Wonderful Waterloo Archive

This site is maintained by Sam Nabi as a record of the vibrant Wonderful Waterloo community, which was taken offline in 2014. This site is a partial archive, containing some posts from 2009-2013. To read more about the recovery effort and access the data in a machine-readable format, check out the GitHub page.

U/C 315 King Street North | 51 m | 17 fl

Post #6103 Unknown date Unknown Author	315 King Street North Formerly 313, 315, 317, 319, 321 King Street North 17 storey \| 62 unit \| 310 bedroom student housing
Post #6105 05-04-2010 10:36 AM Unknown Author Metropolis Member Kitchener Joined Dec 2009 4277 posts	Im glad it's sold. Kind of. I would have preferred it to be rezoned mixed use rather than mixed residential before the sale, but oh well. But now here's the big part. And it's up to you City of Waterloo. Waterloo has created these great design guidelines, now this is your opportunity to only approve something that meets the high standards that the city deserves. Otherwise it'll be a third stucco box in a row. Just checked out street view for this one, it looks like there is only one house between 315 317 319 King Street and the lot under construction right now. Or maybe Im seeing things wrong. If that's the case council has two options in my mind. One, say you can only develop the land if you buy that house and include it, or two, do what they did next door and position the new structure on the lot so that an additional one can be built later on once that house is bought.
Post #6108 05-04-2010 10:59 AM Unknown Author Town Member Waterloo Joined Feb 2010 430 posts	There are 3 houses there still. The homes also have signs on them, if you pass by you will see sold stickers on them too. I'm positive we will see a high rise here as per the zoning but I can't comment on the stucco business... Guess we'll start hearing more when the demolition permit gets submitted.
Post #6124 05-04-2010 03:20 PM Unknown Author City Member Joined Jan 2010 744 posts	Thanks for creating a thread for this property/potential development WatDot. That building in the picture is very ugly. It looks like they forgot to plaster multi-coloured stucco onto the Styrofoam blocks.
Post #6132 05-04-2010 04:09 PM Unknown Author Metropolis Member Kitchener Joined Dec 2009 4277 posts	Originally Posted by WatDot There are 3 houses there still. The homes also have signs on them, if you pass by you will see sold stickers on them too. I'm positive we will see a high rise here as per the zoning but I can't comment on the stucco business... Guess we'll start hearing more when the demolition permit gets submitted. I just meant there is one house that wasn't sold in between this block of 3 and the new building (I think its #321). I just hope the city would not be so foolish to approve a building taking up the lots of all three houses (315, 317, 319) while leaving 321 there. I'd rather see them do what they did next door and position the development to the left side of the lot which would allow for the remainder of the lot and 321 to be developed in the future.
Post #6139 05-04-2010 04:23 PM Unknown Author Town Member Waterloo Joined Feb 2010 430 posts	I see what you mean Spokes. Hopefully they don't leave a house in between the two developments. The curb appeal of all the developments along this stretch of King isn't doing anything for me either. Hopefully something will change here with this one. i.e. Hopefully that billboard drawing was simply done by a real estate agent and not intended to reflect reality!! :P
Post #6205 05-05-2010 12:13 AM Unknown Author Metropolis Member Waterloo, ON Joined Jan 2010 2122 posts	Originally Posted by WatDot I see what you mean Spokes. Hopefully they don't leave a house in between the two developments. The curb appeal of all the developments along this stretch of King isn't doing anything for me either. Hopefully something will change here with this one. Exactly what kind of curb appeal can we expect from 15-25 story residential towers for which the main requirement from the city is about providing enormous amounts of parking?
Post #6292 05-06-2010 11:16 AM Unknown Author Town Member Waterloo Joined Feb 2010 430 posts	Could start with underground parking but yeah....
Post #6309 05-06-2010 04:58 PM Unknown Author Town Member Joined Mar 2010 216 posts	Or ground floor retail with 5 floors of parking above disguised with attractive cladding.
Post #6323 05-06-2010 06:02 PM Unknown Author Metropolis Member Kitchener Joined Dec 2009 4277 posts	Originally Posted by urbandreamer Or ground floor retail with 5 floors of parking above disguised with attractive cladding. I agree with you about the ground floor retail, but why do above ground parking, why not underground?
Post #6334 05-06-2010 07:10 PM Unknown Author Town Member Joined Mar 2010 216 posts	^Too expensive. Waterloo land isn't at downtown Toronto levels yet. Spare the expense of going underground and focus on top quality architecture and double height street retail.
Post #6342 05-06-2010 08:50 PM Unknown Author Metropolis Member Kitchener Joined Dec 2009 4277 posts	Is it really THAT much more.
Post #6345 05-06-2010 08:51 PM Unknown Author Town Member Waterloo, Ontario Joined Jan 2010 305 posts Taylor Byrnes	Originally Posted by Spokes Is it really THAT much more. Yes. Surface parking costs about $5,000/space, structure parking is $30,000/space, and underground is $45,000/space. All of those don't include land acquisition costs, which is what makes surface parking expensive, but only in very dense urban areas.
Post #6351 05-06-2010 09:33 PM Unknown Author City Member Joined Dec 2009 681 posts	I'm with Taylor it's real expensive for underground/structure parking.
Post #6356 05-06-2010 10:27 PM Unknown Author Metropolis Member Kitchener Joined Dec 2009 4277 posts	Wow, didn't realize there was that much of a difference.
Post #7763 05-29-2010 02:59 PM Unknown Author Moderator Kitchener-Waterloo Joined Dec 2009 5693 posts	Here's an updated image with the sold sign. May 28, 2010
Post #28867 04-16-2011 07:47 PM Unknown Author Metropolis Member Kitchener Joined Dec 2009 4277 posts	Proposal for these properties being put forth at council on Monday. 17 storeys, 62 units, 5 bedrooms each. Looks just like it's neighbours. Pathetic. Waterloo's main street being absolutely ruined. Im losing faith very quickly in the city of Waterloo. Oh, and to top it off, theres a house being left in between these two tall towers. That'll look nice.
Post #28869 04-16-2011 08:37 PM Unknown Author Urban Issues Moderator Joined Jul 2010 1641 posts	Originally Posted by Spokes Waterloo's main street being absolutely ruined. That presumes King st was nice to begin with. I agree with you that this is not the way to go, but it is not in any way worse than having a main street lined with single family houses instead of mixed used street front buildings.
Post #28870 04-17-2011 01:08 AM Unknown Author City Member Kitchener, Ontario Joined Feb 2010 981 posts "Only the insane have the strength enough to prosper. Only those that prosper may truly judge what is sane."	Originally Posted by Spokes Oh, and to top it off, theres a house being left in between these two tall towers. That'll look nice. I'm sure the owner of that house isn't particularly thrilled either. The resale value of his/her house likely just dropped a good amount.
Post #29970 05-04-2010 10:26 AM Unknown Author Town Member Waterloo Joined Feb 2010 430 posts	This will clearly be updated as things progress, but should prove to be a large development in the near future. The packaged property has sold. Here is a borrowed 'older' picture from Cambridgite on Skyscraper.