180 King Street South | 10 fl | Proposed

[ac3r]

As brought up in the general update thread, a developer (1000237993 Ontario Inc; no name available in the Ontario business registry), John MacDonald Architect and MHBC are working to redevelop the existing office building at 180 King Street South in Waterloo.

They propose to redevelop the office into a mixed use building with residential and commercial uses on the ground floor. They propose to add an additional 3 floors to the building which would turn it into a 10 floor structure. 129 units (a total of 166 bedrooms) would be added as well as 1'580 square meters of commercial space. The first floor would also be extended outward, resulting in extruding elements wider than the original footprint of the building. 152 parking spaces are proposed (118 for residents, 13 for visitors, 16 for commercial units and 5 of them will be full accessible). The parking will be both underground in the existing underground structure and above grade. 112 bike parking spaces are also proposed.

No final architectural design/plan has been formally proposed to the public, but as of June 8th they have a concept completed as well as some renderings.

[KevinL]

add an additional 3 floors to the building

I thought the render on the city's page looked bigger than the baseline! Should be an interesting build.

[neonjoe]

First render that I’ve seen with accurate looking LRVs

[cherrypark]

Hope that the street front design and adding some activation there with patios comes to fruition! Would be great if more of the Bauer Lofts ped mall spread to other developments here around the station to make it more of a destination.

[westwardloo]

Glad to see another mid-rise along King. With retail space as well, which will be a nice addition to the area.  The street front render makes it look a little nicer than the aerial shot. The more I look at it the more I think with a few tweeks it could be a nice looking building. Firstly, I would get rid of the curves, it make the building look like a suburban rental apartment done by Drewlo. Then I would get rid of the glazing on the balcony rails and replace it with black balusters similar to image ac3r share in the general discussion.

[ac3r]

Hope that the street front design and adding some activation there with patios comes to fruition! Would be great if more of the Bauer Lofts ped mall spread to other developments here around the station to make it more of a destination.

They go into some detail about their wish for street activation, so check it out if you want to read it!

[KevinL]

First render that I’ve seen with accurate looking LRVs

Well, they used photos of actual in-service vehicles, so that was easy.

[Chris]

Couldn't find any old Allen Square threads so I thought I'd start a dedicated thread for this project to keep it from getting lost in the general thread.

Record freedom link: https://archive.ph/QhNbh

Waterloo council told to say farewell to downtown office building with ‘brutalist’ design
Developer wants to add three storeys, strip away concrete, and install 129 condos at Allen Square

[tomh009]

It makes sense. We have a housing shortage, and there is a glut of empty office space in central Waterloo. Allen Square is pretty tired as far as office space goes, dating back to the 1970s (or 1960s?), making it difficult to compete for tenants.

[timc]

This one, right?

https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/...p?tid=1780

[Chris]

This one, right?

https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/...p?tid=1780

Yup that's it. I tried searching for Allen Square and couldn't find a thread. I didn't try searching for the address. I had thought there was a thread so I was surprised I didn't find it.

[nms]

Could Council have asked for a preservation of the Brutalist style while converting the space to residential use? I'm not familiar with Brutalist residential buildings, but I've seen quite a few civil and academic buildings.

[ac3r]

They could've and should've but it wouldn't be an easy sell. Very few people can appreciate brutalist design.

[bravado]

Very few people can appreciate brutalist design.

Least of all the people who actually have to use and live nearby it…

[ac3r]

Says you. I'd gladly live in this. Or even better, the Robarts Library or something. :'P