Garment Street Condos | 25 & 6 fl | U/C

[jeffster]

Updated pics by any chance?

I was just driving by but the zehr group has some pictures on there instagram.

While not to my tastes, both of these towers look better than I expected from the renders.

I was on the page for Garment Street Condos, and their contractor (ones putting in the slabs) said "16 down, 11 to go". That means this is 27 floors rather than 25? I am thinking this isn't total floors, as there are 16 floors above ground already.

Also, someone mentioned that Young Condo went from 25 floors to 27 floors.

If this is all accurate, it a few short months, our skyline will be changed for good. And, I mean, for good. As in good. It won't feel like driving into a small sleepy city anymore. Once this covid shit is all over, and a couple years from now, DTK will be a much better place. Jeff Young (City of Kitchener) should be able to get some fabulous stuff happening there. Although Dave McLaren will be pulling a lot of the heavy weight (another huge gift that the city has).

My tone here might come across as antagonistic, but I really mean for this to be inquisitive. I see this sentiment (taller = better city) in threads for almost every tower, and I really don't get it. First of all, the implication I get from this is that the city is currently "not good" (not necessarily bad, but in need of positive change) which I won't debate either way. What I don't understand here is why more height or more people will fix this? There are plenty of highrise cities around the world that I think are worse cities than KW, so to me it's an issue of quality, not quantity. If we failed to be an excellent mid-sized city, why should we expect anything different as a large city?

A counterargument I expect here is that our issues as a mid-sized city stem from sprawl and a lack of density. This brings me to my second issue with this sentiment: Why highrises, instead of midrises? I'm sure someone with urban planning expertise will tell me what this is called and why I'm wrong, but I've often seen it suggested that people are most comfortable in streets with a street width to building height ratio of 1:1 to 2:1. Personally, I feel this rings true. When I walk through highrise districts of Toronto, it never feels like a comfortable place to be. It's not warm and welcoming. It's not a neighbourhood.

High density is achievable without highrises, as most of Europe shows, and people here continually praise European cities for their successful planning and design. I fear the lack of high-density midrise neighbourhoods will push people who reject highrise living away to suburbia (this is how I feel, personally). Of course there are cities in the world where the only choice is up, like Tokyo (which is also a city of extremely high quality), but KW could densify insane amounts within our footprint without a single highrise (which isn't to say we shouldn't have any for those who want them).

And on the topic of skylines: so what? I don't care how my city looks from the outside, when I'm living inside of it.

Again, I don't mean for this post to be negative, I just want to prompt some discussion and understand why you all feel so differently from me.

No, I understand your points. We could have mid-rise all through the surrounding areas of DTK -- this will never happen, though, due to heritage assignments to homes around the core. As for DT itself, taller builds give a better presence, in my opinion, and larger population to the downtown. To be honest, though, most of our builds aren't considered tall, not like what you'd see walking down Yonge St in Toronto (mind you, I enjoy DTT). I really think adding thousands of people in the core, will be a magnet for businesses as well. As Yogi Berra once said "No one goes there anymore, it's too crowded." Not that DTK will become crowded, but having more people downtown, and walking about, is a good thing, and mid-rise buildings in the core won't help much.

I grew up with this gay friend that I went to school for about 6 years, plus we hung out a little after that. He moved from Kitchener to Toronto, and would come back to visit family and check-in on friends. After his experience in Toronto, he was much more open about his sexuality, and he had quite descriptive terms for Kitchener, -- referring it to a 'cross corners' and 'hamlet'. The way he presented it, it was hard to argue with him. Having grown up too in Scarborough (silence, people) and being a train and subway ride away from Union Station, just the vastness and large buildings, his points, exaggerated for sure, but they brought home the point. I think with the city growing as much as it has since I last saw him, and seeing our downtown grow, seeing the area around uptown Waterloo, and Northdale (though I really don't like this spot), we have a much more metropolitan feel. I like that. But I understand for many, they don't want that.

I do believe, though, that having for condensed populations, will make for less car dependence. And I do believe when businesses come looking around to wear to build their business, KWC will be closer to the top. Quite frankly, 5 years from now, this city is going to look great.