The Breithaupt Block in Kitchener will be home to a new, 11-storey office tower to be constructed by co-owners Allied Properties REIT and Perimeter Developments. (Courtesy Allied)

Allied Properties REIT (AP.UN-T) and Perimeter Development Corp. will build an almost-300,000-square-foot, mid-rise office building as Phase III of The Breithaupt Block in Kitchener’s Innovation District.

The joint venture owners of The Breithaupt Block made the announcement they will move ahead with construction on Friday morning. Allied said it has “a high-calibre user” signed to a 15-year lease for the entire 294,054-square-foot building and its underground parking component.

The Breithaupt Block is already home to Google Canada’s largest Canadian office.

In addition to the office project, Allied and Perimeter have acquired two nearby parcels of land totalling 94,090 square feet. They plan to construct an ancillary five-storey parking structure on the site, with approximately 700 parking spaces, for use by tenants of The Breithaupt Block.

“Our JV partner, Perimeter, has done an excellent job in establishing the basis for launching Phase III responsibly and with high probability of success,” said Michael Emory, president & CEO of Allied Properties, in the release. “Kitchener’s Innovation District is an important and long-term target-market for Allied, and the launch of Phase III represents significant progression within that target market.”

The Breithaupt Block fully occupied

The project, including the new parking structure, is expected to cost about $157 million. Shovels are scheduled to go into the ground in October, with occupancy about two-and-a-half-years later, or early 2022.

The first two phases of The Breithaupt Block are comprised of 226,399 square feet of GLA, all of which is occupied. In addition to the land on which Phases I and II sit, the partners own 106,082 square feet of adjacent land, most of which is currently used as a parking lot.

For this project, Allied and Perimeter will develop 64,033 square feet of the property as an 11-storey office building with one storey of underground parking. It will be designed to achieve LEED Gold certification.

The remaining 42,049 square feet at the property will continue to be used as surface parking, though Allied says it represents a future development opportunity. The property is zoned for up to 445,000 square feet of commercial space — meaning Allied and Perimeter have about 150,000 square feet of GLA remaining for future development at The Breithaupt Block.

History of The Breithaupt Block

An adaptive re-use project undertaken by Perimeter and Allied, The Breithaupt Block was originally built at a rubber manufacturing facility in the early 1900s. In the 1950s, that evolved into the production of automotive parts.

When production ceased, Perimeter acquired the site and it has since been reinvented in several phases, including the restoration of 130,000 square feet of brick-and-beam office space. Phase II involved refurbishing a two-storey, 1950s-era industrial building and capping it with a three-storey glass box addition.

This created 100,000 square feet of class-A, LEED Gold office space.

The two existing phases at The Breithaupt Block are linked by a glass skybridge.

The property has earned two significant industry honours, a REX award for Office Project of the Year, and a Canadian Urban Institute Brownie Award for Best Brownfield Redevelopment Project.

About Allied and Perimeter

Allied is a leading owner, manager and developer of distinctive urban workspace in Canada’s major cities, and network-dense urban data centres in Toronto that form Canada’s hub for global connectivity. The company owns or has interests in about 160 properties across Canada, comprising about 11 million square feet of GLA.

Perimeter is a Kitchener-based developer which has been involved in several major projects in and around the region.

It is currently in pre-development for a seven-storey, 97,000-square-foot office building in downtown Waterloo; and is building a six-storey, 120,000-square-foot office building at 345 King St., in Kitchener which will be anchored by Gowling.