ZEBuilder
Active Member
This is a proposal for downtown Kitchener that has been floating around for a few years now but nothing has materialized yet as the property has switched hands at least once. The property is located at the corner of Weber St W and Ontario St N, it currently contains a commercial building and a vacant residential building that is deemed historic. This is the tallest building to be proposed along Weber St so far however on the opposite corner of the block is VanMar's 45 floor 10 Duke St W proposal so the density is slowly moving towards Weber.
Current Site:
The original proposal by Kiah Group Inc is from 2019 and was for a 21 floor building with 126 dwelling units. The bottom floors were to contain office/retail uses. The podium would also incorporate the heritage home into the podium, at the time the city of Kitchener was working on CRoZBy (Comprehensive Review of Zoning Bylaw) to effectively get rid of the 85-1 bylaw and replace it with 2019-051. At the time CRoZBy was not approved so the developer went to the CoA in order to get a minor variance for zero parking spaces, this was approved and then the group behind the project flipped it to the existing owners.
Original Design:
The new owners have very limited experience in developing projects, they are a husband and wife duo who have worked in hospitality and project management but have yet to venture into development so it seems unlikely that this project will go smoothly. The new proposal is from 2023 and is now for a 27 floor building with 206 dwelling units as well as 4 commercial units. This new design will again incorporate the existing facade of the heritage building and will again have no parking spaces. Design wise it is certainly nothing special to say the least based upon the few renders that are public, there was a render floating around where the heritage building was enclosed in glass which located better but that may have been removed. They are also expecting construction to start in April 2024 with completion in October 2026.
Current Design:
Current Site:
The original proposal by Kiah Group Inc is from 2019 and was for a 21 floor building with 126 dwelling units. The bottom floors were to contain office/retail uses. The podium would also incorporate the heritage home into the podium, at the time the city of Kitchener was working on CRoZBy (Comprehensive Review of Zoning Bylaw) to effectively get rid of the 85-1 bylaw and replace it with 2019-051. At the time CRoZBy was not approved so the developer went to the CoA in order to get a minor variance for zero parking spaces, this was approved and then the group behind the project flipped it to the existing owners.
Original Design:
The new owners have very limited experience in developing projects, they are a husband and wife duo who have worked in hospitality and project management but have yet to venture into development so it seems unlikely that this project will go smoothly. The new proposal is from 2023 and is now for a 27 floor building with 206 dwelling units as well as 4 commercial units. This new design will again incorporate the existing facade of the heritage building and will again have no parking spaces. Design wise it is certainly nothing special to say the least based upon the few renders that are public, there was a render floating around where the heritage building was enclosed in glass which located better but that may have been removed. They are also expecting construction to start in April 2024 with completion in October 2026.
Current Design:
