26 King St E | 3 fl | U/C

[ac3r]

Foundation is down. It's ridiculously narrow haha. I'd love to see the floor plans for this.

[ijmorlan]

Does the next-door building have windows that are now being blocked up?

[ac3r]

I don't believe so. There used to be a building there that burned down at some point (I'm guessing in the 1990s when there were a lot of fires downtown, Bronx style?). Unless they were added in after that, I believe it's just a solid wall with some silly looking fake windows on the side.

[panamaniac]

I thought that there was a mix of fake and real windows on the side.

[Acitta]

I don't believe so. There used to be a building there that burned down at some point (I'm guessing in the 1990s when there were a lot of fires downtown, Bronx style?). Unless they were added in after that, I believe it's just a solid wall with some silly looking fake windows on the side.

The fire was in March 2011. It was the Stag Shop that burned down, which also damaged the building next door which was partially demolished. This new building is located where there was a shop called Inception. 2009 street view: https://goo.gl/maps/s4kprpMY23Vsq5Wa7
Aug. 2011 street view: https://goo.gl/maps/nr96CJ6PxqfgvehK9

[ac3r]

I don't believe so. There used to be a building there that burned down at some point (I'm guessing in the 1990s when there were a lot of fires downtown, Bronx style?). Unless they were added in after that, I believe it's just a solid wall with some silly looking fake windows on the side.

The fire was in March 2011. It was the Stag Shop that burned down, which also damaged the building next door which was partially demolished. This new building is located where there was a shop called Inception. 2009 street view: https://goo.gl/maps/s4kprpMY23Vsq5Wa7
Aug. 2011 street view: https://goo.gl/maps/nr96CJ6PxqfgvehK9

Ahh I was referring to the entire vacant plot that is now a parking lot/parkette. I pulled out some aerial photos and it appears it was actually 5 separate buildings albeit all next to each other, so I assume none had windows (or if they did, were bricked up as adjacent buildings were subsequently built).

You can see it here. Excuse the photo of a photo, but the UW digitized aerial photos available on their website have abysmal quality. I have some physical copies of them which have much higher quality however. The one with the green arrow is the one with the faux windows. This is from 1946 so the TD Bank building by Bruce Etherington was not there yet as that was built in 1959. I had forgotten the old Stag Shop building only burnt down a couple years ago. I have a vague memory of a fairly large fire that destroyed everything between the old TD building and the American Block though I wasn't too old in the 1990s so I could be remembering wrong. It could be that they were just demolished though I have no idea why that would be the case.

[dtkmelissa]

The fire was in March 2011. It was the Stag Shop that burned down, which also damaged the building next door which was partially demolished. This new building is located where there was a shop called Inception. 2009 street view: https://goo.gl/maps/s4kprpMY23Vsq5Wa7
Aug. 2011 street view: https://goo.gl/maps/nr96CJ6PxqfgvehK9

Ahh I was referring to the entire vacant plot that is now a parking lot/parkette. I pulled out some aerial photos and it appears it was actually 5 separate buildings albeit all next to each other, so I assume none had windows (or if they did, were bricked up as adjacent buildings were subsequently built).

You can see it here. Excuse the photo of a photo, but the UW digitized aerial photos available on their website have abysmal quality. I have some physical copies of them which have much higher quality however. The one with the green arrow is the one with the faux windows. This is from 1946 so the TD Bank building by Bruce Etherington was not there yet as that was built in 1959. I had forgotten the old Stag Shop building only burnt down a couple years ago. I have a vague memory of a fairly large fire that destroyed everything between the old TD building and the American Block though I wasn't too old in the 1990s so I could be remembering wrong. It could be that they were just demolished though I have no idea why that would be the case.

From the Record: The building housing the Stag Shop at 30 King St. E. is part of a block that dates from 1862, when it was constructed by Louis Breithaupt.

The building is no stranger to fire, having been heavily damaged in a blaze in February 1995. https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...lazes.html

[kidgibnick]

Are there any known plans to infill the remaining gap between The American Block and the Crabby Joes? Seems crazy that a parking lot still consumes such a vital stretch of King St.  I would love to see more 3-5 story brick/stone storefronts here.

[ac3r]

305 story brick/stone storefronts, with a large tower situated on the back. ;>

[GtwoK]

Are there any known plans to infill the remaining gap between The American Block and the Crabby Joes? Seems crazy that a parking lot still consumes such a vital stretch of King St.  I would love to see more 3-5 story brick/stone storefronts here.

There were plans yeeeeaaarrrs ago (I remeber them more in the infancy of this site), but I think the property has since changed hands at least once. This was before even 1 Vic was up, I'm pretty sure

[SF22]

Are there any known plans to infill the remaining gap between The American Block and the Crabby Joes? Seems crazy that a parking lot still consumes such a vital stretch of King St.  I would love to see more 3-5 story brick/stone storefronts here.

There are a handful of lots along the LRT where I seriously wonder why nothing has been done with them. The parking lot next to Crabby Joe's is one of them. The other that I pass by all the time is the literal cornfield on King that's wedged between the Best Western and the Petro gas station, diagonally across from the Conestoga LRT. There's a farmer somewhere who knows they're sitting on a goldmine and is just biding their time.

For real though, I feel there's space for something nice that could front onto both King and Goudie's Lane, and truly thrive with such a good location.

[Acitta]

Are there any known plans to infill the remaining gap between The American Block and the Crabby Joes? Seems crazy that a parking lot still consumes such a vital stretch of King St.  I would love to see more 3-5 story brick/stone storefronts here.

We need that parking lot for one of the stages for the Kitchener Blues Festival.

[tomh009]

Are there any known plans to infill the remaining gap between The American Block and the Crabby Joes? Seems crazy that a parking lot still consumes such a vital stretch of King St.  I would love to see more 3-5 story brick/stone storefronts here.

We need that parking lot for one of the stages for the Kitchener Blues Festival.

Arguably there are other parking lots in DTK that could also be used.

I believe that the property is now part of the EuroPro portfolio.

[tomh009]

I thought that there was a mix of fake and real windows on the side.

Some of the windows are indeed real. I assume the owner of the property was hoping that this one would not get developed ...

[ac3r]

This is slowly progressing. They've poured more concrete and are putting up bricks against the next building.