City of Kitchener Official Plan

[Spokes]

Kitchener’s Billion-dollar building boom

Hang on to your hats. Kitchener's downtown is about to undergo radical transformation, that will transform the look and feel of the region's biggest core forever.

Within the next couple of years, 18 projects worth almost $1 billion will rise in the core.

Within that time, cranes will begin to crowd the city skyline. The tallest tower in the region will start to rise, eventually looming 39 storeys over Frederick and Duke streets.

The record-high Duke Tower Kitchener will be joined by several other tall towers: the 31-storey Charlie West condo, two towers in the east end of 19 and 23 storeys, and 23- and 27-storey towers on Victoria Street, and the 26-storey Young condo next to city hall.

Right now, the tallest building downtown is the 19-storey condo tower at One Victoria.

Almost 2,800 new residential units will come downtown, more than doubling the core's population to 6,000. Three new office buildings, the first the first to be built in the core since 1992, will add 387,000 square feet of office space.
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The boom will radically change the look and feel of the core, Seiling said. "It's going to drastically change what people have come to see in the past, and it's definitely going to make this a game-changer. We're going to have more people living here, and we're going to have more people working downtown."

More people living in the core will attract more restaurants, retail and entertainment choices, Vrbanovic said. "It's going to help us create a more vibrant downtown."

A livelier downtown makes it easier to attract and retain talent, Vrbanovic said, but also appeals to older residents who want to downsize but be able to walk to shops, parks and libraries.

Once they're built, the many new buildings will contribute substantially to property taxes for the city, region and school boards, Seiling added.

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The boom will also see major growth in the east end of downtown, with three large residential projects — the 488 units in the two towers at King and Madison, an eight-storey 60-unit building at 387 King. St. E. and an eight-storey, 72-unit building at 388 King E.
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But it was also spurred by a deadline. Feb. 28 marked the end of a decades-old exemption meant to encourage developers to build downtown — in the area bordered by Cameron, Victoria, Joseph and Weber streets — and increase density in the core.

The exemption meant developments in downtown Kitchener didn't pay regional and city development charges of close to $20,000 per residential unit. By meeting the deadline, the 18 projects saved almost $48 million in fees, Seiling said.

https://www.therecord.com/news-story/920...ding-boom/