Waterloo Town Square

The opening of the $5 million Waterloo Square (now Waterloo Town Square) in 1961 was hailed as an exciting step forward for the city. At the time, the core of Waterloo was a unattractive mix of old factories and stores -- not the central showpiece residents would have wanted for their town.

In 1958, the City announced an undertaking on a scale they believed had no precedent. It would buy up the land between Caroline and King, relocate the industrial occupants, and construct a modern shopping mall that could proudly be displayed as the hub of the city. The old plants were bought up and demolished, as were some residences on Caroline Street. A developer was selected in March 1960, and construction began three months later. Waterloo Square opened for business in November 1961.

The developer called the project "one of the most courageous and ambitious ever undertaken by a Canadian or American municipality." Mayor James Bauer was equally ebullient, saying, "In one stroke, the centre will advance the city 50 years and revitalize the main street."

In 1969, the Waterloo Chronicle (who was and is a tenant of the building) could write that "In Waterloo Square, this city has one of the most modern downtown shopping malls in the province."

Decades later, it's hard to see it through those eyes. The mall may be a step up from old factories, but it too is an aesthetic disaster -- hideous in appearance from all sides, inside and out, and disconnected from everything around it by a moat of concrete. The parking lot -- owned by the City -- is certainly useful, but the mall's design is very unfortunate for what should have been the centrepiece of the city.

Canada Life put the mall up for sale in December 1997, asking for $16.5 million, but there were no takers at that price.

It seemed Waterloo Town Square would be too big and expensive to tear down and rebuild, but that all seemed to change with a planned $240 million redevelopment that was every bit as ambitious as the one which led to mall's construction. The plan was cancelled in the summer of 2001, and the mall's future is still up in the air.

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