The Huck Glove development marriage between old and new
Search is on for two tenants to anchor office building, which incorporates former historic factory and condos
KITCHENER — Architect Matt Bolen is combining two buildings — an old factory and a new glass-walled office — in a project that reflects the changes happening around the downtown.
All of the approvals and permits are in hand for the $250-million development at Victoria Street South and Bramm Street, which will include three condo towers containing 669 units, and an office-commercial building that will be constructed around the 112-year-old former Huck Glove factory.
The Garment Street Condos project, a partnership between the Zehr Group, Momentum Developments and KingSett Capital, is the largest mixed-use development currently underway in Waterloo Region.
With only a few condos unsold in the three towers, attention is now focused on signing two anchor tenants for the office building. Once that is done, construction will begin.
An atrium rising three storeys will join the historic old Huck Glove building to the new office building, to be called the Glove Box. Combined, the buildings will contain 144,272 square feet of space.
“It is giving that iconic look to it,” said John Whitney, CEO of Whitney Commercial Real Estate Services.
“As we integrate the larger building into it, people can have a crossover to a newer steel and concrete building, and tie back into the brick-and-beam,” he said.
In designing the marriage between new and old, Bolen considered a future where the former City of Kitchener works yard at the end of Bramm Street is redeveloped into a mixed-use, multi-residential neighbourhood.
“We want people to be able to flow from the Bramm site, come through our atrium, go to the restaurant, go to the coffee shop, and then flow out onto Victoria Street,” said Bolen, principal of Waterloo-based Edge Architects. “We want it to be a very pedestrian friendly space.”
The building boom in the downtown includes an office building under construction at 345 King St. W. Two more are in advanced stages of planning — at Young and King streets, where the former Mayfair Hotel was located, and on Breithaupt Street across from Google.
“The office market in Kitchener-Waterloo is on fire, just unbelievable,” said Whitney. “The advantage you have here is the location — so close to the transit hub, so close to the Tannery, so close to the LRT.”
Once an anchor tenant is signed to a lease, it will take about 18 months to construct the office building, redevelop the factory building and combine the two.
The office building will have an 8,000square-foot rooftop terrace with glass walls, shade shelters, a dog run and barbecue. The third condo tower will have a pool on the top of the podium building.
“I think the project speaks for itself, I think anyone who sees it is just blown away,” said Whitney.
A new road called Garment Street will separate the condo towers and office building. It will run from the end of Bramm Street and curve through the development to Victoria. A coffee shop, retail outlets, bank and restaurant are planned for the ground floors of the buildings.
There will be one level of underground parking for the four buildings on the site.
The parking spaces will be shared by the residents in the condos and the businesses in the office building. The developers did this for the condo tower at King Street and Victoria Street, and say it worked well. Condo dwellers do not need parking during the day when the businesses are open, they point out.
“It allows us to create developments with less parking than might be required otherwise,” said Zach Zehr, vice-president of development for the Zehr Group. “And it allows condo owners to decide if they want to buy a parking space or not.”
The first condo tower, which has 171 units, is nearly finished. When the condo board takes over the building, work will begin on the biggest tower in the development, which will have 319 units. It was sold out in less than 30 minutes when sales launched last May.