Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic and Regional Chair Ken Seiling were on hand today to celebrate the ground breaking of One Hundred (100 Victoria St S), a large condominium project consisting of two towers and 348 residential suites in the Innovation District of downtown Kitchener. A strategic development partnership between two local development groups – Momentum Developments and Zehr Group – was announced.

After a lengthy OMB appeal that delayed the project by over 18 months, ground has now been broken on the first phase of One Hundred. The two towers will ultimately rise 15 and 19 storeys above a three-storey podium on Victoria Street. The first tower is slated for occupancy in late 2018. The second tower will be ready in 2020.

The City of Kitchener’s approval of the project was upheld by the Ontario Municipal Board, and One Hundred is now set to contribute to the advancing landscape of Kitchener’s Innovation District.

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Location location location! When it comes to real estate we all know that location is paramount. A new study in Toronto focusing on the downtown core has confirmed this. The study from Avision Young determined that condominium towers within 500 meters of subway stations sold for 30% more than condominium towers more than 500 meters away! 30% is a substantial margin. The study suggests that the millennial generation desires to be close to transit because they often don’t own a car. 500 meters seems to be the distance that people are willing to travel. Any further and real estate values drop and vacancy rates increase.

Momentum Developments is certainly following the trend of developing close to major transit nodes. In fact, it’s one of the principles of our business. Both 1Victoria Condominium and One Hundred Condominium are within a 400 meter walk to the new Transit Hub. 1Victoria is literally kitty corner to the hub! We have certainly seen many millennial buyers and the access to the new LRT and GO Train to Toronto is a major draw.

The full article can be found on the Financial Post:

http://business.financialpost.com/news/property-post/toronto-property-near-public-transit-worth-30-more-than-other-buildings-study-finds

Peter Whitby

The Region of Waterloo continues to earn its reputation as the Silicone Valley of Canada. In the past week, two major Canadian corporations have announced new offices in the city. Shopify Inc will be leasing the historic Seagram building in Uptown Waterloo and TD Bank is opening a new office beside the University of Waterloo. The theme of both expansions seems to be talent acquisition. Waterloo Region is a mecca for software engineering, computer science and the skills employers require for their companies to excel in the modern world.

Shopify Inc. is one of Canada’s brightest technology companies and is headquartered in Ottawa. The rapidly growing company provides online sales tools for small and medium sized businesses. The company went public in May and is currently valued at over $2.7 billion dollars. Waterloo’s strong engineering and technology talent is the driver behind the expansion into Waterloo. In a statement, the company said: “Shopify chose to expand its offices in Waterloo because of the amazing talent pool that is available in the region.”  Shopify will be hiring 300 new employees for the Waterloo office.

TD Bank is also looking to acquire Waterloo talent with the opening of a new Technology Innovation Centre. Located close to the University of Waterloo main campus, this office will focus on IT and software engineering, with the goal to attract data scientists in the near future.  TD Bank’s Senior VP and Chief Information Officer Jeff Martin had this to say: “We recognize that there’s a lot of innovation talent in the area. We need to be where they are. They’re not going to come to us. You need to have that talent to really build the bank of the future.” He also noted that proximity to the region’s post secondary schools was a draw for the bank.

Well done Waterloo! There is a lot of smart people in this city and the best companies in Canada are taking notice.

• Peter Whitby Jr.

What lead to Silicon Valley’s success, and is it possible to replicate this success in Canada? This article in the Globe and Mail highlights the potential possibilities of the Toronto-Waterloo corridor to become a true innovation centre in the country and the world.

Written by Iain Klugman, the CEO of Communitech, and Kevin Lynch, the Vice-Chair of the Bank of Montreal, this article rolls out the key “missing piece” that could be the difference between turning our region in the Canadian Silicon Valley.

Read the full article on The Globe and Mail website.

Momentum Developments is proud to have worked with the Toronto Chinese Business Associations to successfully organize the 2015 Western Tour to Waterloo Region.

1,200 Chinese Canadians from the GTA visited Waterloo Region for the first time. The itinerary for the trip included stops at St. Jacob’s Farmer’s Market, the University of Waterloo, Region of Waterloo International Airport, Perimeter Institute and the School of Pharmacy in downtown Kitchener.

It was a wonderful event that included participation from the Regional Government and also Mayors Dave Jaworsky from Waterloo and Barry Vrbanovic from the City of Kitchener. The weather was beautiful and we are proud to have participated in such a positive event. 1,200 Canadians were introduced to our amazing Region over the two day event!

Peter Whitby with Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky and Kitchener Mayor Barry Vrbanovic

An update from the One Victoria Condominium Sales and Customer Service Team:

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