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The second tower now working on floor 19, if I have my count correct. That should see it top out in April/May next year. I would expect to see occupancy in the first tower in the spring/summer as well.
And it turns out that the King/Cameron corner is getting a similar blue spandrel treatment to the Charles/Madison corner earlier.
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This project couldn't get uglier if they tried. Everyone involved in this project should be ashamed to put there name behind this project. I give the tradespeople a break as they just build what they have been told, but everyone else should be forced to stand at the corner of king and cameron, look at what they have done and vow to never make the same mistake.
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(12-30-2024, 02:36 PM)westwardloo Wrote: This project couldn't get uglier if they tried.
You have never noticed the buildings on King St N, between University and Columbia?
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(12-30-2024, 04:21 PM)tomh009 Wrote: (12-30-2024, 02:36 PM)westwardloo Wrote: This project couldn't get uglier if they tried.
You have never noticed the buildings on King St N, between University and Columbia?
I know the building, it is indeed the ugliest building in Waterloo, but at least that building in consistent with its ugliness. This one is all over the place with ugly features. Its like they couldn't decide which element would make the building look worse, so they chose all of them.
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How about we all wait for another 2 years when it is done, then pass judgement...
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The pace has really picked up on the construction there. Not visible in the picture is the way the interior courtyard/parking entrance is filled in, work that has been taking place all the while the second tower has gone up. There was a lull around level 15 for a few months, and then 16, 17, 18, and 19 have comparatively raced. Wonder if the way Tek Tower, Station Park, and even the former Electrohome sites have been roaring out of the ground made some impression on the Drewlo crew.
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One day I was waiting to pick up my daughter from school I spoke with one of the onsite flag men, really nice guy. He said they fired the the previous work crew for working so slow and hired a new crew that is working much faster.
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(12-31-2024, 12:38 PM)Rainrider22 Wrote: One day I was waiting to pick up my daughter from school I spoke with one of the onsite flag men, really nice guy. He said they fired the the previous work crew for working so slow and hired a new crew that is working much faster.
Heh, that explains things! The project was absolutely crawling a year ago compared to the way it's chugging along now. Maybe its naming and a pre-reg website going live also gave things a boost. If they are expecting prospective tenants to give a (desired) move-in date, I doubt they're seeing people interested in commitment to three or four years down the road (especially with the lack of rent control on post-2018 builds -- I have friends who've gotten some nasty surprises when they moved in at a barely affordable rent only to have it effectively double after a year).
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(12-30-2024, 04:21 PM)tomh009 Wrote: (12-30-2024, 02:36 PM)westwardloo Wrote: This project couldn't get uglier if they tried.
You have never noticed the buildings on King St N, between University and Columbia?
Probably referring to Kitchener buildings. Those in Waterloo are a hot disaster. They look so bad they deserve their own category.
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This one wins the award for the ugliest building in the City of Kitchener...probably all of Ontario, if not Canada. Duke Tower used to get most of the hate but could win a Pritzker Architecture Prize if it was competing with this thing.
Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll collapse one night.
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(01-06-2025, 05:20 PM)ac3r Wrote: This one wins the award for the ugliest building in the City of Kitchener...probably all of Ontario, if not Canada. Duke Tower used to get most of the hate but could win a Pritzker Architecture Prize if it was competing with this thing.
Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll collapse one night. 1 Columbia says Hold My Beer
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That one is bad, but I think the colour is what sets Vertikal apart. One Columbia you can kinda ignore because it's just white/black stripes and what looks like an AI generated chessboard hallucination in the middle, but on Vertikal the weird mix of precast, glass and brick colours all clash and have no aesthetic coherence. As the decades go by I think it'll get known as one of the wackiest buildings in Waterloo Region. It's a mess.
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(01-06-2025, 06:33 PM)ac3r Wrote: (...) As the decades go by I think it'll get known as one of the wackiest buildings in Waterloo Region. It's a mess.
Maybe so. And yet hundreds of families will be happy to be able to rent an apartment there.
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(01-06-2025, 05:20 PM)ac3r Wrote: This one wins the award for the ugliest building in the City of Kitchener...probably all of Ontario, if not Canada. Duke Tower used to get most of the hate but could win a Pritzker Architecture Prize if it was competing with this thing.
Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll collapse one night.
Nah, that entire stretch of King between University and Columbia are significantly worse. Not even sure if it's the worse in Kitchener. It's Drewlo, they are all clowns...I mean clones (EDIT (on the fly, I kid you not): spelling). I am pretty sure I have seen identical in London (Ontario, obviously).
There are some uglies in North York also. Plenty actually, that are way worse. Not as bad as shantytown in Waterloo, but still pretty bad.
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(01-06-2025, 10:23 PM)tomh009 Wrote: (01-06-2025, 06:33 PM)ac3r Wrote: (...) As the decades go by I think it'll get known as one of the wackiest buildings in Waterloo Region. It's a mess.
Maybe so. And yet hundreds of families will be happy to be able to rent an apartment there.
This is true, but it doesn't mean we can't criticise the builder/ designer. They spent actual money to make the building look like this. They could have spent the same amount of money, used the same materials and built a cohesive complex for families to rent.
I can't believe how much attention this building get on this forum, but a project like 168 King st south get little to no attention. It is one of the only actually nice looking new building in our our Region. Families will be happy to rent there as well.
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