[Paclo]

143 Columbia Street West: a proposed 25, 25 & 25-storey mixed-use residential & commercial development designed by PG Design Studio for Prica (operating as "143 Columbia Inc") on the south side of Columbia Street West east of Phillip Street and west of Lester Street in Waterloo's Northdale neighbourhood.

Renderings & Block Plans from the submission package:

 

[Paclo]

Fly-around video:

 

[ben.thebean1]

Is height variance now a sin? did I miss something? At least they've gone with what looks like a metal facade instead of spandrel, that might look fairly decent for a boring blocky design like this.

 

[ZEBuilder]

Is height variance now a sin? did I miss something? At least they've gone with what looks like a metal facade instead of spandrel, that might look fairly decent for a boring blocky design like this.

Well we're talking about Waterloo so it won't happen. The city is absurdly stubborn when it comes to additional height, maximum height in the city is 81 meters and in Northdale it's 25 floors, so for many developers it isn't worth the effort to vary the height if it means it will reduce the number of units they will have. Meanwhile Kitchener is the exact opposite and has asked developers to add more height 3 different times now, one building increased by 10 floors, another increased by 40 (split over 4 building) and another is currently in the works of being increased.