[MisterF]

Yes, I was Alchemist on the old forum. I went to Prince of Wales just across the street from where GE looms and that factory was big enough to mark the outer limits of my biking territory until I was about 8 or 9.

I didn't know that GE was hiring. It seems like it's been downsizing for fifty years. Growing up, I used to make fun of Ptbo a lot - and there are still certain things like those low budget commercials on CHEX television that kind of embarass me - but it's a fun and extremely cheap city to live in. If I had a job there, I'd move in a heartbeat.

God those CHEX commercials are painful to watch...lol. GE's nuclear division is expanding. I'm not sure how the rest of their operations are doing.

 

[unimaginative2]

Yup, I grew up in Peterborough. Were you Alchemist on the old forum? Funny you mention Westclox, I went to King George across the street until grade 3. I still have friends who live in that neighbourhood. You're right, there's a lot of 1800s brick buildings downtown and in the old industrial areas. The good thing about GE and Quaker Oats is that they're both stable, and expanding in GE's case, so we won't be seeing Kitchener-style abandonment anytime soon. Probably the best thing Peterborough did was get Trent University back in the 60s - the students are a big part of why downtown is doing so well.

There's no question that Kitchener's downtown sucks, but I wouldn't really say there's significant abandonment. There was a little bit more a few years ago when downtown was really in its roughest shape ever, but these days most of the buildings are occupied, if marginally. I can't really think of any significant buildings downtown which are actually abandoned (i.e. are not being maintained). Of course, the fires cleaned out quite a bit of the buildings that might have had that fate.

 

[MisterF]

^True enough, I meant the industrial uses abandoning the buildings and leaving them for marginal uses. I do remember some huge parking lots adjacent to downtown that were once industrial properties, iirc.

Downtown Kitchener does seem more alive than when I lived in Waterloo, which was only four years ago. Uptown Waterloo has improved too, with a couple new buildings that meet King Street really well and more sidewalk patios than I remember. And the godawful Waterloo Town Square is finally disappearing.

 

[Copper1212]

God those CHEX commercials are painful to watch...lol.

The whole station is painful to watch. It's stuck in a time warp, like 10 years behind everyone else.

The jiggle jangle's they come up with for some of the commercials sound like they are coming from a childs keyboard.

 

[Hipster Duck]

^I was up there this weekend and a friend of mine told me that kids from Kenner Collegiate now star in their very own teen drama on CHEX TV!