One Victoria | 63 m | 19 fl | Complete

[tomh009]

Downtown Rising by Matt M S, on Flickr

Very nice!

[BuildingScout]

It's amazing to see the transformation of that part of town. I'm old enough to remember the abandoned chemical factory, the abandoned Kaufman building, the parking lot where Ziggy's is now, the parking lot where the new Beer Store is now, the old parking lot with the Korean convenience store in an A frame building in disrepair and the abandoned Breihaupt block.

[tomh009]

It's amazing to see the transformation of that part of town. I'm old enough to remember the abandoned chemical factory, the abandoned Kaufman building, the parking lot where Ziggy's is now, the parking lot where the new Beer Store is now, the old parking lot with the Korean convenience store in an A frame building in disrepair and the abandoned Breihaupt block.

As I recall, that Korean convenience store was a donut shop until sometime in the 80s ...

[The85]

It's amazing to see the transformation of that part of town. I'm old enough to remember the abandoned chemical factory, the abandoned Kaufman building, the parking lot where Ziggy's is now, the parking lot where the new Beer Store is now, the old parking lot with the Korean convenience store in an A frame building in disrepair and the abandoned Breihaupt block.

As I recall, that Korean convenience store was a donut shop until sometime in the 80s ...

That is true. It closed in the early 1990s.

[goggolor]

As I recall, that Korean convenience store was a donut shop until sometime in the 80s ...

That is true. It closed in the early 1990s.

It can't have closed in the early 1990's, I remember going there before/after shows at The Volcano in the late 90's - or was it a diner or something else in the interim?

I took some pictures of the building just before it was torn down in 2010 - they still had the donut and drive-thru signs up, and I was tempted to find the construction people and try and bribe them for that awesome tiny donut in a cup sign:




  

[519]

Did this Korean store end up moving to the LBCO/Dake plaza? There's a Korean store there now and I was wondering if it's the same store. If it is, they will have to move again since the plaza is set to be redeveloped at some point.

[Markster]

No, that one has existed since before the King/Victoria store closed. I seem to recall hearing that they were going to move out to Bridgeport Rd, however I never got confirmation of that.

[clasher]

That donut place closed in '01 I think, maybe a bit earlier... it survived because people could smoke cigarettes in there while Timmy's had started being smoke-free... but then the region went completely smoke free and there wasn't really anything else going for that place anymore. The Korean store had some good stuff though and I remember shopping there a few times.

[notmyfriends]

mmm... Tin Roof Smoke Donuts... 

[white_brian]

mmm... Tin Roof Smoke Donuts... 

LMAO How I miss that place!!!

[Lens]

About half way up now:

Building Kitchener by Matt M S, on Flickr

[tomh009]

Nice photo!

[panamaniac]

The brick cladding now going on to the podium is looking interesting, imo. It's not as dark a grey as I had imagined and there is good colour variation in the brick, including some with a red/purple look to it. I think it is going to look good and complement the brickwork on other nearby buildings.

[Lens]

Agreed, it is definitely something different!

As a side note, Hall's Lane is tentatively scheduled to re-open on August 31st. Would that mean that all concrete forming would be done by that date?

[Viewfromthe42]

I wonder when we will hear about the commercial tenants on the ground floor. That corner has good opportunities, what with the upcoming transit hub, as well as being surrounded by Google, the Tannery, the upcoming development across King from Google, and other offices to the south. But Kaufman is a horrible experience as a pedestrian, from all angles, and while the pedestrian experience at the School of Pharmacy is better, it's still not intended to be used by the general public. Depending on how this building's commercial tenants turn out, and the final pedestrian experience, it'll go a long way towards making this a better area for pedestrians and a welcoming entrance to Kitchener, or if it is done poorly, could cement the corner as an unpleasant location to be avoided, isolating Waterloo and the transit hub a little more from Kitchener.