Father and son share outlook on changing times
The Leipniks have link to factory but not the same work
KITCHENER — Victor Leipnik always looked up when a tow motor pulled tons of material over the old, wooden floors of the auto parts factory on Breithaupt Street.
As a high school student, he painted the presses, cutters and moulds in the plant that was then owned by Perstorp Components (Canada) Inc. For a long time, the factory made carpets and plastic barriers to reduce noise inside cars and trucks. It was later bought by Collins & Aikman, and closed for good in 2008.
But all of that was in the future as Leipnik brushed paint onto the big, heavy machines inside the sprawling factory that Merchants Rubber Co. opened in 1902 to make rubber soles and boots. It later switched to making auto parts.
When a tow motor was moving across the floor above his head, Leipnik tracked its progress by watching the dust fall, and hearing the beams creak.
“Pretty cool place though,” he said. “I think it was an interesting place. It had a different smell to it, but it was a fascinating place. It was a little bit intimidating because of all the machines.”
There are few buildings in downtown Kitchener that better represent the shifting economic fortunes of the city’s core.
When the internal combustion engine dominated the economy of 20th century, car parts were produced in the building. The defining technology of the 21st century is the internet, and today the building houses hundreds of software developers and hard-
ware engineers.
The former factory at 51 Breithaupt St. was transformed into office space for Google’s Canadian engineering headquarters.
A smaller part of the complex, known as the Breithaupt Block, is operated by Workplace One, which leases out office space to startups.
Leipnik now works in one of those offices.
He opened a Kitchener office for ConsenSys, a New York-based company that works with the Ethereum cryptocurrency, more specifically the blockchain technology that serves as a digital ledger.
The startup has grown to 450 employees in 15 months. The Kitchener office Leipnik oversees is focused on recruiting talent.
“With the University of Waterloo and Laurier, we are going to scoop up as many talented individuals as we can,” he said.
He could not believe the changes to the former factory since his summer job painting the heavy machinery. He called his dad, Alex, to tell him all about it. After all, his dad got him that job 10 years ago. Alex was a manager in the factory.
In January 1995, Alex, his wife and their son left their home in Romania. It had been six years since the revolution that threw off the Communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu. But the economy across Eastern Europe was stagnant and the future did not hold a lot of promise.
Alex wanted a better life for his family and he had friends in Kitchener. So Alex and his family arrived here in 1995.
“We didn’t know much about Canada,” said Alex. “So we took our chances.”
A chemical engineer with lots of experience, Alex had little trouble finding a job. By March 1995, he was working as a supervisor in the Breithaupt Street factory.
“It was the oldest building I ever worked in,” he said.
Alex worked in the plant for 12 years, but began looking for another job as Collins & Aikman struggled.
He had moved to a job in another plastics company in Guelph before the Breithaupt Street factory was closed in 2008.
When his son called, Alex came to see the changes to the building for himself. Father and son walked down the hallways of the tech offices and marvelled at the changes.
“It is a beautiful building,” said Alex. “It is an exceptionally beautiful mix of new and old.”
Perimeter Development Corp. bought the empty building in 2011. It hired a contractor that used torches to cut up the large machines in the empty, silent plant. It took a year to remove all that equipment.
Every surface was sandblasted clean. New windows and skylights went in. A glass-walled entranceway and elevator were built. A walled courtyard was added. An enclosed walkway joined a new building to the old. By 2015, the building secured a long-term tenant that is the most famous internet company in the world — Google.
“I am a history buff, and I appreciate any effort into keeping the past. The past is very precious, so any effort into conserving it and passing it to future generations is important,” said Alex.
Alex and his son walk down the hallway on the first floor of Workplace One. He is looking for where his old office was located 20 years ago.
“It had to be somewhere close to this area here,” he said.
It turns out his son’s office is nearby, at least for a while. ConsenSys is growing quickly, and expects to move into a large office on the second floor soon.
Leipnik is very thankful his parents left Romania in 1995 and came to Kitchener.
“It has been the biggest differentiator for my future here, having the opportunity to study here at the university and having this ecosystem of employment has been amazing,” he said.
Alex feels the same way. “Oh, definitely. Canada is the greatest country, it is.”