Downtown Kitchener

Undead · Oct 26, 2020

Hoping all this development translates into continued local transit improvements and the elusive frequent 2WAD GO service. Other than tech, does KW have enough of a local employment base to become a major alternative to the 905? Or will most people still have to commute to Peel or Toronto for work?

afransen · Oct 26, 2020

There is a fair amount of manufacturing there (Toyota, notably). It's also a pretty big insurance industry node (Waterloo churns out a lot of actuaries). I would also add I doubt all that many people commute out of KW to GTA. Some true roadwarriors perhaps. That drive is just getting worse and worse, particularly in winter and with heavy truck traffic.

Goldie · Oct 27, 2020

afransen said:
I would also add I doubt all that many people commute out of KW to GTA. Some true roadwarriors perhaps. That drive is just getting worse and worse, particularly in winter and with heavy truck traffic.

GO services Kitchener!

afransen · Oct 27, 2020

Isn't it nearly 2 hour trip by GO? You'd have to be insane to endure 4 hour daily commute. Just IMHO.

Towered · Oct 30, 2020

afransen said:
Isn't it nearly 2 hour trip by GO? You'd have to be insane to endure 4 hour daily commute. Just IMHO.

Just watch movies or read on the train.

JasonParis · Oct 30, 2020

And really, it's probably mostly for people who commute to Toronto a few days a week and work from home on the others. Which may indeed be most of the world going forward.

afransen · Oct 30, 2020

Towered said:
Just watch movies or read on the train.

Fine, if you have no family or social life. Your kids in bed every night before you get home...

gabe · Oct 30, 2020

afransen said:
Isn't it nearly 2 hour trip by GO? You'd have to be insane to endure 4 hour daily commute. Just IMHO.

Yep and another 30 to 60 mins to get home on Grand River Transit. Unless you have a car and are lucky enough to find a parking spot in the small lot at the Via Station.

Bjays92 · Nov 4, 2020

mdu said:
Site staff wouldn't add Kitchener stuff to the database, but given that we have quite a few Barrie threads now, I don't think it's too odd to have building discussions on the forum. KW is about the same distance as Barrie by GO or car and still solidly in the Toronto sphere of influence.

I would definitely like to see some KW sites have threads on this forum. Off the top of my head, garment st + 100 condos, charlie west, dtk, city center, station park, transit hub, the Metz, and the new cambridge smart centers development could all easily warrant their own threads. Less action in waterloo but still plenty that breaks the 20 floor mark

Bjays92 · Nov 18, 2020

CanadianNational · Jul 7, 2022

Google Headquarters. at 51 Breithaupt and King Street West, looking Northeast.

The view on King Street looking north.

Fencing up around the site of the future Transit Terminal.

CanadianNational · Jul 8, 2022

Here and there on King St. West.

King Street West and Victoria, looking south.

Carmella's: a narrow place. I want to open a gay-friendly restaurant there called The Swish Allée. I don't know how many people the place might hold, but I think they would all have to stand in single file.

305 King St. West at Water Street. This tower was built in 1964 and still looks more stylish and sophisticated than a lot of the new buildings downtown. It was built by Webb Zerafa Menkes, before the Housdon was added to the name. I didn't realize they'd been around so long - they were founded in 1961.

The Walper.

rdaner · Aug 4, 2024

Just a few random thoughts/images as I passed through here quickly today. So I was dropped off at Mill Station and took lrt to Central Station to catch train back home. Knowing it was 2pm on a Sunday I knew it would be quiet and it was but still people walking around. But the biggest surprise was that I saw zero homeless/distressed addicts and a lot of construction!

Central Kitchener appeared clean and orderly which is the opposite of what I heard from people over the weekend. There are also a lot of small projects going up that I assume to be multiplexes.

But the biggest surprise was noticing the Krug Complex for the first time. Amazing and massive! Though Krug still makes furniture there I assume there are plans for the future and it could be on the scale of the Carpet Factory on Dufferin.

Overall I really get the sense that with the addition of a few more buildings the station area will be vibrant and quite unlike anything else’s in Ontario as it isn’t on a grid. There seems to be more interesting retail than I remember such as this coffee shop opposite the station.