Booster Juice held a grand opening this month to celebrate the opening of their third location in Kingston. The grand opening occurred earlier this November with “customer appreciation” sales throughout the month to celebrate. The Canadian juice and smoothie bar is located on the ground floor unit of a three-story limestone building at 293 Princess Street, a building that dates to 1863.
“Start the car because we just opened a new location at 293 Princess Street! Stop by to congratulate Paresh on his third store opening and meet on opening his 2nd location. They were excited to welcome their very first customer and are looking forward to meeting the local community,” wrote Booster Juice on social media on November 5th.
The store is in its final stage of opening as it’s having its sign approved by city council and its heritage committee.
The historic building is of mixed-use and is designated under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act. The approval process has seen some delay, with the application being submitted on October 13th.
The proposal seeks to have approval for the installation of an internally illuminated wall sign above the entrance door and below the second floor.
On Nov. 16, a meeting was held to discuss the application and relevant policies and materials for Ontario Heritage Act approval. Heritage Kingston provided recommendations to Council regarding the application, including the following conditions for approval: obtainment of a building/sign permit, an encroachment permit, and temporary access permit as necessary.
In addition, it was recommended that masonry work be in accordance with the City’s Policy on Masonry Restorations in Heritage Buildings and any deviations from the plans submitted be delegated to the Director of Heritage Services for review and approval.
The application has been met with mixed reviews. Engineering reviewed the proposal and had no objections, however Peter Gower, Chair of Heritage Kingston, said “While I presume that the sign is within all the rules for signage on this part of Princess [Street], I would suggest to the applicant that it is not at all appropriate for the heritage attributes of this part of the city”.
Peter Gower provided a consideration to make the signage smaller, printed on see-through plastic and placed on the window instead of being lit.
“A slightly smaller size, and some control to ensure that the light intensity is moderate would be desirable”, says Don Taylor, Vice Chair.
There is a 90 day period for Council to make a decision on the application with a timeframe expiry on Jan. 11, 2023.
A comment was requested from Booster Juice but we did not receive a response by publication.
