Mayfair facelift to include retail component
Posted Jun 3, 2011 04:36:12 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A developer’s plans to transform a downtown Kitchener hotel will include retail shops and residential living.
In a report to be presented to Kitchener’s Heritage Committee on Tuesday, Andrin Homes offers details as to how the former Mayfair hotel will be completely refurbished while maintaining its heritage architecture.
Part of the work will include a multi-storey addition to the top of the building. The Mayfair, originally built in 1905, was updated with a 3-storey addition in 1929. The new development will bring the boutique hotel and spa project to nine total storeys.
Rod Regier, director of economic development for the City of Kitchener, is satisfied that the needs of the Heritage Committee will be met. But he’s even happier to see an accelerated timeline for the corner of King and Young, which was originally scheduled as Phase 3 of the larger Centre Block project.
“Both council and the business community were concerned that, as Phase 3, this site could remain vacant and undeveloped for as long as six years,” Regier admits.
Now, he sees the refurbished Mayfair as just the latest step in a remarkable transformation of Kitchener’s downtown over the past five or six years. Regier says many projects, planned over that time, are now starting to “come out of the ground.”
“Think about The Tannery, the Kaufman Lofts is finished, the School of Pharmacy and the Health Sciences campus,” Regier says enthusiastically. “Now we’re starting to see second generation projects like the Breithaupt Block emerging.”
Andrin has a history of redeveloping historic buildings, including the former Kaufman Footwear factory at King and Francis. Regier is confident they’ll bring that same expertise to the Mayfair project.
“Andrin really demonstrated its ability to work with these older structures,” Regier notes. “They’re a thoughtful, talented team of developers.”
The Heritage Committee will consider Andrin’s 39-page Heritage Impact Assessment at its meeting next Tuesday. Andrin will then appear before Kitchener council on Monday, June 13th to provide more details as to its vision for the property.
