General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours

[Viewfromthe42]

Strangest reuse of a place of worship I've seen (and enjoyed):

Vertical Reality
Altitude

[panamaniac]

Strangest reuse of a place of worship I've seen (and enjoyed):

Vertical Reality

Surely a former industrial building, no?  Victoria Island would have been a strange place to build a church.

[Viewfromthe42]

Strangest reuse of a place of worship I've seen (and enjoyed):

Vertical Reality

Surely a former industrial building, no?  Victoria Island would have been a strange place to build a church.

And now I'm embarassed for mixing things up...

I meant Altitude

[KevinL]

And now I'm embarassed for mixing things up...

I meant Altitude

Well, when you've got those high ceilings...

[plam]

Industrial space is usually more common as climbing gyms. There is also another converted church to climbing gym in Sherbrooke: http://www.vertige-escalade.com/. The grades there are annoyingly stiff.

[mpd618]

The derelict building on the corner of Queen & Joseph is being sold as a parcel for development.

[panamaniac]

That site is prime for redevelopment, but desperately needs to be consolidated with the two neighbouring properties to the "south", imo. Given the condition of the buildings, I thought they might already have the same owner, but I guess not.

[Spokes]

Great opportunity, but I agree, needs more. Ideally along Queen. Even more ideally along queen and joseph.

[Markster]

I really want to see retail units on that corner.

[panamaniac]

I really want to see retail units on that corner.

I would see services (hair salon, dentist, etc) as more realistic than retail, at least for the foreseeable future.

[Markster]

Where "retail" was meant to include "personal services"
Commercial units.

[UrbanCanoe]

Just noticed three more properties for sale touting proximity to Ion as primary reasons for redevelopment.

709-711 King Street East  (on King, near Stirling)

1001-1007 King Street East  (on King and Charles, between Borden and Ottawa)

1015-1051 King Street East (on King and Charles, near Ottawa).

Will be exciting to see redevelopment along this corridor over the next few years!

[panamaniac]

Just noticed three more properties for sale touting proximity to Ion as primary reasons for redevelopment.

709-711 King Street East  (on King, near Stirling)

1001-1007 King Street East  (on King and Charles, between Borden and Ottawa)

1015-1051 King Street East  (on King and Charles, near Ottawa).

Will be exciting to see redevelopment along this corridor over the next few years!

Good to see in the part of K-W most needing redevelopment (imo).  I wonder if the building I bolded will give rise to any heritage debates?  Istm that parts of the building offer potential beyond just tearing it down and putting up something new (and likely generic).  I believe the building has significance in terms of Kitchener's industrial history as well.

Edit:  Found it!  Home, from 1914, of Onward Manufacturing (extd 1906) - makers of one of Canada's early vacuum cleaners, among other things.  The company still operates in Kitchener, as the maker of Broil King grills.  Interesting how the company has reinvented itself over its century plus of existence.

http://www.omcbbq.com/onward-story.html  -  the link for the year 1914 has a good photo of the building as it once was.

[tomh009]

The 1001-1007 property also borders on a boarded-up house (a fairly rare sight in town!) on the Charles side.

[tomh009]

Edit:  Found it!  Home, from 1914, of Onward Manufacturing (extd 1906) - makers of one of Canada's early vacuum cleaners, among other things.  The company still operates in Kitchener, as the maker of Broil King grills.  Interesting how the company has reinvented itself over its century plus of existence.

The best companies can reinvent themselves, and yet be successful time and again.  Witness Nokia: from pulp to power generation, to rubber and cables, to computers and then phones -- and now networks.  Each of the businesses grew and peaked, and the company was always able to find a new growth opportunity.  Not a unique story, but another one of corporate reinvention.