316 King Street North | 15 fl | Proposed

[Watdot]

316 King Street North
Land Owner/Applicant:  Milestone Developments Inc.
Project: Renovate the existing 10 storey residential building by converting the 25 units (each containing 5 bedrooms) to 50 units (each containing 2 bedrooms) and adding a ground floor street-facing commercial unit; Add a 1 storey parking structure to the south façade of the existing 10 storey building with a ground floor street-facing commercial unit; Construct a new freestanding 15 storey mixed-use building on the vacant portion of the Site, directly north of the existing building. This new building would contain 80 units (all 2 bedroom units) with a ground floor street-facing commercial unit.
Zoning Application

[Watdot]

This stretch of King Street is terrible. I suppose at least this development is an effort to have it interact more with the street while still being profitable. I like how they hide the parking garage behind a commercial business/terrace. I still give it a big "meh" though.

[danbrotherston]

That sounds like a big improvement. 5 bedroom units are pretty single-purpose, this would make it more useful--although some 3 bedroom units are always preferred.

That being said, the building is still going to be a pretty low end building. But I think this is a big improvement. That building is one of the worst on that section of King.

[tomh009]

This stretch of King Street is terrible.  I suppose at least this development is an effort to have it interact more with the street while still being profitable.  I like how they hide the parking garage behind a commercial business/terrace.  I still give it a big "meh" though.

It looks meh, sure, but less meh than the current development. And it adds retail and non-student-specific apartments, so this is a win in my books.

And I will say that this is the first real indication I have seen of (at least 5BR style) student housing saturation. Probably not the last, though.

[timc]

That sounds like a big improvement.  5 bedroom units are pretty single-purpose, this would make it more useful--although some 3 bedroom units are always preferred.  

That being said, the building is still going to be a pretty low end building.  But I think this is a big improvement.  That building is one of the worst on that section of King.

Yeah, I definitely prefer the two-bedroom unit over the five-bedroom student housing. And I agree that 3 bedroom units would be nice, but I understand that there are financial reasons. I'm happy to see this kind of transformation, although I'm surprised to see it so soon.

[panamaniac]

So the 5 bedroom model failed?

[tomh009]

So the 5 bedroom model failed?

Not necessarily failed. But there may be more supply than demand by now.

[Viewfromthe42]

By building as 5 bedroom, they were able to both avoid fees and maximize density that was all based on units, not bedrooms. Now they can change things up to grandfather in those aspects, while becoming more marketable. A bit more work than the 1 bedrooms we've seen with a den that is clearly meant (and occasionally errantly labeled) as a 2nd bedroom.

[KevinL]

I see on street view the existing building is named King's Landing. There's a Lannister joke in there somewhere but I don't have the energy to bother.

[ijmorlan]

By building as 5 bedroom, they were able to both avoid fees and maximize density that was all based on units, not bedrooms. Now they can change things up to grandfather in those aspects, while becoming more marketable. A bit more work than the 1 bedrooms we've seen with a den that is clearly meant (and occasionally errantly labeled) as a 2nd bedroom.

Indeed. Don’t forget that real estate is a business which is massively affected by regulation. Some of that regulation is a good thing, but a depressingly large fraction of it is just a bunch of arbitrary rules whose most positive effect is to increase employment in the planning department. The rules that led to all those 5-bedroom apartments are definitely in the “arbitrary” category; I doubt very much that any substantial fraction of people actually prefer such a large number of bedrooms.

[rangersfan]

As others have said I see these proposals as positive improvements to this site. The existing building in its current form is one of my least favourite buildings in the region.

[Spokes]

So the 5 bedroom model failed?

Who would have seen that coming?

Well it doesn't undo some of the damage in that block of King, but it does help to improve it.  I count it as a win.  But barely.

[Markster]

This stretch of King desperately needs active uses on the ground floors, so this is pretty good. I like that they're planning to put retail into the existing building.

Now if only the buildings across the street could get retail conversions of their ground floors started already.

[JCnb]

For such a crappy building, it does have a pretty impressive yet odd penthouse unit!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=...277&type=3

[highlander]

That being said, the building is still going to be a pretty low end building.  But I think this is a big improvement.  That building is one of the worst on that section of King.

Yeah, I definitely prefer the two-bedroom unit over the five-bedroom student housing. And I agree that 3 bedroom units would be nice, but I understand that there are financial  reasons. I'm happy to see this kind of transformation, although I'm surprised to see it so soon.

It's not really surprising that this is the first to see this transformation. This was basically the first of the student specific, 5-bedroom, "highrise" developments in Waterloo. Based on my memory, it was built around 2006-7 by Andy's Apartments on a model that wasn't yet proven, hence the low cost finishes and no amenities. Most students were living in basement apartments or SFHs converted for 8-12 students, so this was luxury accommodation in comparison.

Here's the streetview looking north from King & Hickory in April 2009:

   

For such a crappy building, it does have a pretty impressive yet odd penthouse unit!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=...277&type=3

Andy (of Andy's Apartments) lived in that penthouse while he owned the building, I believe.