Kitchener

The City of Kitchener was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census. The metropolitan area, which includes the neighbouring cities of Waterloo and Cambridge, has 451,235 people, making it the eleventh largest Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) in Canada and the fifth largest CMA in Ontario. It is the seat of the Waterloo Regional Municipality, and is adjacent to the smaller cities of Cambridge to the south, and Waterloo to the north. Kitchener and Waterloo are often referred to jointly as “Kitchener-Waterloo” (K-W), although they have separate municipal governments. Including Cambridge, the three cities are known as “the tri-cities”.

The city is home to four municipal business parks: the Bridgeport Business Park, Grand River West Business Park, Huron Business Park and Lancaster Corporate Centre.  The largest, the Huron Business Park, is home to a number of industries, from seat manufacturers to furniture components.  According to the 2006 Census, 24.2% of the labour force is employed in the manufacturing sector.

The redevelopment of the ‘Centre Block’ in downtown Kitchener has its vision set and is planned to start.  It will include a 12 storey and an 18 storey condominium, more retail spaces, the redevelopment of the Mayfair Hotel and a central courtyard.  Other projects include an assortment of lofts, utilizing old factories and other buildings. Various plans for 20 floor condo units have been put in place.  By 2009, more than 91% of all downtown office space was fully occupied. 

The groundbreaking ceremony for the University of Waterloo school of pharmacy and downtown health sciences campus was officially held on March 15, 2006, and the facility opened in spring 2009.  Economic and social impacts from the new health sciences campus have already created positive impacts with significant economic benefits associated with related business activities, and spin off business and industry that will diversify the economy and bring additional jobs to the area.

Kitchener has a humid continental climate of the hot summer subtype (Dfa under the Koppen climate classification); this means that there are large seasonal differences, usually very warm to hot (and humid) summers and cold (to very cold) winters. Compared to the rest of Canada, it has moderate weather. Winter temperatures generally last from the middle of December until the middle of March, while summer temperatures generally occur between the middle of May to close to the end of September.  Temperatures can exceed 30℃ (86℉) several times a year. Kitchener has about 140 frost-free days a year.

 Kitchener:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchener,_Ontario

City of Kitchener:  www.kitchener.ca