Martin Jones introduced Friend of Rotary Don Zehr and his son Zac, by telling us that Don’s grandfather was the founder of the Zehr’s grocery store chain. The Zehr Group was formed in 1973. Don joined in 1984 and was named CEO in 1994. It has been involved with historical renovations, but primarily develops, owns and constructs residential and commercial projects.
Don expanded on the above by indicating that they insist on having some ownership in each project. Their property management group has provided services to third parties, but is pulling back to focus on their own properties.
He also notes that the Zehr Group itself is very lean, and can proceed very quickly.
The Group’s recent focus has been on downtown Kitchener properties, in part due to a current exemption on development fees for projects approved before February 2019. Meeting this deadline is vital, as even a single residence can face $20,000 of such fees.
The Group works closely with the local Momentum Group on most of their projects, with Momentum taking care of marketing, sales and leasing, and Zehr Group the rest.
Don and Zac went through current projects:
Walter Midtown – 38 units (including several micro-suites – about 425 sq, feet) in the KCI area. It is interesting that Scott McGillivray of HGTV fame is involved.
Catalyst 137 – redeveloping the old Uniroyal building on Glasgow Street, with heavy involvement from Moivision who will be the primary tenant.
100 Victoria – two condos at this address with 171 and 179 units. The first building is sold out and the second about 85% sold.
Charlie West – (Charles and Gaukel) – 246 units with the 26 story building being the tallest in downtown Kitchener.
110-120 Vic – next to 100 Victoria (the old Ratz – Bechtel and Zeke’s plaza).
SIXo Midtown- 607 King – the old LCBO. About 1,000 units with 4 towers.
They noted that both the LRT and Toronto train service is important in overall development in KW.
In these developments, parking is an important factor with underground parking costing about $45,000 and above ground about $20,000. These costs are being limited by having both commercial and residential projects. In this way they can “share” the parking, with a portion being used by retail during the day and residential overnight.
As we can see, both Don and Zac are very busy people, as they take a major role in redeveloping their end on downtown Kitchener.
We look forward to seeing the final results over the next five years.
