Innovation network plans expansion
Building for tech firms proposed on Columbia Street
WATERLOO — The Waterloo Innovation Network wants to build a new office for tech firms after filling several former BlackBerry sites with startups and scale-ups.
The banks refused to finance the building purchases in 2014, believing it would be difficult to fill the empty space with new tenants, said Mark Arbour, the network’s chief operating officer.
“They look at us like: ‘You guys are in Disneyland. There’s a couple million square feet of space because of BlackBerry downsizing. It is going to take you 10 years to absorb this space,’” said Arbour. “I think they were wondering what kind of Kool-Aid we were drinking.”
It took about three years to lease out the buildings.
“We have filled up all our space,” said Arbour.
Discussions with the City of Waterloo about constructing a new building behind 156 Columbia St. W. are going well, but it is not known now when that will happen.
“Right now our conversations with the city have been very receptive,’ said Arbour. “I think they really like the plan we have in place.”
The new building would actually be off Phillip Street. Preliminary plans call for 50,000-squarefeet of space.
“I have one existing tenant, who would love to move in there, but it is all about timing — can they wait 12 months or 18 months? Whatever it takes to do the construction,” said Arbour.
“I also have a Fortune 500 company looking at space as well, they have a Canadian division but they are U.S.-based,” said Arbour. “So lot’s of positive things.”
WIN is also looking to buy more buildings in the area. It submitted offers for three former BlackBerry buildings on Phillip Street, but was outbid by a Toronto investment company that paid nearly $100 million for the buildings.
“We are always looking for properties,” said Arbour. “We really believe this is the heart of Canada’s tech sector right here.”
Not everyone shared that view in January 2014 when Michael Wekerle, a colourful merchant banker from Toronto, started buying up former BlackBerry buildings. Wekerle is also a “dragon” investor on the popular CBC show “Dragons Den.”
He bought four buildings along Columbia Street West (156, 176, 180 and 170). He also bought two buildings on Phillip Street (450 and 460), and two empty lots on Phillip Street (385 and 405).
The building at 176 Columbia St., formerly known as BlackBerry 10, is a data centre that BlackBerry has leased until May 2019. It is not known if BlackBerry will renew that lease. The building has 150,000-square-feet of space.
Arbour said about 75 per cent of tenants in the WIN buildings came out of the Accelerator Centre in the nearby David Johnston Research and Technology Park.
“Startups and companies that are in the Waterloo area want to stay in the Waterloo area,” said Arbour.
“The companies that are gradu-
ating out of the Communitech Hub in downtown Kitchener want to say in the Kitchener area,” said Arbour. “I think having so many tenants who graduated from the Accelerator Centre kind proves that point.”
WIN sold a building it had in central Kitchener at 618 King St. W., which is very close to Google’s Canadian engineering headquarters. WIN wants to stay focused on buying and building near its existing buildings along Columbia and Phillip streets in Waterloo.
“It’s the old saying: location, location, location,” said Arbour. “It’s been like the perfect storm — great location, we’ve to the Accelerator Centre pumping out a lot of great startups, we are right across from the university.”