[ZEBuilder]

This is a project that has been going on for awhile but since it wasn't the main focus of the ZBA/OPA in 2020 nothing really was known about the residential aspects of this project until now.

The building itself is 13 floors and fronts the Fischer Hallman and Bleams roundabout, the total number of units and the breakdown of units isn't known at this time, when the balance of construction permit is issued it will have the total number of units so we should know in the coming months. The project is directly across Bleams Rd from the 1198 Fischer Hallman and 1200 Fischer Hallman Rd projects. The Foundation/shoring/site servicing permit has been issued and they're currently forming the raft slab.

The developer behind this project is Grandview homes, they haven't been involved in many apartment buildings so this might be a first for them, they have built numerous SFH in the KW and Woodstock area over the years however. I was looking at something for an unrelated project and it does appear that they are planning on building a few other apartments and it looks as if they were involved with the 50 Otterbein project in Kitchener to some degree so it might not be a first for them.

Engineering work for this project was done by MTE Consultants, I do not know to what extent but I know that they are involved with it. MTE has divisions for everything so it is quite possible that they have done the engineering work for the entire project (Geotech, Structural, Site plan etc).

The only rendering available is from the original OPA/ZBA when One Properties were involved, since then One Properties has sold the commercial aspect of the project (Sunfish Plaza) and this building has also grown in height so we really don't know what the building is going to look like.

Render from Fisher Hallman/Bleams:

 

[ZEBuilder]

Initial excavation (June 25):

Shoring and Tower Crane Base (July 19)

Tower Crane (Aug 8):

Today:

 

[ZEBuilder]

This had to go to the Committee of Adjustment for some setback relief as it has a larger setback than what is allowed by the current zoning. The reason for this is there are some existing easements with Enova Power for the hydro pole guy wires along Fischer Hallman, somehow I haven't managed to get these in any of my photos but when you walk by the site it is very prevalent. especially when looking at the shoring around the site.

From the Committee of Adjustment report we get some renderings and a site plan. The vast majority of the site is covered by above ground parking, it isn't all that surprising since this property is still covered by the 1985 zoning bylaw, much of the city has been switched to the 2019-051 but this property isn't one of them, for this site it's due to the LPAT settlement. Regardless there is 203 parking spaces and 202 units 6 of which are live/work. The FSR calculation for this site is forced to include the existing commercial at 1270 Fischer Hallman and the future multi res buildings at 1314 Fischer Hallman as per the LPAT settlement even though the 3 of the properties are now legally different entities, so right now the FSR for the site is 0.49, this is low but 1314 Fischer Hallman has yet to be developed but it is owned by Starlight Investments who do have plans to develop the property, they did geotechnical work on the site this past winter and spring.

The architect for this is confirmed to be SRM. It looks like most of SRMs work, they have a bad habit of making everything grey/white/black, it isn't easy to tell if it's precast or not but much of the work that the concrete contractor (Horizon Concrete Forming) has done locally in the last couple of years has been foundation work for precast buildings so it wouldn't be surprising if it ends up being precast. Once they get more of the foundation walls done it will be easier to tell just from the rebar but it's not at that point yet.

Here is the site plan:

Render from Bleams:

Render from Fischer Hallman

Then some pictures from this week:

 

[ZEBuilder]

Progress on this one has been relatively slow all things considered but around half of the underground work is completed.

Dec 21st:

Today (February 7th 2025), Unfortunately I ca not take a picture from my usual angle due to a snow pile being in the way so I took one from Fischer Hallman, you can't see much but from the tarps the concrete work has progressed to the far side of the site, from the rebar pattern its also looking extremely likely that this is going to be precast construction, if it is this will fly come the summer:

Then here's another angle showing how much this building will change the skyline for this part of Kitchener which up until now has only been SFH with the odd townhome development.

 

[ZEBuilder]

This site is still going at it's usual pace, however underground work is almost complete on the tower section meaning above ground work should be starting rather soon. As I said in my last post this is likely going to be precast construction, which can now be confirmed as Stubbe's has signs up on the site fencing.

Here's a photo from March 10th

 

[ZEBuilder]

This is still progressing just at its normal slow pace, everything along Bleams Rd for the tower section of the site is at grade, along Fischer Hallman they are putting the forms in for the ground floor slab in the last section of the tower. Then the portion of the site with underground parking only has columns for everything but the ramp completed and the underground floor slab completed for much of it. Site servicing works will be occurring the week of May 5th which will require the eastbound closure of Bleams Rd.

 

[ZEBuilder]

This dragged on with little progress for much of June and July. However precast installation started at the beginning of August and is progressing at a typical pace for precast. The colour is different than the renderings that I dug up a couple of months ago with the precast being red in many areas. The red areas have a wooden texture on it.

May 16 (underground parking ramp)

August 7

August 18

 

[ZEBuilder]

Second floor is mostly complete as of Friday (Aug 29).

 

[ZEBuilder]

This building is now up to 10 floors. The picture was taken December 7. Work has been noticeably slower recently thanks to the gusty winds and snow squalls.

 

[ZEBuilder]

The below shots are from December 24th. The tower is now up to 11 floors. Windows have started going in on the lower 2 floors with steel studs visible up to the 4th floor.