Catalyst 137

Catalyst 137 is a 475,000 sq ft conversion of the former Dominion Tire building in Kitchener — a derelict open shell brought back as a hardware and IoT technology hub.

Tekena has worked in the building since 2017: first on the base building connectivity infrastructure for the owner, including the common area AV and sound masking contracted through Kipling Realty as operator, then on tenancy fit-outs as occupiers arrived. Twelve tenancies have been fitted out alongside the base build, covering 368,680 sq ft. When one tenant closed in 2020, the incoming occupier reused the installed infrastructure rather than replacing it — saving $500,000 on a single changeover. The engagement is ongoing.

A multi-tenant asset asks something of its infrastructure that a single fit-out does not. Catalyst 137 was conceived as a home for hardware and IoT companies — a tenant base that grows quickly and moves often. When Tekena’s work began the building was still largely one open floor plate, with the partitions that would define the tenancies only starting to go up. Four conditions shaped the brief:

• Occupiers had not yet been identified — the building had to be ready for tenants that nobody had met.
• Each tenant would design and fund their own fit-out, so nothing could be set as a lease condition.
• Turnover was expected by design — start-ups grow, move and expand.
• Whatever went in at building level had to still be useful when tenants changed.

For the owner, Tekena delivered the base building infrastructure that every tenancy could connect to:

• Fibre backbone — the spine running through the asset.
• Video walls and presentation systems for the town hall space, in before the building opened.
• Audio to the common areas, including restrooms, and data communications to screens throughout.
• Sound masking across the shared environment.

Kipling Realty, as operator, contracted the AV, sound-masking and connectivity systems the building runs on day to day. Tenancies were then fitted out individually as occupiers arrived, each contracting Tekena directly — Miovision, Catalyst Commons co-working space, KIK and BorgWarner among them, alongside an automotive research firm, a law firm, a government bank and a marketing agency. Around 80 per cent of the building’s tenants took the same prefabricated infrastructure.

Some tenants came through introductions from the building’s owner and operator; others approached Tekena independently. In every case the tenant contracted directly and made their own decision — no building standard obliged them to.

Prefabricated. Recertified. Reused between tenants.

KIK took a tenancy in 2018, with a full fit-out of prefabricated data communications, sound masking and AV at a cost of around $600,000. When KIK closed in 2020, the incoming tenant inherited that infrastructure rather than starting again. Every element was retested and recertified, the 25-year warranty carried across to the new occupier, and their spend was only $100,000.

• Data communications, AV including room booking, sound masking and access control in place on day one.
• Warranty maintained through recertification, not restarted.
• The space ready to let again without rework between leases.

In a building designed for companies that grow and move, tenancies change often. Where Tekena’s infrastructure is in place, it stays with the space rather than with the occupier — tested, recertified and ready for whoever takes the space next. Tekena’s most recent work in the building was in 2025, eight years after the first.