Garment Street Condos | 25 & 6 fl | U/C

[jeffster]

Updated pics by any chance?

I was just driving by but the zehr group has some pictures on there instagram.

Here is an upload for anyone not on Instagram (owner: Zehr Group)

   

[Momo26]

I think we discussed elsewhere but is there a plan to develop that massive parking lot? I envision a little enclave of another couple buildings and good retail with commercial mixed..

Something about remediation/biohazard land?

[Momo26]

Neat overpasses to the Station Park section too...that would be cool.

[ac3r]

Most of those parking lots will be developed in the coming years.

[cherrypark]

I think we discussed elsewhere but is there a plan to develop that massive parking lot? I envision a little enclave of another couple buildings and good retail with commercial mixed..

Something about remediation/biohazard land?

Re-development of the whole Bramm St Yards in the Kitchener city plans, but not sure any of the land has publicly announced proposals beyond this project for now. Bit by bit over time for now.

[Square]

Looks like we will lose a crane from Tower 2. Huge crane being assembled today.

[jeffster]

I was on the page for Garment Street Condos, and their contractor (ones putting in the slabs) said "16 down, 11 to go". That means this is 27 floors rather than 25? I am thinking this isn't total floors, as there are 16 floors above ground already.

Also, someone mentioned that Young Condo went from 25 floors to 27 floors.

If this is all accurate, it a few short months, our skyline will be changed for good. And, I mean, for good. As in good. It won't feel like driving into a small sleepy city anymore. Once this covid shit is all over, and a couple years from now, DTK will be a much better place. Jeff Young (City of Kitchener) should be able to get some fabulous stuff happening there. Although Dave McLaren will be pulling a lot of the heavy weight (another huge gift that the city has).

[taylortbb]

Yes, Garment St is 27, they added the additional floors back when they first did pre-sales.

[Acitta]

   

[panamaniac]

I was on the page for Garment Street Condos, and their contractor (ones putting in the slabs) said "16 down, 11 to go". That means this is 27 floors rather than 25? I am thinking this isn't total floors, as there are 16 floors above ground already.

Also, someone mentioned that Young Condo went from 25 floors to 27 floors.

If this is all accurate, it a few short months, our skyline will be changed for good. And, I mean, for good. As in good. It won't feel like driving into a small sleepy city anymore. Once this covid shit is all over, and a couple years from now, DTK will be a much better place. Jeff Young (City of Kitchener) should be able to get some fabulous stuff happening there. Although Dave McLaren will be pulling a lot of the heavy weight (another huge gift that the city has).

 It won’t LOOK like driving into a small sleepy city anymore.  My inner voice is channeling Billy Crystal’s “You look MAHVELLOUS, dahling!”.  

[dtkvictim]

While not to my tastes, both of these towers look better than I expected from the renders.

I was on the page for Garment Street Condos, and their contractor (ones putting in the slabs) said "16 down, 11 to go". That means this is 27 floors rather than 25? I am thinking this isn't total floors, as there are 16 floors above ground already.

Also, someone mentioned that Young Condo went from 25 floors to 27 floors.

If this is all accurate, it a few short months, our skyline will be changed for good. And, I mean, for good. As in good. It won't feel like driving into a small sleepy city anymore. Once this covid shit is all over, and a couple years from now, DTK will be a much better place. Jeff Young (City of Kitchener) should be able to get some fabulous stuff happening there. Although Dave McLaren will be pulling a lot of the heavy weight (another huge gift that the city has).

My tone here might come across as antagonistic, but I really mean for this to be inquisitive. I see this sentiment (taller = better city) in threads for almost every tower, and I really don't get it. First of all, the implication I get from this is that the city is currently "not good" (not necessarily bad, but in need of positive change) which I won't debate either way. What I don't understand here is why more height or more people will fix this? There are plenty of highrise cities around the world that I think are worse cities than KW, so to me it's an issue of quality, not quantity. If we failed to be an excellent mid-sized city, why should we expect anything different as a large city?

A counterargument I expect here is that our issues as a mid-sized city stem from sprawl and a lack of density. This brings me to my second issue with this sentiment: Why highrises, instead of midrises? I'm sure someone with urban planning expertise will tell me what this is called and why I'm wrong, but I've often seen it suggested that people are most comfortable in streets with a street width to building height ratio of 1:1 to 2:1. Personally, I feel this rings true. When I walk through highrise districts of Toronto, it never feels like a comfortable place to be. It's not warm and welcoming. It's not a neighbourhood.

High density is achievable without highrises, as most of Europe shows, and people here continually praise European cities for their successful planning and design. I fear the lack of high-density midrise neighbourhoods will push people who reject highrise living away to suburbia (this is how I feel, personally). Of course there are cities in the world where the only choice is up, like Tokyo (which is also a city of extremely high quality), but KW could densify insane amounts within our footprint without a single highrise (which isn't to say we shouldn't have any for those who want them).

And on the topic of skylines: so what? I don't care how my city looks from the outside, when I'm living inside of it.

Again, I don't mean for this post to be negative, I just want to prompt some discussion and understand why you all feel so differently from me.

[panamaniac]

Well, WRC is a child (sort of) of Skyscraperpage, so the fandom for tall buildings is not that surprising. A city topped out at 6 storeys would make Kitchener unique in a North American context, but that ship sailed decades ago.

[plam]

A counterargument I expect here is that our issues as a mid-sized city stem from sprawl and a lack of density. This brings me to my second issue with this sentiment: Why highrises, instead of midrises? I'm sure someone with urban planning expertise will tell me what this is called and why I'm wrong, but I've often seen it suggested that people are most comfortable in streets with a street width to building height ratio of 1:1 to 2:1. Personally, I feel this rings true. When I walk through highrise districts of Toronto, it never feels like a comfortable place to be. It's not warm and welcoming. It's not a neighbourhood.

I guess it's as panamaniac said about lineage of this particular site. The bigger towers certainly have more presence but may be a net lose compared to more mid-rise in general. Paris is interesting with no towers in the center but then some in the periphery, I think. Wellington is trying to move to requiring new construction in the center be mid-rise.

[tomh009]

A counterargument I expect here is that our issues as a mid-sized city stem from sprawl and a lack of density. This brings me to my second issue with this sentiment: Why highrises, instead of midrises? I'm sure someone with urban planning expertise will tell me what this is called and why I'm wrong, but I've often seen it suggested that people are most comfortable in streets with a street width to building height ratio of 1:1 to 2:1. Personally, I feel this rings true. When I walk through highrise districts of Toronto, it never feels like a comfortable place to be. It's not warm and welcoming. It's not a neighbourhood.

One note here is that in our region you cannot build 30 stories flush with the sidewalk: in general, the rules require the use of podiums and a setback of the upper floors. The resulting streetscape is substantially less tunnel-like than downtown Toronto. Consider how King St W is shaping up from, say, Francis St to Queen St. There are new mid-rise buildings with a street wall, and taller buildings (305 King W, City Hall, City Centre, Young Condos, 55 King W) but all of the latter are stepped back.

[cherrypark]

High density is achievable without highrises, as most of Europe shows, and people here continually praise European cities for their successful planning and design. I fear the lack of high-density midrise neighbourhoods will push people who reject highrise living away to suburbia (this is how I feel, personally). Of course there are cities in the world where the only choice is up, like Tokyo (which is also a city of extremely high quality), but KW could densify insane amounts within our footprint without a single highrise (which isn't to say we shouldn't have any for those who want them).

My take is that both should be sought, but the high rises are definitely the more marketable and exciting image. I think denser developments like this one that (hopefully) cultivate some centre point to blocks could be well supported by well designed mid-rise surrounding. Not sure I have knowledge, however, to comments specifically on how the economics and/or city planning in KW may incentivize dense over mid-rise.

I really wish we could build more European style housing and communities here but I think our natural sense of spacing and car-centric lifestyle, and the building requirements that comes with it, negates a lot of that potential for that to manifest. There are some examples in the region that it has been tried to varied levels of success, but there is still a whole different paradigm we can't seem to reach here (though I would be at the front of the line for such a neighbourhood/block!).