One Young (née Mayfair Hotel) | 5 fl | Complete

[tomh009]

We said that exact same thing 5 years ago though, lol. Eaton's Lofts was going revitalize everything, then Kaufman Lofts, then the UW Pharmacy campus, then the Arrow Lofts, then City Centre, then Google etc etc etc. Besides some condos that maybe 0.5% of the population could ever dream of affording, an LRT that barely manages to carry 25'000 people a day and some bike lanes and shiny bollards...downtown Kitchener hasn't changed one bit (nor uptown for that matter).

It's funny how two people can look at the same thing and see something completely different. I remember DTK before the pharmacy building, before the new city hall and before the Tannery. I look at it today, and I see a huge change -- even if it's quiet after 6 PM.

There are a lot more jobs in downtown now, and this is why there are people there during the day. In the evening, not so many as the population has not grown as quickly, and many people that go to DTK concerts or plays tend to drive in, go to the event and drive back. No one building will change things overnight, but there are something like 1,500 units (of condos and apartments) under construction in DTK, and that will bring more people living downtown. (And, yes, most condos and apartments are less expensive than houses.)

It has nothing to do with how many people live downtown, it has everything to do with what there is to do downtown - especially after 5PM.

You won't get more things to do downtown until there are more people: businesses need customers. There are a lot of coffee shops now thanks to the number of people working downtown. As the number living there goes up, there will also be more things to do.

If you have some kind of magic prescription or secret sauce for attracting new business without the need for a customer base, I think the city would love to hear from you.