[waterloowarrior]

this building is by a 25 year old former WLU/UW student... he built the penthouse for himself as well

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=141182

unfortunately that whole stretch of King from Uni to Columbia has some terrible planning policies (barely any mixed use designations, outdated ZBLs) and brutal stucco developments.

here are a few recent proposals

this is beside the building in urban dreamer's pics 3 & 4

this one is a little better (NW corner of King/uni). This is the only building in my post that is mixed use IIRC, despite that they are all on a main street, well served with transit, lots of students and apartments nearby etc

45 degrees on King.... OK design, bad site plan (King Columbia)...

pics are all from SSP

 

[taal]

eek

why oh why

 

[urbandreamer]

22 November 2008 photo update: the "real" uptown waterloo

Includes Bauer Lofts (conservative), the site of the new Waterloo Town Square (blah), and parking lots--the reality of small town Ontario!

1)Plaza Behind the Uptown Waterloo strip...Dana Short Gourmet

Possibly the nicest modernist building in Uptown now sits abandoned....the old LCBO, where I bought much Vodka.....

The only quaint view is in fact a smallish back alley behind King St/Home Hardware. Looks cute, but that's all there is in Waterloo!

Yuck. This mall needs to be imploded. The stores are suffering here, so it may happen....? The square isn't needed, as Waterloo is one enormous "open space."

Bauer Lofts basically destroyed the old building--I think it should be pulled, it's falling down!

Uptown Waterloo compares to Yorkville? LMAO! It's more like Bathurst and Lawrence meets Avenue Rd and Lawrence.

 

[taal]

lol ...

If you count Kitchener and the nicer stretches of King street it is in many ways like Yonge North of Lawrence + a few more built up buildings (see I'm giving it that much! ).
lol ... really proves how pictures can easily decieve though At both extremes.

For anyone curios, just take a drive up/down King street, start at the 401 and make your way to the university of Waterloo. All your questions will be answered.

ps -

urbandreamer, did anything bad happen to you in uptown waterloo? You seem to have a lot against it.

 

[urbandreamer]

^Hmm. The WLU girls are hot.

However, I have a full 401-to-Conestoga Mall (via King St) photo tour coming soon. Perhaps tomorrow. It will explain everything, I hope....

 

[taal]

^Hmm. The WLU girls are hot.

However, I have a full 401-to-Conestoga Mall (via King St) photo tour coming soon. Perhaps tomorrow. It will explain everything, I hope....

Exactly ... I would think that would make the "built form" of Waterloo a non-issue Much more important things lol


Ah, more pictures! Great, that should reveal all.

 

[SP!RE]

Ummm urbandreamer, you seem to hate Waterloo quite a bit.

And how did hte Bauer Lofts DESTROY the Bauer warehouse? They have done everything in their power to raise the building up as an example of the industrial past of the area.

 

[jswag]

Yuck. This mall needs to be imploded. The stores are suffering here, so it may happen....? The square isn't needed, as Waterloo is one enormous "open space."

I hope that tongue-face was an indication that you were, in fact, being facetious. Every self-respecting city has a main public square, a place where citizens know to gather for any large event. Unfortunately Waterloo lacks a great city hall, but this lot is right in the middle of uptown and even before it is finished it is way better than that crappy parking lot.

I also beg to differ re: the stores suffering. Every time I've been in there the grocery store was quite busy (smallish as it is) and the other stores were reasonably occuppied. Most of them are non-chain small businesses anyway, so they lack the drawing power of larger chains. I will agree that the mall is not the most aesthetically pleasing building and in some ways is in an inappropriate building to face the square.

You can't expect huge things out of a small city, it's not going to happen. Waterloo, Kitchener, Cambridge-- they will all have similar growing pains to every other Canadian urban centre. To me, we're at the first huge, but painful, step.

p.s.:
I will also agree, for some reason WLU girls are WAY hotter.

 

[TOareaFan]

Anyone have any recent pics of Waterloo Town Square? Usually I'd be in Waterloo but I've been on a work term in Toronto so I haven't seen the progress since it was a sandbox.

Looking at the first post, there are several of those pics that are of WTS..... pics number (assigning 1 to the first pic and going forward) 1,3,4,11,18,23&39 are of WTS...others may be too but those are for sure.

 

[jeicow]

Yuck. This mall needs to be imploded. The stores are suffering here, so it may happen....? The square isn't needed, as Waterloo is one enormous "open space."

I have to disagree with the state of the mall. It was recently done over again, including converting the west side and most of the east side, into outside access only stores. Like already mentioned, most of the stores inside are independent retailers so they're not the "draws" of the mainstream, cookie cutter stores like in the Eaton Centre/STC/Yorkdale, but in my two years here, I've only seen one store actually go out of business in there.

The west side of the mall faces onto a street that the city and developer have been taking steps towards making pedestrian friendly- wide sidewalks, narrow streets, portions of on street parking mixed with midblock places for pedestrians to cross, among others. I'll try to grab some pictures next week that show what I mean.

 

[urbandreamer]

Barf. It's really like a big box centre pretending to be "old school retail." Hint: Look at the huge parking lot available across the (Willis) Way. It just doesn't cut it.

I refuse to compromise on the square, either. It's not needed.

 

[waterloowarrior]

Barf. It's really like a big box centre pretending to be "old school retail." Hint: Look at the huge parking lot available across the (Willis) Way. It just doesn't cut it.

the area that is currently parking lot along willis way is going to be potentially turned into a Westin Hotel... although it is not certain as the chain/developer wants the City to pay for most of a parking garage

here is the waterloo town square site plan from their website

 

[taal]

As long as the surface parking lot there is at the back of the site!

 

[W. K. Lis]

As long as the surface parking lot there is at the back of the site!

Unless the LRT they are planning for Waterloo could be using that railway right-of-way, in which case it would be better if stores should be also on the north side shoving the parking lot out of the way.

 

[rdaner]

SSP is chatting about an expansion for the Perimeter Institute.