777 Laurel Street | 7, 7, 12, 12, 12, 12, 14, 14 | Proposed

[ac3r]

E Squared Developments and ABA Architects are proposing a multitower apartment development for 777 Laurel Street (which currently houses a number of industrial businesses) in Cambridge.

Consisting of 8 towers ranging from 7 to 14 floors, the development will contain 1046 residential units consisting of 1, 2 and 3 bedroom units. A large podium will be shared by the towers which will contain the majority (921 in the podium, 1046 in total) of vehicle parking spaces and 326 bicycle parking spaces. Various indoor and outdoor amenity spaces are proposed. No commercial units have been proposed.

[ac3r]

The first public meeting for the development will be held on September 5th, 2023 at 6:30PM.

[panamaniac]

Please tell me that enormous podium roof will be used for something.

[bravado]

You stole my thunder by posting this and I'll never forgive this slight!

Preston is a unique part of the triple cities that make up Cambridge... It's got a lot of hollowed out industry next to low density housing next to the "downtown". It's especially jarring since a lot of the history was torn down in the 70s and replaced with the worst choices from that awful decade. Here's some google maps shots to explain that this is a railway industrial yard next to low income housing that couldn't get much worse than its current state...

This is a complete improvement in every way (environmental, social, financial, architecturally) for the area and if the city takes longer than 1 day to approve it then they're negligent.



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[ac3r]

It is definitely an improvement though I do worry that the removal of industrial businesses and the development of new towers will, unfortunately, gentrify and push out the lower income and working class citizens of which Cambridge has a lot of. I make fun of Cambridge quite often but it's actually a great place. It houses what primarily remains of the heart of traditional blue collar industry and lower to middle income homes in Waterloo Region and when new developments like this are proposed, you know for sure it is going to alienate and push out those citizens who have built a life here. Now of course new homes are absolutely required in this country, developments like these guarantee rents and house ownership prices will continue to skyrocket (especially since our worthless Liberal and Conservative governments don't seem to care enough to do anything about that). That said, given the location of this place it does seem suitable for redevelopment as there are still large industrial parks in Cambridge that are not in such a central location. I'll just have to hope that the jobs the various businesses here provide, their impact on the local economy and neighbouring house prices don't go too crazy.

[dtkvictim]

No commercial and a ground level dominated by a parking podium is disappointing. Why can't we build nice places...

It is definitely an improvement though I do worry that the removal of industrial businesses and the development of new towers will, unfortunately, gentrify and push out the lower income and working class citizens of which Cambridge has a lot of. I make fun of Cambridge quite often but it's actually a great place. It houses what primarily remains of the heart of traditional blue collar industry and lower to middle income homes in Waterloo Region and when new developments like this are proposed, you know for sure it is going to alienate and push out those citizens who have built a life here. Now of course new homes are absolutely required in this country, developments like these guarantee rents and house ownership prices will continue to skyrocket (especially since our worthless Liberal and Conservative governments don't seem to care enough to do anything about that). That said, given the location of this place it does seem suitable for redevelopment as there are still large industrial parks in Cambridge that are not in such a central location. I'll just have to hope that the jobs the various businesses here provide, their impact on the local economy and neighbouring house prices don't go too crazy.

Uytae Lee has made a video on this topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHpifQ-A6HU

Suggesting that redeveloping industrial land happens because it's politically convenient and faces much less resistance than other locations, rather than because it's the right place to redevelop.

[bravado]

Unfortunately the theoretical LRT will be bypassing Preston, so who knows what will happen in the future to this weird little enclave that's sometimes cute and sometimes truly blighted.

I think adding 1000+ units to replace a decaying industrial site (a type of which Cambridge has a LOT of real estate, especially compared to KW). Living next to those train tracks on the other hand might be an occasional issue...

[panamaniac]

Ironically, this would displace a company that builds affordable modular homes (if they are still in business).

[ijmorlan]

That’s an awfully large development to have no commercial. Would we build a development of 1046 detached homes with no commercial space?

[bravado]

That’s an awfully large development to have no commercial. Would we build a development of 1046 detached homes with no commercial space?

Especially since all the podiums seem to be wasted on parking, it's a real missed opportunity... The only saving grace is that downtown Preston is about 1.5 blocks away and desperately needs more foot traffic.

[ac3r]

Well it's only like 2-3 blocks away from the main commercial strip on King Street, so it isn't exactly far from anything commercial...like a 5-10 minute walk from dozens upon dozens of businesses. It would make sense to have at least 3 or 4 small spaces in the podium though for at the very least basic things like even a convenience store to supply essentials outside of regular business hours. But overall this is not exactly far from a commercial zone of Cambridge...there are numerous vacant ones right on King Street literally 2 minutes down the road from this property anyway.

No commercial and a ground level dominated by a parking podium is disappointing. Why can't we build nice places...

Uytae Lee has made a video on this topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHpifQ-A6HU

Suggesting that redeveloping industrial land happens because it's politically convenient and faces much less resistance than other locations, rather than because it's the right place to redevelop.

That video summarizes it well. Income inequality but it also results in a loss of skilled trade workers and labourers and it begins to create a less diversified local economy. Anyone who knows economics will tell you that not diversifying is bad, bad, bad news.  Pushing your lower to middle class citizens out, as well, is not a good idea. A big reason why the entire Canadian economy and living situation is so utterly fucked right now is because our major cities have all rapidly "modernized" and their economies have really narrowed. It has happened all over the place already - San Francisco, Dublin, Seoul, New York City - where the inequality between the rich and the working class has widened and in a lot of cases it's because they pushed to change their economies like this. Dublin is a great example because it used to be a very working class, industrial and important city on the global stage but now you have to basically be a millionaire to live there. Most jobs are focused around tech nonsense. What happens when that falls apart? A similar situation to Detroit when the auto industry fell apart.

[neonjoe]

This should be a boon for Wavemaker, which is really the only reason I ever go into Preston. Their building is right beside the development, on the render its the grey building to the far left within the green.