Benton/Church project | 40 fl | Proposed

[tomh009]

So this is the site kitty corner from St Mathews that was the subject of discussion this past week?

It is indeed the same one. It appears that JD has bought the parking lot from St Matthew's plus three additional houses to build up the 1.1-acre site.

[GtwoK]

So this is the site kitty corner from St Mathews that was the subject of discussion this past week?

It is indeed the same one. It appears that JD has bought the parking lot from St Matthew's plus three additional houses to build up the 1.1-acre site.

Which, in all likelihood, would be these 3. Hell of a site. They could get multiple towers on there

[panamaniac]

I wonder if the church has required a social housing component, or if the cash to keep the lights on was the main consideration? This will make for a very prominent site for any project of height.

[tomh009]

(placeholder)

[tomh009]

I wonder if the church has required a social housing component, or if the cash to keep the lights on was the main consideration?  This will make for a very prominent site for any project of height.

They are already sharing the space with another church so I expect they have their cash flow under control at the moment.

However, clearly they don't need that property any longer, and renting out parking spots isn't a great source of income, either. The question is whether the managed to negotiate an affordable housing component (that didn't work at DTK Condos), or whether they have another plan to invest the proceeds from the property sale.

[ZEBuilder]

This is one of the projects that was buried in the Growing Together documents. The proposal in its current form is 40 floors (125.15m to the roof, 131.15 to the top of the mechanical penthouse). The current proposal contains 5352sqft of commercial space fronting Benton, Parking access is off of Church which will service 243 parking spaces, all of which will be in 3 levels of underground parking. There are also 264 Bicycle spaces provided on site, 254 of which are Class A. These bike spaces are directly connected to the outside with a set of stairs/ramps.

There is 14,157sqft of outdoor amenity space provided on site, this is split between rooftop amenity space as well as an outdoor amenity area behind the existing church. There is also 11,226sqft of indoor amenity space provided on site. Storage lockers are also provided on site on P3, P2, P1, 2, 3, and 4.

In terms of units, there is 6 2brdm townhomes, 36 1brdm units, 372 1brdm+den units, 76 2brdm units, and 15 3bdrm units. For a total of 505 units. There is 4 elevators serving the 499 units in the tower, with a 5th elevator dedicated to parking running from P3 to the level 1 mezzanine.

[panamaniac]

Underground parking? Miracles can happen?

[westwardloo]

Underground parking?  Miracles can happen?

I would assume since this is kind of up the hill, ground water is not as much of a concern as the rest of DTK.

[ZEBuilder]

Here is the site plan and some renders.

Site plan:
   

Render from Church/Benton corner:
   

Podium render from Church/Benton corner:
   

[Rainrider22]

Now that looks cool...

[ac3r]

Not my style, but it's okay. Who did the architecture?

[ZEBuilder]

Not my style, but it's okay. Who did the architecture?

It says Kirkor on all the documents.

[westwardloo]

Yeah not my favorite style of architecture either. I don't hate it, but there is going to be a lot of dark grey spandrel panels on this one. Very similar to what Vancouver and Toronto were building around 2010.  Still better than the hot mess of concrete and EIFS panels that have been built in the region. 

This one will definitely make an impact on our growing skyline though.

[ac3r]

Looking at the renders on my actual computer and...yeah, definitely not a fan. As westwardloo said, at least it's not the usual EIFS garbage but the design is lame.

It's hard to tell if this would ever get built, though. I think a lot of people on this forum have misunderstood a lot of the Growing Together stuff, especially that big document that showed all these massive projects. It's why I didn't go make threads for all these. A lot of these are unlikely to get built. Developers love to brainstorm ideas and draft up plans for the future. I can tell you that most of these local developers have a whole bag of ideas for the properties they own (or don't own) but that doesn't mean they're going to happen. For example, Vive owns millions of dollars worth of property around Kitchener and yes they've spent time with architects and engineers to draw up some ideas...but that doesn't mean they'll get built ever (or in the form you've seen). I think I pointed this out in the Kitchener General thread or something, where they have skyscrapers proposed on some properties but those properties already have existing buildings that have been recently renovated - in other words, they're just brain storming.

Since the city started the Growing Together project to figure out how we can make the best changes to zoning, it has allowed developers to work with the city using these not-that-serious brainstorming proposals which is why they're all included in these documents. It helps all sides decide on what sort of changes we can make and what we could theoretically build in different places. But I would say don't get your hopes up for a lot of that stuff happening anytime soon. Wait until there are actual applications or zoning change requests submitted. For now, almost none of these projects are official.

[nms]

It's hard to tell if this would ever get built, though. I think a lot of people on this forum have misunderstood a lot of the Growing Together stuff, especially that big document that showed all these massive projects. It's why I didn't go make threads for all these. A lot of these are unlikely to get built. Developers love to brainstorm ideas and draft up plans for the future...

Does WRC have a thread (or even a sub-forum) for projects that were dramatic but never went anywhere? It would be interesting, from a historical perspective, to see what might have been.  Among other things, I'm thinking of the various plans to replace Wateloo Town(e) Square, the Kitchener Pedestrian Mall, and whatever plans there were for Cambridge before (or after) the flood control system was put in place.