Waterloo Corporate Campus

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Make way for a funkier, cooler Waterloo

June 27, 2014 | Paige Desmond | The Record | LINK

WATERLOO — Tenants are already staking claim on the first of two office buildings being developed as part of Waterloo Corporate Campus at Weber Street North and Northfield Drive.

Intermarket Developments Inc. is spending about $160 million to revamp the site of the former NCR plant into a mixed-use project that includes office space, data centre, retail, restaurants and grocery store. NCR still operates a research and development office on Northland Drive.

The Record got a sneak peek Thursday of what Mark Kindrachuk, president of Intermarket Developments, calls funky, cool office space in the suburbs.

"We spent a lot of time on the design and the architecture and you usually don't see that in the suburbs," Kindrachuk said.

He added: "People usually think of the suburbs as kind of bland."

Intermarket Developments and Triovest Realty Advisors are delivering the project, with the first phase almost complete. It's near a future light rail transit stop.

It's designed to attract tech and other businesses, but not compete with the likes of the Tannery in downtown Kitchener or the thousands of square feet of former BlackBerry space that became available earlier this year.

"We found talking to the tenants and the brokers that there were some mature companies that wanted some funky space, that could afford to pay a bit more money," he said.

Most of the BlackBerry space can't be subdivided into less than 6,000-square-foot spaces, Kindrachuk said, so Waterloo Corporate Campus offers 5,000-square-foot spaces.

A long, one-storey building fronting Northfield Drive features loft offices with 18-foot ceilings, flexible spaces and lots of light.

Space in that building, which features everything from treadmills with desktops to informal board room couches is already spoken for.

POI Business Interiors Inc. has come on board with the project to provide office furnishings.

The partnership marks the company's expansion into Kitchener-Waterloo.

"We're very excited to be here," said chief executive officer Gary Scholl. "I think this is a great start for us."

POI currently has offices in cities including London and Barrie.

He said about five jobs will be created initially and about $800,000 is being invested as they set up shop.

A data centre will be built behind the office building. A related announcement is expected in coming weeks that will bring jobs to the region, Kindrachuk said.

The second proposed stage would be complete next year. The final phase will be corporate offices and a hotel. It's expected to be complete about the same time as the region's light rail transit project in 2017.

Upon completion, the project will consist of almost 800,000 square feet.