Allen Square building in Waterloo to be converted into 129 units

An underutilized office building in Waterloo will be converted into housing units.

Waterloo council voted in favour Monday night to convert the former Allen Square building in uptown Waterloo to offer 129 dwelling units. Itwill have a mix ofone, two and three-bedroom units.

The building will have 152 parking spaces, 112 bicycle parking spaces and roughly1,580 square metres of thebuilding's ground floor will bededicated forcommercial use, which could become either a restaurant or retail.

The building was built in the 1970s and the owner has struggled to lease the space over the last numberof years.

"It a chance to really revitalize a building that's kind of been hasn't been fully optimized in a great location, so we're excited to see how this can evolve through this project," Andrea Sinclair, an associate at MHBC Planning told councillors.

As part of the conversion, three storeys will be added to the existinginfrastructure, as well asmore windows and balconies.

Coun. Jen Vasicsaid she was glad the group was open to the idea of acknowledging the history of the building with the design.

"I just don't want a boring uptown and I see that there is some creativity in this and I appreciate that," she said.

The City of Waterloo, as part of province's Bill 23, has pledged to build16,000 new residential units by 2031.

Coun. Julie Wright added shewas encouraged to see the conversion of anunderutilized building into housing.

"This is a non-conforming building here, so what we're doing is actually pretty creative," she said.