictions like setbacks.

[taylortbb]

Just drove past the former Club Abstract building and it looks like it's in the middle of being demolished. Has anything been announced for the property? The 20 year old me in the 90's is sad to see it go.

Nothing public, but last I heard it's owned by Hip Developments.

[CP42]

Just drove past the former Club Abstract building and it looks like it's in the middle of being demolished. Has anything been announced for the property? The 20 year old me in the 90's is sad to see it go.

Nothing public, but last I heard it's owned by Hip Developments.

Makes sense since the construction fencing has Melloul Blamey signage - which HIP is owned by.