Kitchener HoJo no more, massive condo development proposed to replace it

The Howard Johnson in Kitchener has served its last customer as the hotel closed its doors on Dec. 31.

The contents of the hotel on Weber Street are currently being sold off, so if you hustle over to the building, you might be able to snap up a lamp or chair or microwave.

A new development is currently going through the approval process which the city is hoping will spur on more development in the area.

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“It’s definitely ripe for redevelopment as the hotel has definitely seen better days,” Kitchener’s senior planner Andrew Pinnell told Global News.

”We’re hoping this will act as a catalyst for the neighbourhood and maybe get some new development along that stretch.”

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The developer is proposing to build four towers on the site, which would house 568 dwelling units and about 14,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor of two of the buildings.

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Pinnell said two of the proposed towers that would sit closer to Highway 8 would be 14 stories while the other two would be 12 stories high.

The developer has received conditional approval from the city for the site plan.

READ MORE: Mayfair Hotel site in downtown Kitchener to become five-storey office building

This does not mean that shovels will be entering the ground on Monday though.

They still have to get a number of other approvals before they can get the process started such as lighting, landscape and the exterior of the building.

Pinnell said the process could take 4-6 months although he believes they could start to market the condos earlier.

“They did go through a building permit process in the last number of months to build a sales centre so they will be marketing it at the same time as they’re going through the condition fulfillment phase,” he said.