Ira Needles Commercial Centre (Lacewood/Sandberry Developments)

Originally Posted by TripleQ

What is nuts is that they think Ira Needles can survive with only two lanes for the next 20 years.

Without the power centres, maybe it can. The only reason I say that is because it basically outlines the urban growth boundary. Otherwise, they should have built at least 4 lanes to accomodate future development on the other side of the road.

[waterloowarrior]

Originally Posted by Cambridgite

Without the power centres, maybe it can. The only reason I say that is because it basically outlines the urban growth boundary. Otherwise, they should have built at least 4 lanes to accomodate future development on the other side of the road.

not sure if they (the region) were expecting it, since the land this power centre is on land that's zoned/designated for industrial

[mark76]

Originally Posted by WatDot

Besides expanding lanes and adding concrete medians, no.
Originally when they built the parkway the idea was for it to be a circle around the city, as one would find in many European cities.

ok ,if there is no Conestoga Parkway extension ( full cirlcle) how they gonna solve traffic issue in that area??

For me ,that circle would make sense.

About roundabouts ,I personally dont have any problems ,they do work but if you have tons of cars eventually accidents will happen.

I heard somewhere that Ira will become highway one day ,hopefully( who knows).

I can imagine how that centre would look like sunrise plaza x 2 ,with awful traffic congestion

All those street heading from Kitchener to Waterloo are just bad ,especially Fisher - Hallman ,yuk!

Rumour is also that City of Waterloo ran out of land, there is none for residental housing.True or not??

[Duke-Of-Waterloo]

Originally Posted by mark76

Rumour is also that City of Waterloo ran out of land, there is none for residental housing.True or not??

Totally not true. The City of Waterloo has more future residential land than I think most people are aware. Just check out the staging of development report here:

http://www.city.waterloo.on.ca/Portals/5.../DS_DEVAPPROV_documents/2006StageRpt.pdf

I was also inspired by all the talk on here to head out to the area. I took some pictures on my cell phone, and hopefully I can get them up here soon. I went right at 5:00 PM, prime rush hour and used the roundabout at University and Ira Needles as a pedestrian (). It was pretty bad waiting to cross, but not as bad as the expressway, which I took back from Trussler all the way to King Street in Waterloo, where I was doing <50 km/h in more than one spot....

[waterloowarrior]

Originally Posted by Duke-Of-Waterloo

I went right at 5:00 PM, prime rush hour and used the roundabout at University and Ira Needles as a pedestrian (). It was pretty bad waiting to cross, but not as bad as the expressway,

dumb Waterloo [region] drivers... the pedestrians have the right of way! this is confirmed on the Region's website:

What do I do as a driver if there is a pedestrian waiting to cross at a roundabout?

When entering or exiting a roundabout, yield the right of way to pedestrians crossing or waiting to cross by slowing down or stopping if necessary

[Duke-Of-Waterloo]

Here are the pictures I got today. Sorry about the quality, as they are from my cell phone. Hopefully you can somewhat make out the site plan. They also had large equipment on site today grading the land.



One of the earth movers...

[waterloowarrior]

the proposed site plan has changed quite a bit since that sign was put in though Thanks for the pics! looks like a wasteland

Originally Posted by Duke-Of-Waterloo

Totally not true. The City of Waterloo has more future residential land than I think most people are aware. Just check out the staging of development report here:

http://www.city.waterloo.on.ca/Portals/5.../DS_DEVAPPROV_documents/2006StageRpt.pdf

That's weird. I thought there wasn't supposed to be any development on Wilmot line because of the Waterloo moraine.

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

dumb Waterloo [region] drivers... the pedestrians have the right of way! this is confirmed on the Region's website:

What do I do as a driver if there is a pedestrian waiting to cross at a roundabout?

When entering or exiting a roundabout, yield the right of way to pedestrians crossing or waiting to cross by slowing down or stopping if necessary

Yeah, good luck with that. Drivers don't even look out for pedestrians at all here. And it's not only at roundabouts, but regular intersections too. At least in Cambridge it's that way.

[TripleQ]

Originally Posted by Cambridgite

Without the power centres, maybe it can. The only reason I say that is because it basically outlines the urban growth boundary. Otherwise, they should have built at least 4 lanes to accomodate future development on the other side of the road.

Yeah, but they have known about that power centre.. regardless, it'll be a mess until it is four lanes in the distant future.

Originally Posted by Cambridgite

That's weird. I thought there wasn't supposed to be any development on Wilmot line because of the Waterloo moraine.

Those developments (they are the controversial ones that are on the moraine) do not have direct access to the Wilmot line.. only entrance will be from Columbia.

I think it's inevitable that the city expands west of Ira Needles, environmental concerns or not. Power center, and now talk of a train station on Ira Needles? Money will win over the environment, unfortunately.

[BusyBerliner]

wow, i'm really suprised to see so many highway advocates on here.

just think of the traffic as your punishment for not supporting downtown

also, the proposed GO train park and ride station is right next door to this development which will mean more cars, but also likely more transit.

[notmyfriends]

Why are you surprised? The city needs the loop finished. QED.

[metropolis]

Originally Posted by TripleQ

Yeah, but they have known about that power centre.. regardless, it'll be a mess until it is four lanes in the distant future.



Those developments (they are the controversial ones that are on the moraine) do not have direct access to the Wilmot line.. only entrance will be from Columbia.

I think it's inevitable that the city expands west of Ira Needles, environmental concerns or not. Power center, and now talk of a train station on Ira Needles? Money will win over the environment, unfortunately.

The city will not be allowed to expand beyond the Wilmont line until 2031. This is part of the Provincial Places to Grow initiative. Beyond 2031 who knows. The train station is designed to bring people from surrounding areas to park their cars here. This will include everyone from the West side of both Kitchener and Waterloo since the station will be central. Think everyone on and around Fischer Hallman. This location will reduce traffic into the core where the majority of new development 2015 and beyond is expected. Quite ideal actually.

Closing the highway loop will not happen anytime before 2031 either. If this were to occur, growth outwards would be encouraged and the environmental impact would be significant. Neither of these scenarios is desired under the provincial plan.

In fact, the plan has outlined a minimal percentage of development that must occur on brownfield sites in this region by 2015. If this minimal percantage is exceeded in any year then the higher number becomes the minimum for the next year.

If you are wondering how solid this plan is you should know it has been passed as law by the province and all affected municipalities were consulted. This means the cities and Region are fully on board.

Lasly, by mid-century regional population growth is expected to slow significantly (North America wide actually) thereby further reducing the pressure to grow outwards.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?p=3825255#post3825255

[mark76]

conestoga loop not allowed to be finished ?

I dont know why but seems in this region they made big suburbia`s all around and then in the end, oops we have traffic congestion.
Hope that city planners know what are they doing in regards to this.

Metropolis why do you think Conestoga Parkway loop will draw more population?? Finish loop and prohibit further city expansion until 2031.Is that hard to do??

I am not hwy advocate it would help to ease traffic congestion around k-w for sure.

[gghtransit]

Originally Posted by mark76

conestoga loop not allowed to be finished ?

I dont know why but seems in this region they made big suburbia`s all around and then in the end, oops we have traffic congestion.
Hope that city planners know what are they doing in regards to this.

Metropolis why do you think Conestoga Parkway loop will draw more population?? Finish loop and prohibit further city expansion until 2031.Is that hard to do??

I am not hwy advocate it would help to ease traffic congestion around k-w for sure.

I don't know where they would put such a highway, the area around the Laurel Creek Headwaters is desginated an Enivronmentally Sensitve Landscape and as such I don't think any new highway or arterial would sit well up there. The long range plans call for Ira Needles to be 4-lanes anyways, if they widened the whole thing up to the Laaurelwood area then thought of something to cross the top of end of the city to Highway 85 it would go a long way to improving traffic on the west side.

[metropolis]

Originally Posted by gghtransit

I don't know where they would put such a highway, the area around the Laurel Creek Headwaters is desginated an Enivronmentally Sensitve Landscape and as such I don't think any new highway or arterial would sit well up there. The long range plans call for Ira Needles to be 4-lanes anyways, if they widened the whole thing up to the Laaurelwood area then thought of something to cross the top of end of the city to Highway 85 it would go a long way to improving traffic on the west side.

[jcollins]

Retailing giant may anchor two-city project

September 30, 2008
Rose Simone
RECORD STAFF

WATERLOO REGION



A Lowe's home improvement store is expected to anchor the biggest retail and office development in Waterloo Region, proposed for a huge property straddling the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo along Ira Needles Boulevard.

INC Corp., which stands for Ira Needles Commercial Corp., wants to develop 1.1 million square feet of building space into stores, offices, gyms, movie theatres, restaurants and services such as hairdressers and coffee shops.

City of Waterloo planner Ryan Mounsey said it would be the largest such development in the region.

The 35.8-hectares property straddles Ira Needles where it is met by University Avenue. Half the land is on one side, in Waterloo and the other half is in Kitchener.

The land is also bound by the CN tracks in Kitchener, the Westhill Meadows golf course in Waterloo and the Waterloo Region landfill site.

By the time it is finished in four to five years, the project would involve an investment of about $100 million, said Greg Voisin, a principal in INC Corp. along with Paul Dietrich and Geoff Moore.

The complex could hold as many as 3,500 employees and generate about $500,000 a month in taxes for the communities, Voisin added.

The developers are hoping Lowe's will be an anchor tenant if all permissions for the plan are obtained.

Lowe's opened three Canadian stores last year in South Brampton, Brantford and Hamilton and is expanding its Canadian presence.

The North Carolina-based retailer does not comment on particular sites until the real estate process is complete, Lowe's spokesperson Maureen Rich said.

Besides Lowe's, there is a lot of interest from other potential tenants, said Voisin, who has also been involved in the Sunrise shopping centre development in Kitchener.

"In fact, we have had offers from two banks, seven restaurants, two athletic clubs, two theatres and about seven or eight other large retailers."

Despite the economic slowdown and turmoil in the markets, the developers are confident tenants will come. Voisin said most of the existing vacant properties in that part of the region are either too small, in the wrong place or not properly zoned for retail and commercial development.

About 25 per cent of the building space in this complex would be devoted to offices and even, possibly, research companies, said Paul Britton, a partner with MHBC, the Kitchener planning firm working with the developers.

Britton said there will also be roundabouts and a transit terminal on the site, with access to regional bus service and the potential GO Transit service. He said it will be similar in many respects to the Sportsworld Crossing development on the former Sportsworld site, which also mixes high-end retail with offices, entertainment and transportation services.

The Ira Needles project is compatible with the push for more mixed-use developments that would cut down on the amount of driving that people do.

"You can go to work, to the gym, to a restaurant for lunch or in the evening and go to a show if you want," Voisin said

[email protected]

Originally Posted by jcollins

The Ira Needles project is compatible with the push for more mixed-use developments that would cut down on the amount of driving that people do.

Ha! Don't count on it.

[notmyfriends]

Originally Posted by jcollins

So, what exactly is Trussler Road up to in that picture?

[Duke-Of-Waterloo]

Along with Voisin Developments developing the Sunrise Centre, Greg Voisin's brother Mac is the founder of M&M Meat Shops. Greg owned 25% of M&M at one time along with Mac having the other 75%, but sold his interests off to his brother.

It looks like ownership is split 3 ways with Greg and 2 other individuals. When I named this thread, I put down Lacewood and Sandberry Developments, as that was the name kicking around city documents over the past few years, but I guess now they are going with INC Corp. However, Sandberry Investments Limited is still part owners of the property.

[gghtransit]

LMAO, you know what they need here, an IKEA!