Station Park | 18, 28, 36, 43, 50 fl | U/C

[panamaniac]

Would be nice to see a few pics of the Kaufman mansion after demolition of the chapel and corridor - I'm wondering whether much work will be required to restore the old exterior to its original state?

[tomh009]

I'm not sure; I thought it was just the Ottawa location that was being converted, and I thought it was because Farm Boy was based there. I hadn't heard that they were abandoning the format.

To be honest, I've never been in a Farm Boy, and thought they were full-sized supermarkets. Perusing some of their newest stores now, I see that some of them are rather small for grocery stores and in very urban neighbourhoods, so I guess they would be a candidate for a space here.

Farm Boy's largest store, the new TrainYards flagship, will be 38,000 sq ft, so not huge by supermarket standards.   Their newest urban format, in Rideau Centre, would be under half that size, I believe.  I haven't really heard much about what their expansion plans are - there are two new stores coming in Ottawa and they were looking at opening urban formats in the GTA, but beyond that I haven't heard anything.  I think they should be looking at opening a full store in Waterloo, although I don't know where I'd put it.

387-397 King St E?

[jeffster]

Farm Boy's largest store, the new TrainYards flagship, will be 38,000 sq ft, so not huge by supermarket standards.   Their newest urban format, in Rideau Centre, would be under half that size, I believe.  I haven't really heard much about what their expansion plans are - there are two new stores coming in Ottawa and they were looking at opening urban formats in the GTA, but beyond that I haven't heard anything.  I think they should be looking at opening a full store in Waterloo, although I don't know where I'd put it.

387-397 King St E?

Not Waterloo, though...

[tomh009]

387-397 King St E?

Not Waterloo, though...

We're on Waterloo Region Connected, though!

[panamaniac]

My point, at the time, was to be a bit surprised that Farm Boy has not yet established a location in Waterloo. I would have thought it would be a profitable venture for them. Maybe one of the Sobeys can be converted in future.

[GtwoK]

Anyone been inside the sales center? Curious if there's a model of the site as a whole, or if it's just the announced towers for now. Would love some pics if there are any!

[westwardloo]

Does anybody know if this has been officially approved by the city. I heard rumors that the city still needs to rezone the property to allow residential towers on it? If true I assume all they have is a demolition permit then.

[mastermind]

On the weekend I drove by and they have drill rigs on site for shoring install, which makes me think they must have permission to go ahead.

[KevinL]

Sometimes they'll get a foundation permit before the full structural one.

[ZEBuilder]

i was just digging around and found the foundation and shoring permit which says that the first two buildings will have 3 floors of underground parking. i believe it was talked about in the breithaupt block thread that the water table is too high for more than a floor but since these are a block apart would this mean that the water table is incredibly deep? or that the company doing this just has tons of money?

[tomh009]

You can dig deeper than the water table, to be sure. But it will get more expensive and take longer.

[KevinL]

There's a significant grade difference between these buildings, facing Wellington at King, and the site at Breithaupt.

[mastermind]

There's for sure lots of water there. Somehow the underground water isn't level like you'd picture it, it follows the hills up and down... The cost analysis must have suggested that it was worth the extra effort to get the density. Yay Kitchener!

[Momo26]

That's really interesting @ water table following up and down hills. Logically and to a laymen, you would think 'I'm on a hill, im better off in terms of water risk/flooding - ie. Even with neighbourhoods and run off water. Guess that doesn't quite translate the same with gravity under ground.

Are there any good resources for relatively easy straightforward reading on this stuff?

[ijmorlan]

You can dig deeper than the water table, to be sure. But it will get more expensive and take longer.

Indeed — the extra expense may be more justifiable given the very tall buildings I understand are to be built on top.