Kitchener 1001 King Street East | 102.1m | 30s | Vive Development | Neo Architecture

Vive still doesn't have a permit for the tower portion of this building, however that hasn't stopped them. I have a feeling there is a conditional permit in place for them to do the work but nothing is on the public facing side of the permit system.

Regardless the tower is being done with precast so this should start to fly. I wasn't close enough to see who is providing the precast but in KW the big two are Stubbes and Fritz Alder. Vive has used Stubbes in the past so it is likely them. Another thing to note is the properties between the intersection and Vive's project are currently for sale, Vive has been buying up this block for years now so it would not be surprising in the slightest if they end up picking it up.

June 12th 2025
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This site has gone from a relatively normal site to something bizarre in the past couple of months. I haven't seen anything like this before and it doesn't make the most sense but it appears that Vive is building about half the tower and leaving the remaining half for later.

Here's the rendering that we've all seen half a dozen times, the red line is roughly where they've stopped building everything to the right isn't built (including the foundation and shoring), the photo next to it is the building from June 26th when I first noticed it not matching. Regardless they're now up to the 12th floor. Today they were in the process of jumping the crane and installing the construction hoist on the Borden side. Then on the Ottawa St side they were installing the precast cladding panels.

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August 14th:

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Here's a view from McLennan Park one of the higher elevations in Kitchener. It's on the far right of this picture with Vertikal being the two buildings just to the left of the center. This is about half way up now so it's going to really stick out here until a few of the other developments start around Borden Station.

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This one is now up to the 26th floor, 3 more to go until top out. As I mentioned earlier this was split into 2 phases, someone I know was talking with Stephen Litt (CEO of Vive) and asked about why it's being phased after I inquired about it, Litt's answer was effectively just for staging purposes.

Regardless here is a photo from tonight, I haven't been by during the day recently, so my apology for the street light glare.

November 19, 2025
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This one is now up to the 27th floor (assuming I'm counting correctly from a distance), 2 more floors and mechanical left until phase 2. It appears the crane may also need to be raised again. It really sticks out in the skyline since nothing is built in this area of Kitchener yet, however Vive has another project getting SPA just to the east of this which will see construction in a few years based on Vive's typically turn around.

Photo taken December 24th from McLennan Park.

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This is now topped out or very very close. Any additional height from here would come from rooftop mechanical equipment/ the MPH. This shot is from the property that is supposed to become the East Gate development by Zehr. Phase 2 will see the building extend about 70% the length of Phase 1 in the direction of the crane. She'll be a bulky one.
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One from the Franklin overpass above Highway 8. Progress on 1055 Weber can be seen on the right.
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Also from the Franklin bridge, but with 10x zoom - MPH visible from here, which is why I think it's now fully topped out. Only so much heavy lifting the sunset can do for this. This building, along with the projects lining this section of Highway 8, do provide for a much more urban feel coming into the city via car by extending the density further south.
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All photos from March 2, 2026.

And a note no one asked for:

This building could have been so much better with very little extra effort. Even using precast, you can have it stamped with a brick-esque pattern that can be convincing to a layman (see South Hill Condos, Guelph). That alone, in my opinion, could have done wonders for this one. Particularly from that approach angle on the highway.

From a distance where details can't be discerned, it somewhat resembles some newer apartment buildings I've seen in London (UK, if anyone actually wondered) with the repetitive pattern of evenly-spaced square windows on a pretty bland facade. The difference being that the facade is brick. And I actually quite like it. Perhaps this will someday be buried amongst a cluster of other buildings with that design aesthetic.
 
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