Welcome Guest!
In order to take advantage of all the great features that Waterloo Region Connected has to offer, including participating in the lively discussions below, you're going to have to register. The good news is that it'll take less than a minute and you can get started enjoying Waterloo Region's best online community right away.
or Create an Account




Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
227 King St S (Sun Life Building)
#46
(01-31-2015, 02:48 PM)BuildingScout Wrote: First, I understand CRA now taxes all parking at full price,
What I've heard on that, is that the CRA taxes you on the market rate of the parking. This is what happened to the City of Kitchener employees. They park in public garages that have set rates, but were not being taxed on the free parking they were given. The CRA caught it, because other people in the same garages were paying for those spots, and therefore the spots were clearly demonstrated to have value.

Private lots, meanwhile, have no price that the public can pay to park. The company can set a rate it charges their employees, but that rate may not be a true "market" rate, and there is no easy way for the CRA to otherwise prove that rate is not the market rate, because there is no public parking.

I was told this was a reason why BlackBerry would never allow paid parking to university patrons at their Philip/Columbia lot, because it would define a public price for their parking, which could snowball into setting a rate that every employee's free parking could be taxed at.
Reply


#47
Thanks Markster, I wasn't aware of this distinction.
Reply
#48
(02-01-2015, 02:49 AM)mpd618 Wrote: And I don't think the transit to Sun Life is bad. Though it'll certainly be better once iXpress starts stopping at Allen.

It would be interesting to see a transportation study for a large employer like SunLife (or BlackBerry, or Manulife, or Toyota for that matter).  Yes, transit appears to be good with frequent iXpress and other GRT service arriving at the doorstep of SunLife.  But do the buses actually reach to where the majority of that particular workforce lives?  If a portion of the population comes from the GTA each morning, that would bolster the argument for reverse GO Train/Bus service out of the GTA.  Similarly, if a person wanted to take transit or bike from their neighbourhood in Waterloo Region to SunLife, how many transfers or awkward trail links might they need to traverse in order carry out that trip?
Reply
#49
Exactly, currently transit in RoW connects mostly work destinations but not living quarters. Now since it is unrealistic to have buses collecting people from spread out suburbs the way to connect living quarters with work destinations is via density. We need more Bauer lofts/Reds/Cortes/City Centre/One Victoria located next to an iXpress hub where one can live, jump on the iXpress/LRT and show up to work at Uptown/Downtown/Universities/Northfield.
Reply
#50
(02-03-2015, 03:24 PM)nms Wrote: If a portion of the population comes from the GTA each morning, that would bolster the argument for reverse GO Train/Bus service out of the GTA.
Apparently Google now runs its own shuttle bus from GTA to the Tannery in order to attract employees who want to remain in GTA, perhaps because their spouse works there or because they're hooked on real estate speculation. Google was one of the primary lobbyists for all-day two-way GO train service between K-W and GTA.
Reply
#51
(02-03-2015, 04:28 PM)BuildingScout Wrote: Exactly, currently transit in RoW connects mostly work destinations but not living quarters. Now since it is unrealistic to have buses collecting people from spread out suburbs the way to connect living quarters with work destinations is via density. We need more Bauer lofts/Reds/Cortes/City Centre/One Victoria located next to an iXpress hub where one can live, jump on the iXpress/LRT and show up to work at Uptown/Downtown/Universities/Northfield.

One solution would be for Sun Life (or the company that now owns their real estate) to develop the full-block parking lot between Union and Mt Hope into apartment buildings (rental and/or condo) plus a parking garage. They could even offer Sun Life employees a discount on accommodations there in order to encourage them to move across the street from work.

Speaking of parking garages, Grand River Hospital's is at full capacity. As I understand it the hospital gets no money from the province for parking lot maintenance or expansion so they have little incentive to add more, especially for visitors. So perhaps a new parking garage along Mt Hope could serve both Sun Life (employees during the day) and the hospital (visitors in the evening.)  Then again the LRT stop at the hospital should relieve some of the pressure for more parking spots.
Reply
#52
(02-03-2015, 05:21 PM)ookpik Wrote: Speaking of parking garages, Grand River Hospital's is at full capacity. As I understand it the hospital gets no money from the province for parking lot maintenance or expansion so they have little incentive to add more, especially for visitors. So perhaps a new parking garage along Mt Hope could serve both Sun Life (employees during the day) and the hospital (visitors in the evening.)  Then again the LRT stop at the hospital should relieve some of the pressure for more parking spots.

At the rates they are charging for parking, I'm positive they could build another parking garage at a profit, privately financed. CLV houses at the University of Waterloo were built under a similar PPP partnership.
Reply


#53
I have said it before and I'll say it again. Sun Life (or present owner) has the perfect opportunity to make a huge profit with that parcel of land.
Around the perimeter of the property make it street front retail and live/work space and above that small office spaces. In the center of that you can have one hell of a parking structure with the opportunity to have one or more pedestals above.
With the hospital to the left and Sun Life to the right plus surrounding neighbourhoods there are lots of potential customers to support prospective commercial tenants. Add to that the profit from the parking (to my non-professional mind) its a no-brainer... (it's not like they'd be out of pocket for long)
Reply
#54
I agree. Further I'm rather surprised that they sold their buildings. Insurance companies are in the business of investing premiums until the time there is a need for a pay out. Usually an insurance company cannot find enough places where to park their money, so why exactly are they selling their buildings and sitting on empty land?

Something is not right, Mark my words.
Reply
#55
(02-04-2015, 01:31 AM)white_brian Wrote: I have said it before and I'll say it again. Sun Life (or present owner) has the perfect opportunity to make a huge profit with that parcel of land.
Around the perimeter of the property make it street front retail and live/work space and above that small office spaces. In the center of that you can have one hell of a parking structure with the opportunity to have one or more pedestals above.
With the hospital to the left and Sun Life to the right plus surrounding neighbourhoods there are lots of potential customers to support prospective commercial tenants. Add to that the profit from the parking (to my non-professional mind) its a no-brainer... (it's not like they'd be out of pocket for long)

Considering that this property is next to the largest hospital in the region, a mixed use development could/should include a Boardwalk-style medical building. That might even include a 24hr walk-in clinic to take pressure off GRH's Emergency department. With McMaster's family medicine school and UW's pharmacy school just down the street there could be further synergies. There are also myriad standalone medical facilities in the area including doctors' and dentists' offices, various medical test services, pharmacies, the occupants of the small medical building on Pine St, etc. that would be attracted to a such a facility.
Reply
#56
(02-04-2015, 10:33 AM)BuildingScout Wrote: I agree. Further I'm rather surprised that they sold their buildings. Insurance companies are in the business of investing premiums until the time there is a need for a pay out. Usually an insurance company cannot find enough places where to park their money, so why exactly are they selling their buildings and sitting on empty land?

Something is not right, Mark my words.

After changes in how you can use "own-use" real estate financially, it makes sense for financial companies to get out of owning their own places. Was only a matter of time.
Reply
#57
I would not be surprised to see the SunLife parking lands purchased by the Grand River Hospital corporation in the next 10 to 15 years.

This is a perfect site for a "new build" for a future replacement healthcare facility (adjacent to the old patchwork hospital buildings). Oakville has replaced it's aging patchwork hospital with a state of the art facility which will open later this year.

At some point Waterloo Region will need a new, larger hospital that will be required to meet the built areas in the region (perhaps a merged GRH/St.Mary will be a likely outcome for two aging hospitals, both with old infrastructure inside and out and duplicate administrative costs).

Emergency services are already underserved by both hospitals with no major trauma unit in the area (hence most trauma/at risk patients are sent to Hamilton). A new Level One hospital could be built on this site. Right now the closest level one or major trauma hospitals are in Hamilton, London and Toronto. This new merged plan was already pushed By Queen's park at one time. The large future influx of population into the region will be a driving factor.

I look forward to seeing a new 2025-2030 large, high rise hospital site plan that is served by the LRT (see the St. Michael's hospital campus in Toronto is an example).
Reply
#58
Waterloo Emergency Power Station May 21, 2015

[Image: wMznUL3.png]

[Image: klXBulP.png]
Reply


#59
Large and imposing.  Between that and the parking garage, that's a pretty attractive corner coming together there.

   
Reply
#60
Is this not going to house a generator for Sun Life? I'm assuming specifically for it's data centre. The one housed in the parking garage is outdated.
Reply
« Next Oldest | Next Newest »



Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)

About Waterloo Region Connected

Launched in August 2014, Waterloo Region Connected is an online community that brings together all the things that make Waterloo Region great. Waterloo Region Connected provides user-driven content fueled by a lively discussion forum covering topics like urban development, transportation projects, heritage issues, businesses and other issues of interest to those in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and the four Townships - North Dumfries, Wellesley, Wilmot, and Woolwich.

              User Links