New life for old factory

KITCHENER – A former factory on downtown Kitchener’s west side is the latest sign of revitalization in the city’s core. The Perimeter Development Corporation is creating what it calls “the evolution of the workplace” in the former Collins and Aikman plant at Breithaupt and King. The factory was founded more than a century ago, in 1904, as a boot-making facility.

Perimeter’s plans call for turning the buildings into a new space for the creative and high-tech class, much like the Tannery redevelopment at Charles and Victoria. “Both developers and young technology companies are seeing the potential of an exciting, new, creative work environment,” Rod Regier, Kitchener’s Director of Economic Development, says of the encouraging trend he’s beginning to see in the city’s core.

This latest development, dubbed “The Breithaupt Block,” offers more than 185,000 square feet of space and Regier expects it to attract hundreds of jobs. “Many of these buildings are best-suited for conversion into office,” he says. “They can hold many, many more office jobs than they did in manufacturing.” It’s expected that, once complete, the property will be home to about 500 more employees than were there when it was an auto parts plant.

Another former footwear factory, the Kaufman building at King and Victoria, was the first and arguably most successful adaptive reuse of a downtown building. In many ways, that redevelopment also spelled the definitive end of the once proud manufacturing tradition in Kitchener’s core and signalled the dawn of a new era where the one-time factories would be turned into commercial or residential space.

Regier says interest in being a part of shaping that new era dates back even farther than the Kaufman redevelopment of about a decade ago. In the case of the buildings at Breithaupt and King, the interest dates back to the 1980s. “People have seen those buildings particularly as being important from an historical point of view,” he explains, “but also from the point of view of attracting new jobs.”

Those involved with the Perimeter Development Corporation are familiar with the region and its desire to revitalize cores across the community. “Some of the principles there have been part of our re-urbanization working group at a regional level for a long time, so we know them well,” Regier notes. “They continuously look for new opportunities and they’re all well aware of the strategy for the downtown.”

And that strategy, once commonly viewed as extending from Cedar Street in the east to Victoria in the west, is now expanding by at least a block. “We’ve just rezoned that whole corridor from the CN North Main Line all the way to Waterloo as a mixed use corridor,” Regier says. “We have a more urban vision for that strip as well.”

To date, the work being done at the former factory has been done on the inside with the removal of old machinery and steel forming’s. Exterior work could start as soon as this fall with Phase One of the project opening next summer. A Heritage Impact Assessment will also have to be completed before final approval is given. There will be no public consultation since the development does not require rezoning.