Indwell Cornerstone Suites Redevelopment

“This is the best place I’ve ever lived”. - Karl

We had a wonderful time celebrating the Grand Opening of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church/ @indwell.ca Magnolia Apartments 🌸 yesterday. Our highlight was hearing new tenant Karl, who had been baptized at St. Peter’s as an infant, share that after a long road of struggles, this is the best place he has ever lived. 💜 That is our goal with every project, and it fills our heart with joy, Karl! ☀️

Converting part of a church facility into affordable housing is no small feat, but the benefits of keeping the south wing of this beautiful mid century building in downtown Kitchener was entirely worthwhile. We can’t say enough how beautiful the courtyard is and wish it could be a feature in all future projects. 🌟

THANK YOU to the St. Peter’s congregation for donating 2/3 of their building to those in the community in desperate need of a safe place to call home, to Flourish, Indwell, and our whole consultant team and to all the contractors who made this dream a reality! ...

We couldn’t be happier with these photos of @indwell.ca`s redevelopment of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in downtown Kitchener!

Invizij and Indwell had the opportunity to help the congregation live out its call to “love your neighbour as yourself” by creating deeply affordable, supportive housing within the south portion of the building. Attendees at this Thursday’s grand opening will find a renovated wing that now includes more than 41 studio apartments across the ground, second, and third floors, along with Indwell’s new Kitchener-Waterloo regional offices and tenant support spaces. The need for affordable housing struck the downtown congregation in a new way back in 2024, after discovering a family of three living in an air vent behind the church building.

While St. Peter’s and Indwell will continue operating independently, the redevelopment creates opportunities for connection through shared amenities including a community kitchen and enhanced outdoor courtyard. The project carefully worked within the existing building envelope, introducing an addition beneath the bridge at the church entrance and a new elevator shaft near the courtyard. Renovations also extended to the building’s north wing and sanctuary spaces.

Projects like this demonstrate how existing community assets can be thoughtfully transformed to address urgent housing needs, while preserving the character and history of a meaningful gathering space. The result is a beautiful beginning for both new tenants and lifelong church members.

A huge thank you to the team of dedicated consultants involved in this project!

Flourish
@landwise.team
Kalos Engineering
@ckengineering
@zonengineeringinc
BELi
Seferian Design Group
Counterpoint Engineering
@lmdg_ltd ...

More drone photos for us to enjoy! 😍 How special to see the progress of Sacajawea 204 Gage Supportive Housing from this vantage point. We`ve come a long way from the September groundbreaking.

This exciting collaboration with @sacajaweahousing and Flourish Development Group will deliver 40 units of supportive housing for indigenous tenants to 204 Gage North in downtown Hamilton. As seen in the beautiful render (slide 3) the building’s palette will be a mix of earthy tones - inspired by the four sacred medicines (tobacco, cedar, sage, and sweetgrass). The ground level will be used for supportive programs, providing space for on-site staff, visiting practitioners, interior bicycle storage, as well as a kitchen and dining area.

With a focus on preserving and protecting our natural environment, Sacajawea will be designed equivalent to the Passive House US (PHIUS+ 2021) standard, helping to reduce the building’s overall energy consumption and associated emissions throughout its life cycle.

Drone photography courtesy of David Pavao.

@sla_architects
@defaveriteam
@sprucelabinc
@landwise.team ...

How do you build on really tight urban site? Here`s an example of how Schilthuis Construction is building a 4 storey addition to the @indwell.ca building at the corner of Ottawa & Cannon (with the @cannoncoffeeco on the ground floor. The structure is quickly being lifted into place with a @stubbesprecast total precast system that includes structure, insulation, & cladding.

These drone photos capture the four-storey addition to @indwell.ca `s Ottawa Street Apartments--a project now in its second phase that is bringing 38 additional units of affordable housing to Hamilton`s vibrant Crown Point East neighbourhood.

The project`s first phase revitalized the former Queens Hotel at the corner of Ottawa and Cannon street, delivering 12 studio units of affordable housing to the community and a new home for The Cannon, a popular local café.

It`s wonderful to get a bird`s eye view of this development as it evolves and grows from the ground up.

Many thanks to David Pavao for the photos! ...

We celebrated Earth Day 🌎 🌱 🌳 with a spring cleanup of our rain garden. This little garden, which our team built last year with a grant from @gcfoundationca , has produced 968m3 of clean air and offset 2066 km/year, according to the @plantsloveyou.ca calculator. That’s a massive difference to what was there before, and it’s also much more beautiful! 😍

We can’t wait to watch the rain garden grow as bloom again this year. ...

What a special day for the Invizij Arch-Attacks. Our team ended up raising more than $22,300 for the @ymcahbb and their programs to #shutouthomelessness with Hockey Helps the Homeless. 🏒 🥅

Our team was made up of four local architecture firms, two affordable housing consultant firms, a handful of @indwell.ca staff, our real estate lawyer, and a few friends. Together, we are all working to combat homelessness through affordable & supportive housing, every day. It was an honour to be part of this tournament for the second year in a row.

As the highest fundraisers, we had two pros on our team - the great @darcytucker16 and Megan Bozek (from team USA). They were both so lovely! What a great day, thanks to all our donors for supporting our team and helping those most in need in our community!
#architectswhocare #hockey #hockeytournament ...

Today is a very special day as we got to celebrate both a groundbreaking in St. Thomas and a grand opening in London, for new affordable and supportive housing communities with @indwell.ca !

The second stop was at @indwell.ca Coves Landing grand opening in London. This project converted an old nursing home in 50 independent supportive housing apartments, and a large commercial kitchen that will provide meals for all of Indwell’s London programs.

This project was possible because of a partnership with four local London developers. We love how the spaces turned out, and the artwork on the spandrel windows by our own @laurakonyndyk ! ...

Today is a very special day as we got to celebrate both a groundbreaking in St. Thomas and a grand opening in London, for new affordable and supportive housing communities with @indwell.ca !

The day started celebrating the beginning of the conversion of Balaclava School into 78 apartments, which will be called Balaclava Crossing. The original 1898 building is incredibly beautiful, and converting it into its next use as homes for those who need it most is incredibly heartening. ❤️

Enjoy these photos from the groundbreaking. A big thanks to our consultant team and to @sierraconstructiongroup for making this dream a reality.

#designwithdignity #affordablehousing #stthomasontario ...