KITCHENER — Hang on to your hats. Kitchener's downtown is about to undergo radical transformation, that will transform the look and feel of the region's biggest core forever.

Within the next couple of years, 18 projects worth almost $1 billion will rise in the core.

Within that time, cranes will begin to crowd the city skyline. The tallest tower in the region will start to rise, eventually looming 39 storeys over Frederick and Duke streets.

The record-high Duke Tower Kitchener will be joined by several other tall towers: the 31-storey Charlie West condo, two towers in the east end of 19 and 23 storeys, and 23- and 27-storey towers on Victoria Street, and the 26-storey Young condo next to city hall.

Right now, the tallest building downtown is the 19-storey condo tower at One Victoria.

Almost 2,800 new residential units will come downtown, more than doubling the core's population to 6,000. Three new office buildings, the first the first to be built in the core since 1992, will add 387,000 square feet of office space.

"In my time with the city, I've never seen a building boom like this," said Mike Seiling, Kitchener's chief building official, who has been with the building department for 27 years. "We may not see it ever again."

"Absolutely, it's an exciting time," said Mayor Berry Vrbanovic. "This is the kind of growth that many cities would very much hope to see."

The boom will radically change the look and feel of the core, Seiling said. "It's going to drastically change what people have come to see in the past, and it's definitely going to make this a game-changer. We're going to have more people living here, and we're going to have more people working downtown."

More people living in the core will attract more restaurants, retail and entertainment choices, Vrbanovic said. "It's going to help us create a more vibrant downtown."

A livelier downtown makes it easier to attract and retain talent, Vrbanovic said, but also appeals to older residents who want to downsize but be able to walk to shops, parks and libraries.

Once they're built, the many new buildings will contribute substantially to property taxes for the city, region and school boards, Seiling added.

Not everyone may be keen to see the city become more urban, the mayor acknowledged. But the city's support for neighbourhoods and its investments in community centres and neighbourhood associations should help keep people connected.

Construction cranes have started to stud the skyline, Seiling noted. "You're going to see a lot more cranes in the very near future," as projects must be substantially underway within the next six months.

The boom will also see major growth in the east end of downtown, with three large residential projects — the 488 units in the two towers at King and Madison, an eight-storey 60-unit building at 387 King. St. E. and an eight-storey, 72-unit building at 388 King E.

The flurry of building activity was the product of city investment in projects like the central library, downtown university campuses and Communitech, Vrbanovic said, and the region's investment in the LRT.

But it was also spurred by a deadline. Feb. 28 marked the end of a decades-old exemption meant to encourage developers to build downtown — in the area bordered by Cameron, Victoria, Joseph and Weber streets — and increase density in the core.

The exemption meant developments in downtown Kitchener didn't pay regional and city development charges of close to $20,000 per residential unit. By meeting the deadline, the 18 projects saved almost $48 million in fees, Seiling said.

The city was flooded with work, as developers rushed to meet the deadline. The building department received six applications for downtown projects in 2018, and another 12 poured in during the first two months of 2019. In a typical year, the building department might get two highrise applications for the entire city, Seiling said.

The city's building, engineering, planning and legal staff worked hard to communicate with each other and with the developers to ensure the project met all city criteria for a building permit.

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The surge of new development will mean the core likely won't see any new proposals for the next year or two, Seiling said. "There's lots of square footage that's available. The market's going to need some time to fill these buildings."

cthompson@therecord.com

Twitter: @ThompsonRecord