Google Canada has signed a lease for 185,000 square feet of office space located at Breithaupt Block in Kitchener, Ont.

Allied Properties REIT and Perimeter Development Corporation jointly own the building. The downtown property initially was comprised of six industrial buildings with 176,000 square feet of gross leasable area (GLA) and two acres of surplus land.

“This is just further evidence that Waterloo Region is a fantastic place to work and to live. Google recognized the tremendous talent and entrepreneurial spirit found here, and committed to being part of it in a big way,” says Colliers International’s John Lind, who acted as lead sales representative for the property.

Colliers International represented Perimeter Development in the sale of the property in 2009, which was home to an auto-parts manufacturer at that time. Over the past five years, Perimeter and Allied have redeveloped it into a Class A brick-and-beam office space with space for ancillary retail use. Additional GLA is being added to a two-storey building on the property, which will bring the total GLA to approximately 221,000 square feet.

At the end of 2013, prior to Google signing a lease, the property was 23 per cent leased to tenants. Google’s lease will begin in part later this year, with the rest starting in early 2016 when the addition completed.