City Centre/Young Condominiums | 17, 25 & 6 fl | U/C

[Acitta]

Any sign of work starting on the Jack Burger when you were there?

Nope.

[ac3r]

I wish this building wasn't so wide...it's going to look pretty awful from the street, similar to how Circa 1877 looks. It has the footprint of awful mid 20th century modernism. A single building should not take up 1/3rd of a city block in this era. They could have easily separated it into two towers with a nice courtyard in the middle with good landscape architecture creating a nice inviting atmosphere. I can only hope we build a taller tower at Duke/Ontario to at least somewhat obscure the sight of this. The fake Forsyth Building façade they're going to have facing Duke is especially tacky because it wasn't even where the original factory was.

Maybe I should give up expecting good architecture from Waterloo Region haha...especially when it comes to condos. With the exception of Momentum/Zehr projects and Station Park, the best plots of land have thus far all been thrown away on the worst possible developers and architects you could ever get here.

[jwilliamson]

... the best plots of land have thus far all been thrown away on the worst possible developers and architects you could ever get here.

Don't say that; they'll take it as a challenge.

[tomh009]

I wish this building wasn't so wide...it's going to look pretty awful from the street, similar to how Circa 1877 looks. It has the footprint of awful mid 20th century modernism. A single building should not take up 1/3rd of a city block in this era. They could have easily separated it into two towers with a nice courtyard in the middle with good landscape architecture creating a nice inviting atmosphere. I can only hope we build a taller tower at Duke/Ontario to at least somewhat obscure the sight of this. The fake Forsyth Building façade they're going to have facing Duke is especially tacky because it wasn't even where the original factory was.

Maybe I should give up expecting good architecture from Waterloo Region haha...especially when it comes to condos. With the exception of Momentum/Zehr projects and Station Park, the best plots of land have thus far all been thrown away on the worst possible developers and architects you could ever get here.

It's fairly wide, yes. I expect this is less expensive than building two separate towers. But will it look as bad as DTK -- or Circa? I hope not, but can't really tell yet. The original City Centre looks OK to me, if a bit generic.

And not really "thrown away" as such -- as it's the developers who decide they want to buy, and the property owners who decide they want to sell. Neither we nor the city control that selection process.

[Momo26]

I still have Hopes for this one turning out acceptable. Let's see. Definately was not blown away at the sales centre and the 2019 pricing at the time was out of whack.

[ac3r]

It's fairly wide, yes. I expect this is less expensive than building two separate towers. But will it look as bad as DTK -- or Circa? I hope not, but can't really tell yet. The original City Centre looks OK to me, if a bit generic.

I'm worried it will look on fairly on par with Duke Tower in terms of how interesting the building looks. The original plan for this project had a shorter tower that looked very similar to the existing City Centre building, then it was redesigned as this super wide rectangle and taller tower. The materials might be better than Duke Tower, but the design is so plain looking:

At the very least, the 6 floor section facing King Street is going to look pretty good.

[tomh009]

Yeah, I agree with you, very generic. But even a boring generic condo tower should look better than the disaster that is Duke Tower.

And, yes, I am pleased by the plans for the King St-facing section (although I thought it was five floors); hopefully it will look reasonably close to what the renders show.

[mastermind]

Yeah, I agree with you, very generic. But even a boring generic condo tower should look better than the disaster that is Duke Tower.

And, yes, I am pleased by the plans for the King St-facing section (although I thought it was five floors); hopefully it will look reasonably close to what the renders show.

I think it is five floors facing King Street, this rendering is the view from the Duke St side, which is up quite a lot

[taylortbb]

I think it is five floors facing King Street, this rendering is the view from the Duke St side, which is up quite a lot

It's 6 floors on King St. This is the render that was posted earlier in the thread, and it matches what's been built. It's retail + parking + 4 floors residential. The top floor of residential is set back though, so it looks like 5 floors from King St.

   

[ktmbtsmrt]

I think it is five floors facing King Street, this rendering is the view from the Duke St side, which is up quite a lot

It's 6 floors on King St. This is the render that was posted earlier in the thread, and it matches what's been built. It's retail + parking + 4 floors residential. The top floor of residential is set back though, so it looks like 5 floors from King St.

That blank wall on the right there looks prime for a nice mural or something more active

[Spokes]

I wish this building wasn't so wide...it's going to look pretty awful from the street, similar to how Circa 1877 looks. It has the footprint of awful mid 20th century modernism. A single building should not take up 1/3rd of a city block in this era. They could have easily separated it into two towers with a nice courtyard in the middle with good landscape architecture creating a nice inviting atmosphere. I can only hope we build a taller tower at Duke/Ontario to at least somewhat obscure the sight of this. The fake Forsyth Building façade they're going to have facing Duke is especially tacky because it wasn't even where the original factory was.

Maybe I should give up expecting good architecture from Waterloo Region haha...especially when it comes to condos. With the exception of Momentum/Zehr projects and Station Park, the best plots of land have thus far all been thrown away on the worst possible developers and architects you could ever get here.

The changes to this project have certainly been less than inspiring.

[tomh009]

I wish this building wasn't so wide...it's going to look pretty awful from the street, similar to how Circa 1877 looks.

Actually, it will not be nearly as noticeable. It is set far back from King St, and the buildings in front (Mayfair and the six-storey portion of the complex) make it far less visible, as opposed to the monolith that is Circa 1877.

Even from Duke St, the presence of the first tower and the new Duke/Ontario project make its mass much less obvious.

[ac3r]

I disagree. I've seen a lot of the architectural plans and impact (shadow, visibility) studies for this building. It's going to look very bold. There's no way you won't see this thing towering over King or Duke Streets unless you're standing behind a wall.

[tomh009]

I disagree. I've seen a lot of the architectural plans and impact (shadow, visibility) studies for this building. It's going to look very bold. There's no way you won't see this thing towering over King or Duke Streets unless you're standing behind a wall.

Fair enough, we'll disagree on this point. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, let's see how visible it is when it has actually been built.

Edit: Walking on King St today, on the same-side sidewalk you cannot see the first tower at all, so I expect the second tower will not be highly visible, either (shadows notwithstanding). From the opposite-side sidewalk, it will certainly be visible but because of the six-storey street-facing portion and the tower's setback, it'll be less imposing.

In summary, I think it will not be as bad as Circa, because (1) it's set back, (2) there is a street wall of four-to-six-storey buildings in front, (3) there are numerous other tall buildings nearby and (4) it's not totally black. Circa is visible for 100m+ in either direction, and very much in-your-face in front, giving it the POW! effect.

[ac3r]

The tower section of this building is making a lot of progress: