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Circa 1877 (née Brick Brewery) | 20 fl | Complete
#1
Original Brick Brewery site
181 King st S, Waterloo
http://hipdevelopments.com/
http://www.181king.ca/
Developer: Hip Developments
project: mixed use development in the early planning stages 

[Image: 181king_updated_0.png?itok=i-egvbcc]


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#2
Brick to sell landmark brewery in Waterloo
April 18, 2014 | Terry Pender | The Record | LINK

Quote:KITCHENER — Brick Brewing plans to sell its iconic building and property on King Street South in Waterloo and expand its operations in Kitchener.

The beer maker disclosed the plans in a news release on Thursday in which it reported its year-end financial results.

It said it will use the proceeds of the sale, and debt, to invest in its facilities on Bingemans Centre Drive in Kitchener, including the addition of a brew house.

The building at 181 King St. S., is the public face of Brick, which became Ontario's first craft brewery when it opened in 1984. It contains a brew house, offices, hospitality room and retail store.

The pending sale of the property was described as a win for the company and a win for Waterloo Region's plan to see redevelopment along the light-rail-transit line.

"We will have a chance to invest and expand in the Kitchener location," Sean Byrne, Brick's chief financial officer, said in an interview.

The Kitchener facility, built in 1995, currently houses a bottling plant, as well as a warehouse and distribution centre.

A brew house and offices will be built next to the existing facility, said the company.

"We have extended our lease agreement in our Kitchener facility through 2025, with an opportunity to extend beyond that," said George Croft, Brick's chief executive officer. "We are really, really committed to the region."

The new brew house in Kitchener will be larger and more modern than the aging brewing operation in Waterloo, "which will improve our operating efficiencies and improve our electrical utilization," Croft said.

Byrne said the sale of the Waterloo property also is good for the region because it provides an opportunity for "redevelopment in a growing and active part of the city."

The redevelopment "should fit in nicely with the coming LRT and the other activity along King Street," he said.

The area near Brick's Waterloo building has seen a lot of redevelopment in recent years, including the Bauer Buildings, Red Condominium and the 144 Park condo project.

Brick said there is no firm and definitive deal for the property at this time. "We do say that we are in a position where we anticipate a transaction will be completed within the current fiscal year," he said.

The sale of the Waterloo property will not impact the company's brewing operations in Formosa, Ont., where it makes Seagram Black Cherry, Red Grapefruit, Classic Lemonade and Ice Tea coolers.

Brick reported that it earned net income of $525,199 on net sales of $37.7 million in the year ended Jan. 31. That compares to net income of $351,033 on net sales of $35.3 million a year earlier.

The company said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were a record $4.6 million.

Brick attributed the strong results to its continued focus on cost reductions and growth in its premium brands.

It said its Waterloo Brewing brands recorded volume growth of 35.3 per cent while its Seagram coolers had volume growth of 4.8 per cent. Laker volumes rose 4.5 per cent..

"We are very happy with the year," Croft said.

"We are feeling like we are making good progress and we are thrilled that we are growing our premium brands, both Waterloo and Seagram, in a very significant way," he said.



Brick Brewing sells Waterloo property for $4 million

August 13, 2014 | Rose Simone | The Record | LINK

Quote:WATERLOO — A multi-use redevelopment project is in store for the Brick Brewing's brew house and retail building in uptown Waterloo.

The sale of the King Street South property for $4 million to a real estate development company was announced on Wednesday.

Brickis selling the building because it plans to expand its Bingemans Centre Drive location in Kitchener to incorporate a new brew house. The beer maker will consolidate all the Waterloo operations into that facility in Kitchener.

Meanwhile, the building at King and Allen streets where Brick opened as Ontario's first craft brewery in 1984 will be redeveloped by the buyer, HIP Developments.

Scott Higgins, vice-president of HIP Developments, said in a news release that a "landmark and award-winning multi-use redevelopment project" is in store for that property. He was not available on Wednesday for comment on the plans.

The property is surrounded by urban amenities and is in the heart of the light rail transit corridor with multiple stations surrounding it, he noted in his statement.

"At this point, we are hoping to retain some of the unique features and history of the site, including portions of the original building," Higgins added.

Brick president George Croft said the sale of the Waterloo facility is good for the community as well as the company.

"This is a fabulous developer and it is local, which was important to us. I know the work they have done on other sites is spectacular and we think they will do the same there."

HIP Developments says it has constructed more than 750 residential, recreational, industrial, commercial and institutional buildings with a total value of more than $1.75 billion.

Its projects include KW Habilitation's new offices on Ottawa Street in Kitchener, Sportsworld Crossing in Kitchener and BlackBerry's office campus on Northfield Drive in Waterloo.

The redevelopment will happen over the next couple of years. A leaseback agreement of one to two years will allow Brick to continue to run the brew house, hospitality room and beer store out of the Waterloo location until the expansion of the Kitchener facility is complete.

"When the sale closes, we will then begin the build-out of our Kitchener facility, which will include putting in a brand new brew house," Croft said. The sale closes in Brick's third fiscal quarter, which concludes at the end of October.

That expansion will be completed within the one- to two-year time frame, he said. "We would like to get this project completed as soon as possible." In the meantime, it will be "business as usual" at the Waterloo location, he added.

Croft said Brick needed to consolidate its operations in order to improve operating efficiencies.

Right now, all of its beer is brewed in Waterloo but packaging of bottles, kegs and cans, a well as warehousing and shipping, takes place from its Bingemans Centre Drive facility in Kitchener.

Also, the changing nature of uptown Waterloo, which is becoming more residential, was making it more challenging to continue having the plant there, Croft said.

"We have loved being at that facility for 30 years and so there is a piece of you that feels sad about leaving, but the reality is that uptown Waterloo is dramatically different 30 years later," he said.

"A manufacturing facility in uptown Waterloo was more challenging for us to run and also challenging for the community," Croft said.


Brick site developer also doing big project near Belmont Village 
August 16, 2014 | Rose Simone | The Record | LINK

Quote:The redevelopment of the Brick Brewing property on King Street South in Waterloo and the former Boehmer Box site on Belmont Avenue in Kitchener by Hip Developments will bring high-end apartments, retail space and office units into areas of Waterloo Region that are about to be transformed by light rail transit connections.

The other project Hip is undertaking is a $70-million to $80-million mixed-use development on the site of the Brick Brewing property at King and Allen streets. It will contain retail, office and residential space.

The sale of the building to Hip was announced earlier this week. Redevelopment of the site will start in the next couple of years after Brick builds a new brew house at its bottling and packaging facility on Bingemans Centre Drive in Kitchener and moves its brewing operations there. Brick will lease back the building at King and Allen and continue to operate there until the new brew house is built.

"We envision having ground floor restaurant and retail with offices above and also a residential tower with either condos or luxury rental units," Higgins said.

It will be a "flagship" development and every effort will be made to try to preserve the iconic yellow brick part of the building, he said.

"It's a fantastic location," Higgins said.

The southbound and northbound light rail trail transit lines will run nearby in the future, and the development is expected to attract younger professionals who want that type of urban lifestyle, he said.

With the growth in the region's technology sector, there is already considerable demand for such a development, Higgins said.

"We think if the building was ready tomorrow, we would be full. There is just that level of demand for this type of product."
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#3
On HIP Development's home page, it shows a partial rendering of what appears to be a condominium on top of the historic Brick Brewing building. However, on HIP's development project list, there isn't a page for this project.

The facade looks too familiar, and leads me to believe it is for this project.

[Image: wYLoEeWs.jpg]
Image From: http://www.hipdevelopments.com/
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#4
You must have missed the page: http://www.hipdevelopments.com/project/k...ck-brewing

"Preserving a cultural landmark in Uptown Waterloo, HIP Developments is planning a modern and urban 20 storey mixed use community at 181 King St. South."
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#5
Also, looking at the property line, that render doesn't make much sense. They would only have a few meters to the left of the original facade to build on. Maybe they're planning on disassembling and moving it to the right?
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#6
Nice spot the85, looking forward to seeing more about this exciting project.
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#7
A 20-storey building? In uptown? This is news
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#8
(02-14-2016, 06:59 PM)GtwoK Wrote: A 20-storey building? In uptown? This is news

Assuming the city will give them the variance to build it ... currently it's still zoned industrial (which was amended to allow brewing!).  If it's rezoned to MR-25 residential (the maximum density), they will be allowed to build 250 units per hectare.  Given the 0.3 ha size of the land, that means 75 units.  3-4 units per floor at 20 floors?  Really, Waterloo?
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#9
(02-14-2016, 05:51 PM)Lens Wrote: Also, looking at the property line, that render doesn't make much sense. They would only have a few meters to the left of the original facade to build on. Maybe they're planning on disassembling and moving it to the right?

More likely the render is a mirror image of what they would actually build.
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#10
It's not really in Uptown and that particular spot seems to be developing quite a bit of density already.
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#11
I don't know who defines what "uptown" means, but the city's uptown walk does include this block.
http://www.waterloo.ca/en/gettingactive/uptownloop.asp
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#12
I would consider it on the border of Uptown and Midtown. This is a little boundary map I made to define midtown:

[Image: KIoazHJ.jpg]
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#13
What are the significance of the green and blue lines? Core Midtown and "Greater" Midtown?

I've always thought that Waterloo defined Uptown as being as far south as Union, which would mean Midtown stretches between Victoria and Union. It would make sense to me if it was something like Allen instead.

I would guess the west and east boundaries are somewhere around Park and Weber as you have marked.
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#14
I don't know what the official definition is, but I'd consider the area between William and Central as Uptown.
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#15
(02-15-2016, 09:50 AM)jamincan Wrote: I don't know what the official definition is, but I'd consider the area between William and Central as Uptown.

The Uptown BIA includes, quite naturally, all the businesses between John and Central on King+side streets .
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