Market Square is losing a big tenant.
Consulting firm Stantec is moving its local operation from the downtown Kitchener plaza to a building in Waterloo’s David Johnston Research and Technology Park.
“We’ve outgrown our space. We need to be in a larger space, a newer space,” Kevin Fergin, Stantec’s office leader in Kitchener, told CTV News.
Stantec moved to Market Square from its previous Victoria Street home in 2002.
Since then, it’s grown its local workforce to 330 – and outgrown its current space.
“I guess we’ve been guilty of our success,” Fergin said.
In addition to growth, one reason cited for the move is proximity to the University of Waterloo, which may make it more visible as a career opportunity for the school’s graduates.
Not cited as a reason behind switching cities is any dissatisfaction with life in downtown Kitchener.
John Whitney, a Waterloo-based commercial real estate agent and the leasing agent for the Stantec deal, says both cities have ample amounts of office space which appeal to different sorts of companies.
“I don’t think it’s a situation of a company from Kitchener moving to Waterloo or Waterloo to Kitchener,” he said.
“I think companies will survey the entire Kitchener-Waterloo market, and then they’ll make a decision where they think the best opportunity is for them.”
For smaller companies, he said, that opportunity might be in Kitchener – where new development and redevelopment projects seek to attract startups and other businesses.
In Waterloo, Whitney said, a more “corporate” feel abounds – with large parking lots and on-site cafeterias.
By 2019, Stantec plans to employ 400 people in Waterloo Region.
