(02-17-2016, 04:56 PM)dubya Wrote: Smile Tiger is the owned by the same people who own DVLB Espresso and Whiskey in uptown Waterloo.

This will be their main roasting location.

Smile Tiger Coffee is also served at Google and a number of other locations

Theme will be different than DVLB here with more of a Scandinavian look.

Plans are for a licensed patio out back too.

Opening is set for sometime in the Spring.

(03-01-2016, 03:56 PM)panamaniac Wrote: New canopy/signs going up today at the Weber Chambers building on King St W  -  "The Chambers" at 144 (apartment building entrance),  "San Francisco Panini" at 146 (former Casablanca). and "King West Fine Men's Grooming" at 150 (former Bead Boutique).  Sad at the moment to see this building sandwiched between the siding-clad convenience store and the old Mayfair site, but perhaps someday ....

(03-01-2016, 09:07 PM)panamaniac Wrote: The Record has a piece on the renovation of 5 Michael St (most recently home to the Beckett School of Music) into space (31,000 sqft) for high tech offices.  The project is to be completed by the fall.

http://www.therecord.com/news-story/6370854-old-shoe-factory-rebooted-will-be-high-tech-offices/

(03-02-2016, 11:14 AM)BuildingScout Wrote:

(03-01-2016, 09:07 PM)panamaniac Wrote: The Record has a piece on the renovation of 5 Michael St (most recently home to the Beckett School of Music) into space (31,000 sqft) for high tech offices.  The project is to be completed by the fall.

http://www.therecord.com/news-story/6370854-old-shoe-factory-rebooted-will-be-high-tech-offices/

This is excellent news and another key piece in Kitchener downtown revitalization.

(03-02-2016, 11:16 AM)panamaniac Wrote:

(03-02-2016, 11:14 AM)BuildingScout Wrote: This is excellent news and another key piece in Kitchener downtown revitalization.

Next up, I suspect, will be the Huck Glove factory.  At least I hope so.

(03-02-2016, 11:29 AM)GtwoK Wrote:

(03-02-2016, 11:16 AM)panamaniac Wrote: Next up, I suspect, will be the Huck Glove factory.  At least I hope so.

I want to see more done with that one, though, being on a main street and centrally downtown. Especially next to what will be One Hundred. Would love to see the W&W property bought up by whomever owns Huck, and incorporated into an extension somehow.

IMO, downtown needs to be built UP, not just have building repurposed.

(03-02-2016, 11:29 AM)GtwoK Wrote: IMO, downtown needs to be built UP, not just have building repurposed.

(03-02-2016, 11:45 AM)Markster Wrote:

(03-02-2016, 11:29 AM)GtwoK Wrote: IMO, downtown needs to be built UP, not just have building repurposed.

Step 1 is always renovation of existing buildings.
In Toronto, most of the new office space downtown in the 2000s was in renovated warehouses/factories.  It was only once that space started to become more scarce, and momentum on downtown offices really picked up that we started to see new skyscrapers.

(03-02-2016, 12:57 PM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: The issue being that downtown Toronto is large and has been thought of as urban for long enough that they don't have what we have, which is 1/3 of downtown being heritage, both from the perspective of you can't change any of it, to you can't build anything near it.

(03-02-2016, 02:34 PM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: Sometimes, it's how UpTown is, where you can't build higher than 4 storeys on King, unless you are far enough back that you can't see the building from the opposite side of King as a pedestrian (try looking at the Princess condominiums from the east side of king, you almost can't see the top above any existing or theoretical 3-4 storey streetfront).

Other times, it's pressure from neighbours, such as those who pushed hard (unsuccessfully) to declare the 6-storey Red condos as being too tall for King Street, due to the people who lived behind the lot. Established neighbourhoods, especially heritage ones, exert not only a development freeze on their internals, but outwards towards any neighbour they could theoretically see or hear.