By Benjamin Bach, Guest columnist

King and Victoria was once the site of a footwear factory, with a leather tannery down the street. Today, it features trendy lofts, a medical school, the region’s future central transit hub, and is a stone’s throw from great restaurants and offices of companies like Google and Manulife.

How did Kitchener’s warehouse district become such a desirable place to live, work and play?

Private Development

A sustainable, livable, vibrant core needs lots of people working and living there. In Kitchener, developers have stepped up to the plate and delivered the residential and commercial products that the market wants.

Buildings like the Kaufman Footwear factory have been converted into residential lofts, and the Arrow Shirt factory is scheduled for winter 2011 occupancy. These lofts give hundreds of people the chance to live in a bit of history, walk to work and be close to their favourite hang outs.

High-rise condos like Andrin’s City Centre project will give lucky residents soaring views of the city from as high as 17 storeys up, and the recent announcement of the restoration of the Mayfair Hotel and talk of a rooftop restaurant has lots of people excited.

More and more people today want to live and work close by, and several major firms have recently moved to the warehouse district, joining established companies like Manulife.  Notably, Google, Communitech and Desire2Learn have taken up space at The Tannery, and the Breithaupt Block will bring an additional 175,000 square feet of brick-and-beam office space once completed.

Public and institutional investment

Downtown Kitchener and the warehouse district have benefited from much public investment in recent years.  Anyone who has walked down King Street near City Hall, or spent time hanging out in Victoria Park, can attest that it is money well spent.

Across from the Kaufman Lofts at King and Victoria is the University of Waterloo’s School of Pharmacy and McMaster University’s School of Medicine. Doctors, pharmacists, students and professors are an economic and social benefit to any area.

The northeast corner of King and Victoria is the site of the future Region of Waterloo central transit hub which is planned to connect all the transit in the region — train, bus, and yes, LRT. Making it easier for people to get in and out of the warehouse district will increasingly draw more residents and and employers to the area.

Rich Culture and Entertainment

A crucial part of “Live, work and play” is play — and downtown Kitchener is lots of fun. There is always something going on, from the multi-cultural festival we just had, to educational conferences like Ignite, TEDxWaterloo and 140conf — an international event that chose Kitchener and The Tannery, not Toronto, as the venue for the first Canadian 140conf.

Grab dinner at one the awesome restaurants then head to TheMuseum or KW Symphony, or maybe go for a stroll in Victoria Park.  Want a patio or coffee shop?  There are tons of great options.

The warehouse district is a cool, vibrant place to live, work and play that people want to be in. And this is just the beginning.

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Guest columnist Benjamin Bach is director at KW Commercial, a division of Keller Williams Golden Triangle Realty.

To be a guest columnist, please contact Charlotte Prong at cprong@kitchenerpost.ca.