Commercial Real Estate Development in Waterloo

Over at BenjaminBach.com we’re looking at three commercial real estate developments in North Waterloo.

Look Smart By Investing Where The Jobs Are

How do you buy Real Estate? Location, location, location.

Buy Property Near The Jobs!

Are you looking to invest in an area where the employment capacity is increasing? Take a look at residential investment properties near Weber Street North between Northfield and Benjamin Road.

This short stretch of road in North Waterloo adjacent to an investment property we just sold is seeing a lot of intensification through redevelopment. Let’s take a look at what’s in the pipeline:

North Waterloo Development Projects

580 Weber Street North, Former NCR Site

Purchased by GPM Investments in 2008 for ~ $20,000,000

Plans for 350,000 – 500,000 square feet of offices in 8-12 buildings

The former NCR site is huge – 37 acres with an existing building of approx 280,000 square feet as is. To give you an idea of the expansion potential, the site currently houses a couple baseball fields.

GPM (the same firm that is developing Sportsworld Crossing) has plans to add an additional 8 buildings (between 2,670 and 50,000 sq ft) to the site, to compliment the existing building. According to The Record, they’re debating whether to modify or replace the existing office building.

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600 Weber Street North

Under redevelopment by the Marsland Corporation – 106,000 square feet

The Marsland Family owns some prominent office real estate in Kitchener Waterloo, including the Marsland Centre on Erb in Uptown Waterloo, two buildings RIM leases on Phillip, the Sybase building in the University of Waterloo Research & Technology park, and several Class A high-tech offices on Randall.

They are currently renovating their 100,000+ sq ft property at 600 Weber Street North, and have plans for a new 50,000 square foot building next door at 598 Weber Street North. This site is immediately north of the NCR site

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Potential redevelopment site, Weber Street North

15 acres, existing building is 152,000 sq ft

This site, just south of Benjamin Road on Weber, is another potential office redevelopment. The site is currently being marketed by CB RE.

Location, Location, Location

Oh – there is also a proposed Light Rapid Transit (LRT) stop at Northfield and Parkside, one block from Northfield & Weber. And SmartCentres just poured millions into a new retail development anchored by Walmart a minute away in St Jacobs.

Your future tenants enjoy things like that.

When you are investing in a residential rental property in Waterloo, you can buy one of the shiny new condos for $$$ in uptown, or buy a comparative bargain in the Northlake neighbourhood near major tech firms, new retail development and LRT.

Your money, your call. For a list of affordable investment opportunities in the North Waterloo area, send me an email at Benjamin @ BenjaminBach.com or call me at 519-772-4376

Note: Leasing at the NCR site is handled through Colliers; 600 Weber is for lease through DTZ Barnicke.

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Out With The Car Lots, In With Two More Towers

A builder from Guelph has bought a 2.4 acre block of downtown Kitchener – bordered by Madison, King, Cameron and Charles – for $3.6 million, or $1,500,000 per acre.

 

Click map to enlarge

Fusion Homes bought the property and plans to put two highrise towers on site, plus townhouses and some retail.

From The Record:

“We are planning a substantial mixed-use development on the property,” Lee Piccoli, president of Fusion Homes, said.

At least two highrise buildings are to be constructed and very likely some townhouses as well. The company will look into the demand for office and retail space in that area, but that will not be a large part of the project.

Piccoli did not want to speculate on when construction will begin.

“I am very bullish on downtown Kitchener,” Piccoli said. “When the opportunity came up, we jumped at it.”

Surface-parking lots now dominate the block where a used-car lot and a car rental agency operate.

“I think as a developer you’re always trying to see something, not as it looks now, but as it looks three or five years from now. So that is something that we found really attractive about the property,” Piccoli said.

King Street East has seen slow, steady improvement since the City of Kitchener built the $22-million farmers’ market, which opened in 2005.

Since then, three bakeries, two restaurants and a small grocery store have opened on adjacent blocks. Abandoned homes on Madison, Eby, Cedar and Duke streets have been renovated and occupied.

Fusion Homes’ move follows, by six years, the creation of a special program — called the economic development investment fund — that pumped about $100 million into different downtown projects.

“The mayor and the council seem really committed to the redevelopment,” Piccoli said.

…

The past 10 years have seen a growing list of high-density development in the core and central neighbourhoods, including — the Sandhills development and Iron Horse Towers on Queen Street South, the Kaufman Lofts on King Street, Lofts on Mansion, Le Marche Residences behind Your Kitchener Market, The Regency at Queen and Weber streets and the Drewlo apartments on Victoria Street South adjacent to Victoria Park.

Read the whole article

Over at WonderfulWaterloo.com, we’ve been talking about the need for a grocery store downtown. Looks like the City also sees the need. While looking over the zoning for the King Street East mixed0use corridor, I found this:

“Two submissions were received requesting that staff consider an increase to the amount of permitted retail floor space. One submission made this suggestion citing the example of a food store use that would require greater leasable floor area than the 1,000 square metre limit currently defined in the Official Plan and MU Zones. Staff agree that 1,000 square metre limit on retail floor area could preclude a larger format food store use. Staff are also of the opinion that a larger format food store use would be consistent with the Official Plan Policy intent to serve adjacent residential neighbourhoods, and further could be catalytic for future residential intensification within the corridor. Staff note that a large food store may not be appropriate in all areas of the Mixed Use Corridor, and therefore propose to focus the applicable Official Plan Policies and Zoning provision enabling such a use to a the portion of the King Street East Mixed Use Corridor located between King Street East, Charles Street East, Preston Avenue and Cedar Street South.

Official Plan Amendment OP09/04/COK/HH and a revision to the draft proposed zoning in the King Street East Mixed Use Corridor were drafted to implement this suggested revision. Staff recommend increasing the retail floor space limit from 1,000 square metres to up to 5,000 square metres on the ground floor for food store use provided that it be internal to a large mixed use development.”

From: http://kitchener.ca/en/businessinkit…ningreport.pdf

Between this proposed development and the City Centre condos by Andrin, there are four new towers coming to a downtown King Street in the next few years, plus a lot of infrastructure development like the new Kitchener Transit Hub. Pretty cool!

What do you think?

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Great Investment Condo For Sale in Waterloo near Schools, Shopping & RIM

Looking for info on the Bauer Lofts or the City Centre Condos? Click here for info on other condos for sale in Kitchener Waterloo

KW Commercial is proud to present 10-335 Northlake Drive in Waterloo, Ontario for sale. Update: This property has been sold to a real estate investor.

This well maintained two bedroom condominium is in a terrific Waterloo location near high tech companies like RIM, Descartes, AGFA, Google, Open Text, as well as the two Universities and Conestoga College. It is currently tenanted.

Click map to enlarge

Built in the early 1990s, this complex is ideally set near the St Jacobs Farmers Market, beautiful walking trails, and is a short drive to an Expressway onramp which leads to 401 highway access. Pearson Airport is about a one hour drive away, depending on traffic of course.

There is a Light Rapid Transit (LRT) station planned at Northfield & Parkside, a short walk away (at the top of the map below). The proposed LRT plan would allow a tenant to walk to the LRT station & take it all the way to Fairview Park Mall, and eventually Sportsworld Crossing and into Cambridge, Ontario.

Proposed LRT map. Click map to enlarge

The combination of a quiet country setting, proximity to major employers & access to transportation makes this a location tenants will continue to love.

We have a number of clients who own units in this complex, it has done well by Keller Williams clients over the years.

Offered for sale at $ 145,000

For more details, contact Benjamin Bach at 519 570 4447 or via email

[SOLD] Condo For Sale in Waterloo Ontario near schools, shopping & RIM – just $145,000 !http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/doc_player.swf?doc=10-335northlakedrivewaterloo-marketingpackage-101203203002-phpapp02&stripped_title=condo-near-rim-and-university&userName=benbach

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