130-142 Victoria Street South | 25 fl | Proposed

[ac3r]

MA Development Services is proposing a 25 floor mixed use tower at 130 Victoria Street South. The architectural design is by Core Architects Inc, a Toronto based architecture firm.

They are proposing 249 residential units (79 one bedroom, 40 one bedroom+den, 56 two bedroom, 13 two bedroom+den and 61 studio units). The ground floor is planned to contain 4 retail units (a total of 745m²) and the second floor is planned office space (413.8m²). The retail units are proposed to face both Victoria and Bramm Streets. The podium will be a total of 6 floors and contain amenity space for building residents. The project is planned to contain 2 levels of underground parking for a maximum of 51 parking spaces, with no additional parking with the aims to encourage transit use and walking. The underground parking will contain a secure bike storage area with a capacity for 60 bikes.

The project is aiming to potentially integrate the existing Victoria Apartments building built in 1931, located at 142 Victoria Street, details of which can be found in the heritage impact assessment file.

The application documents can be found here: https://app2.kitchener.ca/AppDocs/OpenDa...648053.pdf

[ac3r]

Additional renderings, including a video flythrough of the exterior of the project:

[Michaelkokokons]

This is going to look nice!! I don’t see an issue with this at all. Especially if those 3 towers on the corner on Victoria/Park get approved!! This part of town will imo look nice!!

[ac3r]

A decent project, IMO. Architecturally I don't find it that inspiring, but it is what it is (a condo...). The potential integration of the old Victoria Apartments building would be nice to see. I appreciate the fact that this is aiming to have a variety of units. While the majority are 1 bedroom, there is a mixture of 1 and 2 bedroom units with dens, studio apartments and I heard live/work spaces on the second floor which would share the office space, though I forget if that was confirmed (too lazy to check the documents). More retail is also great to see.

This will also help revitalize Victoria Street itself. It is, as posters here often call it, a traffic sewer at the present moment but with more high density projects along here, it will help catalyze a renovation of the street itself, hopefully improving it for mixed use - vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians. More density on Victoria will also help build the case for an east-west LRT in the future, especially considering there is a lot of room for development along that road.

Expect the NIMBYs to be complaining about this one as well.

[Lebronj23]

I thought this lot was also owned by Dov Capital, the same Dev that is doing the Victoria and a Park Towers, and this was going to be a future development for them. Either way, this stretch of Victoria going to be quite dense!

[ac3r]

I thought this lot was also owned by Dov Capital, the same Dev that is doing the Victoria and a Park Towers, and this was going to be a future development for them. Either way, this stretch of Victoria going to be quite dense!

No idea. The developer listed in the application was just a generic numbered corporation (1936026 Ontario Inc) which belongs to Nusrat Govindji, a local businesswoman (of the old Highland Camera and Studio) who owns current property at 130 Victoria Street, which was previously the dry cleaner building (The Record published an article about her and the property in 2020). The co signer on the applicant is a Mathew Laing who works with MA Development Services. Govindji had plans to revitalize the building but it would appear that they've set their sights higher.

Honestly hard to tell who is who when it's just a numbered corporation and I didn't have the time to dig deeper haha. If it's a different developer, let me know and I'll edit the post.

[Acitta]

Why did they bother renovating 130 Victoria St. S. if they were just going to end up knocking it down?

[taylortbb]

The ground floor is planned to contain 4 retail units (a total of 745sf) and the second floor is planned office space (413.8sf).

Is that supposed to be sq meters? Otherwise those are pretty tiny.

Looks like a nice project though, combined with the Victoria/Park project this is definitely going to be the densest part of the region. I wonder if we'll see anything on the south/east side of Victoria St. Developers have told me they'd like to build there, but are worried about NIMBY pushback.

[ac3r]

Oops, that's what happens when you post before you're fully awake. Fixed as it's indeed square meters.

[dtkvictim]

This will also help revitalize Victoria Street itself. It is, as posters here often call it, a traffic sewer at the present moment but with more high density projects along here, it will help catalyze a renovation of the street itself, hopefully improving it for mixed use - vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians. More density on Victoria will also help build the case for an east-west LRT in the future, especially considering there is a lot of room for development along that road.

I don't see why that would be a given. Toronto is completely full of streets just as miserable as Victoria St, while being flanked with highrise condos (and IMO, the pedestrian experience made even worse by combining the traffic sewer with the negative externalities of highrises). I certainly hope you are right, but I haven't seen much from the leadership in the region suggesting we will do anything other than repeat the mistakes of all other North American cities.

[Momo26]

Are these poised for sale or purpose built rent? Are we expecting them to start at a gazillion dollars if being blasted to Toronto investors? Heh

[CP42]

Are these poised for sale or purpose built rent? Are we expecting them to start at a gazillion dollars if being blasted to Toronto investors? Heh

Hard to tell - I would hope not every developer takes the IN8 approach. Although if you look at the floorplans, they appear to actually be generous sizes unlike IN8.

[nms]

Elsewhere, when a 1:1 unit to parking ratio has not been built into a development, where do the extra cars end up parking? Or, is there an opportunity for buildings like this to host a car share that allows building unit owners access to a car when they need it?

[taylortbb]

Elsewhere, when a 1:1 unit to parking ratio has not been built into a development, where do the extra cars end up parking?

You're assuming there are extra cars. I think you'd be surprised by how many people live in DTK without one.

Or, is there an opportunity for buildings like this to host a car share that allows building unit owners access to a car when they need it?

Community Car Share, before being acquired by Communauto, experimented with this quite a bit. Buildings generally just don't have enough car share use to justify a private car share spot, and buildings don't like having their parking garages open to strangers. Every building where Community Car Share tried this resulted in the car being removed after the developer subsidy ended. There are many car share vehicles nearby, including some at The Tannery just down Victoria St. I expect residents wanting car share will do that.

[Momo26]

I couldn't find floor plans for units in the linked documents. Could you show me where they are? When are sales anticipated?