Kitchener The Inclusive on Courtland | ?m | ?s | Spotlight Development

AlbertC

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canada.constructconnect.com

Spotlight’s KW housing plan has major affordability target - Daily Commercial News

KITCHENER, ONT. — Spotlight Development has announced a site acquisition in Kitchener with the intention to create at least 1,500 affordable homes as part of a project that could see 3,000 residences built in total. The developer intends to deliver a “co
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Spotlight Development has announced a site acquisition in Kitchener with the intention to create at least 1,500 affordable homes as part of a project that could see 3,000 residences built in total.

The developer intends to deliver a “complete community” development with significant supports and services for residents including a 24/7 day care, employment programs, seniors programs and financial services, stated a release. Design plans are underway for the site, located at Courtland Avenue East and Block Line Road.

The building complement could include four residential towers with approximately 2,500 to 3,000 residences with a split of 60-40 between affordable and market-rate units.

Spotlight has announced partnerships with a number of non-profit agencies to deliver the affordable housing component including Habitat for Humanity Waterloo Region, Trillium Housing and Good Shepherd Ministries.

The affordable units will be geared to low-to-moderate income families, seniors, newcomers and others. Other underserviced groups to be targeted include Indigenous Canadians, Black Canadians, veterans and the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.

Affordable units will be funded through a combination of market-rate units, Spotlight for Affordable Ventures – the non-profit arm of Spotlight Development – and the Aria Foundation, a charity dedicated to affordable housing founded by Spotlight founder and president Sherry Larjani.
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marshallzehr.com

Spotlight Development receives $20M land loan for development in Kitchener, Ontario - MarshallZehr

MarshallZehr is proud to provide a $20M land loan to Spotlight Development for their The Inclusive on Courtland development in Kitchener, Ontario.
marshallzehr.com marshallzehr.com


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innsertnamehere said:
Doug Ford tweeted this with a rendering of 4 massive slab towers in behind:

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These are some really ugly buildings even by Kitchener standards, it's very reminiscent of some of the student housing that is built in Northdale in Waterloo around the universities. If this is mostly affordable housing it might get a bit of a pass by most people but it's definitely not going to be anyone's favourite buildings. When the proposal before this was announced it got some extreme pushback from the neighborhood. Based on the previous proposal these towers will most likely have to go through another OPA/ZBA amendment especially considering the massive increase in FSR (significantly larger floor plates compared to the previous proposal) and height (an extra 25 floors overall compared to the previous proposal). The area around the Block Line LRT station still hasn't had any zoning update since the LRT was built unlike areas throughout the downtown core through the cities PARTS plan as well as the Growing Together plan which is currently in the draft zoning stage (If it passes 25% of the area within 800 meters of the LRT will have unlimited height and density as well as no parking requirements).

Knowing the area the neighborhoods primary complaints are going to be about shadows, height and wind. The city tends to be pretty lenient when it comes to height near LRT stations as well as areas further from the core (34 floors in the middle of suburbia) so the height definitely will not be a problem for the city if it goes to the OPA/ZBA stage, the one thing I can definitely see the city having problems with is the size of the buildings purely because of the wind. During any windy day the Block Line LRT station is already extremely uncomfortable as a pedestrian since the station is at the top of the hill and situated such that the prevailing winds tend to go straight across the platform. With the wide buildings the wind is going to be even worse standing on that platform since its going to funnel directly across it, this was one of the main problems with the previous proposal that was made before Spotlight bought the property which resulted in the buildings becoming less bulky/slab like and more point in nature. If this goes to OPA/ZBA something similar is most likely going to happen for similar reasons, it could come with an increase in height especially because council is definitely not going to say no to this much affordable housing. (height no longer scares most of council in comparison to 5 years ago). I have attached the 3D models of the previous project to show what I'm meaning by less bulky towers.


Previously submitted proposal

Screenshot 2023-09-11 224623.png


Previously approved proposal

Screenshot 2023-09-11 224437.png


Spotlight could very easily increase the podiums in such a way to include more units in them (exactly what happened on the previous proposal in response to less bulky towers). Unlike most of the developments in the city most if not all of the parking will be underground since there is an extreme change in topography from where the LRT station to the CN/CP tracks at the bottom of the property, thus if the towers do become less bulky an increase in height and podium size can easily account for the units that would otherwise be removed. There is still nothing formally submitted to the city yet for either OPA/ZBA or site plan approval so this still has some time to change, one can hope for the better.
 
Complete and utter garbage.

That anyone has even thought of proposing something like that let alone allowed hints of the notion into the public realm is unforgivable.

If you're that bad at what you do. Stop. Not just now, forever. Change professions, or become a a stay at home something.............but stay away from any field/profession where you could cause damage to people or communities.

There should be criminal penalties; I think that render meets the definition of 'Uttering Threats' in the Criminal Code.

1694488142952.png


To destroy or damage real or personal property............ there we go. The render clearly implies as much.
 
I like height and density near transit stations, but this is definitely not the way. At the very least, it wouldn’t look so bad if there were some height variation between the buildings.
 
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