11-Storey Apartment Will Add 173 Rental Units To Kitchener Core

  • 02/13/19
  • |          Kitchener

The $17-million project will add 173 mainly one- and two-bedroom apartments, and will fill a gap in the local housing market, said Andrew Kent, associate director of developments for Killam REIT.

A new development at the edge of downtown will add 173 rental apartments to the housing supply in the core.

Developer Killam REIT plans to build an 11-storey building at Weber and Scott streets, on a site now occupied by a parking lot and vacant land.

The $17-million project will add 173 mainly one- and two-bedroom apartments, and will fill a gap in the local housing market, said Andrew Kent, associate director of developments for Killam REIT. “We think there’s room for good-quality rental housing. A lot of rental housing in the region was built a while ago.”

He thinks the location will appeal to new Canadians as well as empty-nesters looking to downsize.

“We really like the site,” Kent said. “We think it’s a neighbourhood that’s up-and-coming and hip. It’s close to light rail, it’s close to the farmers’ market, it’s close to the library, and most important, it’s close to jobs” in the courthouse, the regional headquarters and the downtown.

There are no plans for affordable housing in the building, but the development will add life to a long-vacant lot, with a public plaza and pathway connecting Weber and Pearl Place, and a landscape buffer closest to homes along Pearl. The developer hopes to see a coffee shop or restaurant open on the ground floor.

Construction should begin by the end of 2019, with occupancy in 2021.

The 0.72-hectare (1.8-acre) site is an assembly of parcels on a wedge-shaped site on the northeast corner of Weber and Scott streets. It includes two buildings on the city’s heritage register: a two-storey office building at 82 Weber St. E. occupied by EIWO property management, and a two-storey brick house at 87 Scott St. Those buildings will remain, Kent said, though the company plans to renovate the two rental units in the house.

The new project is appropriate for the site, said city planner Brian Bateman, noting that there are a couple of other buildings of similar height nearby.

Killam REIT is based in Halifax, but has 200 projects in six provinces, including a few in this area: it’s the commercial landlord for Westmount Place in Waterloo, where the opening of the T&T Supermarket caused a recent buzz, and also owns the Rivers Edge and Saginaw Park apartments, both in Cambridge.

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