Market Square

[KevinL]

They were intending the 22 Frederick rebuild to be student housing, yeah? I imagine they can change course on that, but still...

[ZEBuilder]

They were intending the 22 Frederick rebuild to be student housing, yeah? I imagine they can change course on that, but still...

That's the intent behind 22 Frederick, but with Zehr Group working on that for months now it's unlikely it will switch back to office space or even be stopped.

[panamaniac]

They were intending the 22 Frederick rebuild to be student housing, yeah? I imagine they can change course on that, but still...

That's the intent behind 22 Frederick, but with Zehr Group working on that for months now it's unlikely it will switch back to office space or even be stopped.

Affordable rental apartments?

[nms]

The CBC article on the topic suggests that Conestoga College will retain a downtown Kitchener footprint at 1 Young St (ex Mayfair location) and continue with the 22 Frederick renovations.  I wonder if they are holding out for a better deal on Market Square due to the higher vacancy rates.

[mastermind]

Isn't a Conestoga College downsize a little inevitable with the change in rules around the number of international students allowed?

[panamaniac]

Isn't a Conestoga College downsize a little inevitable with the change in rules around the number of international students allowed?

Totally inevitable and a good news story, albeit with negative consequences in the short term at least.

[prisecaru0]

Does Market Square have any tenants other then Conestoga? There was that one food court tenant and service canada was there last time i went by. A great development opportunity, the city could even get involved to make it a small park

[westwardloo]

The CBC article on the topic suggests that Conestoga College will retain a downtown Kitchener footprint at 1 Young St (ex Mayfair location) and continue with the 22 Frederick renovations.  I wonder if they are holding out for a better deal on Market Square due to the higher vacancy rates.

I would have loved for them to buy the whole market square building from Europro. Tear it down and built a proper Downtown campus with a nice green space. Unfortunately times are going to be tough for Conestoga college for the next couple years. can see them doing any major investments in campuses for the time being.  

The 22 Frederick renovations are turning out to be a bit of a disappointment. Looks like they are using cheap materials and not actually changing the look of the exterior. I was hoping they would reclad the building similar to the second floor event space attached to the building or similar style to the market square campus entrance off duke/ Frederick. 

It's odd, because I think the college did a decent job renovating the waterloo campus, but the DTK campus seems to be use as little money as possible so the board can get fat pay cheques.

[Momo26]

With how much heat they are having in media + layoffs, I doubt any major capital expenditures are going to be announced.

[nms]

Does Market Square have any tenants other then Conestoga? There was that one food court tenant and service canada was there last time i went by. A great development opportunity, the city could even get involved to make it a small park

Ironically, Market Square was the site of old Kitchener City Hall with a large park in the front and the market behind it.  In the 1960s green space was out and malls were in so now we have a largely empty building.

[dtkvictim]

I would have loved for them to buy the whole market square building from Europro. Tear it down and built a proper Downtown campus with a nice green space. Unfortunately times are going to be tough for Conestoga college for the next couple years. can see them doing any major investments in campuses for the time being.  

The 22 Frederick renovations are turning out to be a bit of a disappointment. Looks like they are using cheap materials and not actually changing the look of the exterior. I was hoping they would reclad the building similar to the second floor event space attached to the building or similar style to the market square campus entrance off duke/ Frederick. 

It's odd, because I think the college did a decent job renovating the waterloo campus, but the DTK campus seems to be use as little money as possible so the board can get fat pay cheques.

As far as I know the Waterloo campus actually hosts real courses, and the downtown campus was pretty much exclusively for the programs that serve no purpose other than taking advantage of international students and/or facilitating what is basically immigration fraud.

I suspect the college knew what they were doing and planned accordingly.

[panamaniac]

Does Market Square have any tenants other then Conestoga? There was that one food court tenant and service canada was there last time i went by. A great development opportunity, the city could even get involved to make it a small park

Ironically, Market Square was the site of old Kitchener City Hall with a large park in the front and the market behind it.  In the 1960s green space was out and malls were in so now we have a largely empty building.

1970s, but yeah.

[tomh009]

They were intending the 22 Frederick rebuild to be student housing, yeah? I imagine they can change course on that, but still...

That's the intent behind 22 Frederick, but with Zehr Group working on that for months now it's unlikely it will switch back to office space or even be stopped.

They'll still need student housing. 22 Frederick would not have been even close to meeting the demand before the foreign student cutbacks, now it will actually make a significant improvement to the student housing situation.