I don't think Victoria/King will become the "centre" of downtown Kitchener for any reason apart from that it will have a huge cluster of tall buildings/skyscrapers as well as becoming our central node for transit. That will mean that in about a decade from now when the current proposed/current projects are complete (with more coming), it will absolutely be one of the busiest areas. Maybe with time it will evolve into what we could consider a central business district, with Google being the obvious company defining that but with the potential for a lot more growth as there is a lot of land there to utilize for business (even if that means a mixture of condos/office buildings). But apart from business and transit, there's not a whole lot around there yet, though I'm sure projects like Station Park, Victoria and Park and many more will result in more businesses capitalizing on that street activity, hopefully by providing new restaurants, shops, a grocery store, stores and so on. Whenever they redesign Victoria Street (nothing confirmed, but it's likely inevitable as it's an old roadway) it can hopefully make it a more pleasing area to walk or cycle around through.
In terms of things like culture, shops, street activity and so on I think that will become more spread out. We don't really have any specific areas downtown that I'd say you can define. There's the Market District for sure which, with all the Asian community related shops, provides a pretty nice area for food. There is also the Civic District which - despite the name - I relate more to culture, with the Centre in the Square, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery and Kitchener Public Library.
Overall, we're not a big enough region to really have a main downtown with distinct areas yet, though for sure in the decades coming, different areas will have different uses. For me personally, since I've lived here on and off for 30+ years, I still think of City Hall as the centre of downtown. Everything else is no more than a 10 minute walk away.
In terms of things like culture, shops, street activity and so on I think that will become more spread out. We don't really have any specific areas downtown that I'd say you can define. There's the Market District for sure which, with all the Asian community related shops, provides a pretty nice area for food. There is also the Civic District which - despite the name - I relate more to culture, with the Centre in the Square, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery and Kitchener Public Library.
Overall, we're not a big enough region to really have a main downtown with distinct areas yet, though for sure in the decades coming, different areas will have different uses. For me personally, since I've lived here on and off for 30+ years, I still think of City Hall as the centre of downtown. Everything else is no more than a 10 minute walk away.