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Manulife Development Project
#16
(12-16-2017, 12:19 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(12-02-2017, 05:42 PM)Spokes Wrote: I'll get all of the old posts moved over shortly

Could one of the mods please do this?

We're having some issues with moving posts at the moment.  Hold tight.
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#17
(12-16-2017, 12:45 PM)panamaniac Wrote:
(12-12-2017, 08:20 AM)jeffster Wrote: I might have, but I thought it was apartments/condo's...so I never really made a huge mental note of it.  There is a lot more stuff going on in DTKitchener that's not listed here, but whether or not any of that stuff comes to fruition is another story.

BTW: Regarding Kitchener City Hall - who here recalls that the tower portion was designed that it could take on additional floors? I can't recall how many extra floors, but reminds me of King Centre. Anyway, wondering if building code has changed enough that this sort of thing won't happen now.

That's a new one to me.

No, the tower was not designed to take additional floors, but what i remember from an open house for the carl zehr square renovations is that the open space along Duke St (where the cube sculpture is) was meant for an addition of the building, so the tower could be expanded in terms of footprint, not in height.
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#18
Do you think this is a dead project now that Manulife will be vacating their downtown Kitchener offices?
https://www.therecord.com/news-story/868...kitchener/
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#19
(06-21-2018, 01:18 PM)neonjoe Wrote: Do you think this is a dead project now that Manulife will be vacating their downtown Kitchener offices?
https://www.therecord.com/news-story/868...kitchener/

I feel like that story has to be missing some details. They just spent a lot of money renovating the downtown office, and even after the lay-offs I don't see how they could add all those people to their office in Waterloo. I don't think the Waterloo building is half empty. If it was they wouldn't have spent money expanding the office space downtown to add more employees just last year.

In general though, I think layoffs probably make the redevelopment more likely. Biggest problem for the redevelopment would be employee relations over the lost parking, but that's less of an issue now.
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#20
That is a big loss for Downtown, I can't believe how they are making such a massive change after all of the work that has gone into transforming their Kitchener office.
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#21
(06-21-2018, 02:12 PM)rangersfan Wrote: That is a big loss for Downtown, I can't believe how they are making such a massive change after all of the work that has gone into transforming their Kitchener office.

With every challenge, comes opportunity. With all the density of tech companies in this direct area (Tannery, Catalyst137, Google, Thalmic Labs, 132 Queen, etc) I think there is massive potential for occupying that space.
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#22
My bet is Momentum and Zehr Group would gladly take over that development, with all the other developments they have in that same area!
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#23
I'm an employee of Manulife and am not going to discuss anything about consolidation or layoffs (mostly because I don't know anything about them), but there hasn't been anything publicly announced about selling the building. Manulife is also a major real estate developer (https://manuliferealestate.com) and owns many properties that don't house offices.
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#24
(06-21-2018, 02:57 PM)robdrimmie Wrote: I'm an employee of Manulife and am not going to discuss anything about consolidation or layoffs (mostly because I don't know anything about them), but there hasn't been anything publicly announced about selling the building. Manulife is also a major real estate developer (https://manuliferealestate.com) and owns many properties that don't house offices.

Do you work in DTK  ? IF so, I am just curious how you like the new facility.
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#25
Aw, darn. I saw CTV filming the building downtown an hour ago and hoped it was good news Sad
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#26
(06-21-2018, 03:13 PM)Rainrider22 Wrote:
(06-21-2018, 02:57 PM)robdrimmie Wrote: I'm an employee of Manulife and am not going to discuss anything about consolidation or layoffs (mostly because I don't know anything about them), but there hasn't been anything publicly announced about selling the building. Manulife is also a major real estate developer (https://manuliferealestate.com) and owns many properties that don't house offices.

Do you work in DTK  ? IF so, I am just curious how you like the new facility.

Yep. I've only been here for a bit over three months, so I don't know what things were like before. The space is fine, fairly typical for a major corporation. A lot of cubes. There are pockets of more recent renovation, I work in one of them and it's basically like every tech office I've been in (very high ceilings, lots of natural light, desks setup in classic computer lab rows) but with fewer motivational murals on the walls and the free snacks are only erratically available. But the desks are motorized sit/stand which is nice.
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#27
(06-21-2018, 03:14 PM)GtwoK Wrote: Aw, darn. I saw CTV filming the building downtown an hour ago and hoped it was good news Sad

Reminds me of seeing roving camera crews outside of BlackBerry!
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#28
(06-21-2018, 04:05 PM)robdrimmie Wrote:
(06-21-2018, 03:13 PM)Rainrider22 Wrote: Do you work in DTK  ? IF so, I am just curious how you like the new facility.

Yep. I've only been here for a bit over three months, so I don't know what things were like before. The space is fine, fairly typical for a major corporation. A lot of cubes. There are pockets of more recent renovation, I work in one of them and it's basically like every tech office I've been in (very high ceilings, lots of natural light, desks setup in classic computer lab rows) but with fewer motivational murals on the walls and the free snacks are only erratically available. But the desks are motorized sit/stand which is nice.

Thanks...
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#29
(06-21-2018, 04:05 PM)robdrimmie Wrote:
(06-21-2018, 03:13 PM)Rainrider22 Wrote: Do you work in DTK  ? IF so, I am just curious how you like the new facility.

Yep. I've only been here for a bit over three months, so I don't know what things were like before. The space is fine, fairly typical for a major corporation. A lot of cubes. There are pockets of more recent renovation, I work in one of them and it's basically like every tech office I've been in (very high ceilings, lots of natural light, desks setup in classic computer lab rows) but with fewer motivational murals on the walls and the free snacks are only erratically available. But the desks are motorized sit/stand which is nice.

Also work for Manulife: The interior has been removed of much of it's 80's mall like feel. The only real item left that hints to it once being a sign of the 80's are the narrow escalators between floors. The main stair case to the 2nd floor was almost triangular, but it's been replaced with a more modern staircase.

I primarily work from home, but I do prefer the Kitchener office over Waterloo now that the renovations are complete (and it's not only because you can watch the LRT pass by underneath you while you work)
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#30
I'm disappointed - part of me has long hoped that they'd eventually consolidate in the King Centre, and finally build the darn tower on that clunky podium!
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