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Duke Tower Kitchener | 39 fl | completed
The church tower is gone. I missed catching the demo of it but all that's left is the entrance portion and a little bit of the tower.
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Almost gone

   
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Thanks for all of your updates!
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Duke Tower Kitchener is now going to be 39 floors.

Source: I was at KPL for the Civic Centre Secondary Plan Review and I asked about how a development like DTK can go from 33 to 36 floors.  I wanted to know how these changes are made when the planner with the City told me it is now going to be 39 floors.  I asked her for the source and she told that that’s what it is. It was certainly news to me.  


Can anyone familiar with the planning department confirm this?
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39 floors? Wow, it will be very interesting to see what actually gets built here as the number keeps changing but the official site still states 33. I wonder how sales are going since the last update?
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39 floors? Oh my how it's grown. Haven't been following condo developments very long but is a 6 floor increase from original (or 18%) a common occurrence?

Don't forget, out of all the new buildings going up in DTK right now/planned, this one boasts the smallest average unit size - many micro units ~400 square feet. And this is not a student zone either.

Apparently the blast marketing in the GTA for investors was successful?
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How do they handle unit sales of the new floors? Is there an industry convention?

Generally the top few storeys feature somewhat different layouts - penthouses and such - so when adding a new floor are the new units added to the middle? If I bought on the 16th floor of a 33 storey building I don't think I'd be bothered if a few more floors were added above me, but if I bought on the 33rd floor I am certain I would be. Do they offer the new units to existing owners first?
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(12-13-2018, 10:24 AM)robdrimmie Wrote: How do they handle unit sales of the new floors? Is there an industry convention?

Generally the top few storeys feature somewhat different layouts - penthouses and such - so when adding a new floor are the new units added to the middle? If I bought on the 16th floor of a 33 storey building I don't think I'd be bothered if a few more floors were added above me, but if I bought on the 33rd floor I am certain I would be. Do they offer the new units to existing owners first?

Good questions.  I often wondered how they work in extra floors.
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From what I have seen, the new floor(s) are usually added just under the penthouse floor(s) - since you are correct, people have usually payed more for special penthouse layouts, features and the fact they are on the top floor.

Many people also opt to pay the max floor premiums (for a non PH floor) to be as high as possible. That in itself is a marketing/selling piece come re-sale time (albeit somewhat minimal I'd imagine) so I'd think they would be the most annoyed.

From what I have seen, once your contract is signed and binding, there is no 'first dibs on swapping a unit'...it's first come first serve for re-releases of new floors - and the price has generally gone up per square foot.
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(12-13-2018, 10:24 AM)robdrimmie Wrote: How do they handle unit sales of the new floors? Is there an industry convention?

Generally the top few storeys feature somewhat different layouts - penthouses and such - so when adding a new floor are the new units added to the middle? If I bought on the 16th floor of a 33 storey building I don't think I'd be bothered if a few more floors were added above me, but if I bought on the 33rd floor I am certain I would be. Do they offer the new units to existing owners first?

No penthouse floors in this one.
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(12-13-2018, 11:26 AM)tomh009 Wrote:
(12-13-2018, 10:24 AM)robdrimmie Wrote: How do they handle unit sales of the new floors? Is there an industry convention?

Generally the top few storeys feature somewhat different layouts - penthouses and such - so when adding a new floor are the new units added to the middle? If I bought on the 16th floor of a 33 storey building I don't think I'd be bothered if a few more floors were added above me, but if I bought on the 33rd floor I am certain I would be. Do they offer the new units to existing owners first?

No penthouse floors in this one.

Perhaps not, but the top floor (I believe actually top 2) have special features and finishes designed by a well-renown interior designer. Someone earlier in this thread has purchased one of these units. They were at a premium.
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(12-13-2018, 11:38 AM)Momo26 Wrote:
(12-13-2018, 11:26 AM)tomh009 Wrote: No penthouse floors in this one.

Perhaps not, but the top floor (I believe actually top 2) have special features and finishes designed by a well-renown interior designer. Someone earlier in this thread has purchased one of these units. They were at a premium.

I think you may be thinking of Charlie West.  Scott McGillivray....
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Wooops. You are correct - I am thinking of Charlie West. That's what happens when I'm going back and forth between 3 - 4 condo threads lol.

No penthouses...interesting. More in keeping with fit-as-many-units-in-as-possible approach then.

All of the real estate (condo specialty) folk I spoke to about this project, were not sold on it given the price points (per square footage) and layouts. Although I'm sure soon-to-be-transformed side of DTK, it is kind of the least desirable location of the all the current projects it would seem. We're not talking by a lot, but with condos, it often really does come down to the street level for location.
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1Vic, another Momentum property, had two floors of penthouses, which were some of the only 3- and 4-bedroom condos I had ever seen. They stayed on the market a LONG time, and I know some were split in half and redone as 1- or 2-bedroom units as in lower floors. So this could be them responding to that (mind you, not many people will spend upwards of 1 million on a condo in Kitchener). But we do need to have more affordable above-2 bedroom units in the region, and seven figures isn't at all affordable. Heck, I'm still amazed that we list 1-bedrooms for $350K.
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1 bedrooms in the $325k - 375k range is definitely becoming the norm. I wouldn't be surprised that they break 400k within 2 - 3 years. 2-bedrooms that means, would be pushing 550 - 600k. I don't think builders have the appetite to make anything more than 2+den/2 bath.
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