Monthly Archives: September 2011

Trump spire makes a strong point on the skyline as tower’s rooftop construction crane comes down

Trump International Hotel + Tower Toronto

September 29 2011: The spire on the Trump Tower Toronto soars skyward between neighbours Scotia Plaza, left, and First Canadian Place, right

 

Scotia Plaza and Trump Tower Toronto

September 28 2011: With its spire, the Trump Toronto is supposed to stand 276.9 meters — that’s 2 meters taller than next-door neighbour Scotia Plaza, left

 

Trump Tower Toronto and First Canadian Place

September 28 2011: First Canadian Place, right, retains its crown as Toronto’s tallest building at 298 meters (not including its antennae).

 

Soaring spire: Construction of the Trump International Hotel & Tower Toronto is drawing closer to completion — a point punctuated this week when work crews added the top section of the skyscraper’s signature spire and began disassembling the rooftop construction crane.

Soaring skyward between Scotia Plaza and First Canadian Place, the spire cements Trump Toronto’s status as a new architectural landmark on the Financial District skyline. According to the Toronto Skyscraper Diagram on skyscraperpage.com, the spire gives Trump Toronto a total height of 276.9 meters. Technically speaking, that means Trump Toronto takes honours as the city’s second-tallest tower, after 298-meter First Canadian Place. However, the slender spire rises only 2 meters higher than Scotia Plaza next door which will nevertheless continue to look like it’s still the second-tallest skyscraper.

With cladding remaining to be installed on only the three top floors, the building appears to be on schedule for the 261-room Trump Toronto Hotel to open its doors in January. (The hotel is currently accepting reservations through its website from January 10 2012 onwards).

Below are photos showing recent construction progress on the tower’s top floors and spire.

 

Toronto Financial District skyline

August 30 2011: An HtO Park view of Trump Tower Toronto rising behind First Canadian Place, left and the towers of the TD Centre

 

Toronto Financial District Skyline

August 30 2011: Toronto Islands view of Trump Tower Toronto rising on the Financial District skyline

 

Trump Tower Toronto

September 3 2011: Trump Tower Toronto viewed from Adelaide Street West near University Avenue

 

Trump Tower Toronto

September 3 2011: Spire construction viewed from the west on Adelaide Street

 

Trump Tower Toronto

September 3 2011: Spire construction viewed from the west on Adelaide Street

 

Trump Tower Toronto

September 3 2011: The “quarter onion”-shaped base for the spire

 

Trump Tower Toronto and Scotia Plaza

September 3 2011: Trump Tower Toronto and Scotia Plaza, right, seen from the intersection of King & Bay Streets

 

Trump Tower Toronto

September 3 2011: Upper floor construction on the south side of the tower

 

Trump Tower Toronto

September 3 2011: Trump Tower Toronto viewed from King & Bay Streets

 

Trump Tower Toronto

September 3 2011: The spire rises from the tower’s northwest corner

 

Trump Tower Toronto

September 3 2011: Looking up at the construction form for the spire, left

 

Toronto downtown skyline

September 11 2011: Trump Toronto’s ascent on the downtown skyline as seen from Tommy Thompson Park (aka Leslie Street Spit)

 

Trump Tower Toronto

September 12 2011: Sunset view of Trump Toronto spire construction

 

Toronto downtown skyline

September 13 2011: Riverdale Park view of the Trump Toronto rising on the Financial District skyline

 

Trump Tower Toronto

September 13 2011: Trump Tower Toronto rises among the office towers

 

Trump Tower Toronto

September 28 2011:  Spire base viewed from the northeast

 

Trump Tower Toronto

September 28 2011:  Only three more floors await cladding installation

 

Trump Tower Toronto

September 28 2011: The yellow crane is disassembling the main crane that soared above the Trump Toronto throughout its construction

 

Trump International Hotel + Tower Toronto

September 28 2011: Another northeast view of Trump Tower Toronto spire

 

 

Condo highrise expected for Church-Wellesley site sold by cancer patient support centre for $4.5M

81 Wellesley Street East Toronto

September 27 2011: The Wellspring property at 81 Wellesley Street East, which includes the 3-storey Odette House, has reportedly been sold for $4.5 million.

 

Tower proposal coming?: A condo highrise could be in the cards for the Church-Wellesley Village — the heart of Toronto’s lesbian and gay community — if news circulating in the downtown neighbourhood proves to be correct.

According to a Twitter post yesterday by Urbanation, a research and consulting firm that tracks Toronto’s condominium real estate market, 81 Wellesley Street East has been sold for $4.5 million, with a “future high-rise condo site planned.” The property, which includes the 5,000-square-foot, 3-storey Odette house fronting on Wellesley Street, and a 2,200-square-foot, two-storey coach house behind it, was owned by the Wellspring cancer support centre. Wellspring has been providing services to cancer patients, their families and their caregivers in the coach house since 1992, and expanded into Odette House in 2002.  The Urbanation tweet did not identify the purchaser, nor did it provide any further details about possible redevelopment plans for the property, which is situated just a stone’s throw from the southeast corner of Church and Wellesley Streets.

However, the tweet did link to a Colliers International real estate listing for the property, which describes 81 Wellesley as a “rare boutique building” that is “free of any historical designation/listing” and offers  “development potential.”

Neighbourhood residents weren’t completely surprised by news of the sale, since the Wellspring board of directors had announced nearly a year ago that the popular cancer support facility might have to be relocated and, last November, listed the property for sale. Then, in a June 9 relocation update on its website, Wellspring announced that its board was negotiating terms for a possible sale.

Wellspring decided to sell the property not only since it was outgrowing the site as it provided additional services to meet steadily growing demand, but also because it was becoming too expensive to operate from the two houses. “[t]he property at 81 Wellesley Street East requires a number of expensive repairs and renovations in the near-term, just to be maintained for, and accessible to, the growing number of cancer patients and families it serves,” the board explained in an October 2010 letter to Wellspring members and volunteers.

Although many neighbourhood residents had expected the Wellspring site to be snapped up by a condo developer, they’re now nervously wondering just how big a development might be in store for the long, narrow site. The block already boasts several midrise rental apartment buildings, but some people in the area worry that a tall condo tower could be coming — something they believe would have an adverse impact on the look, feel and character of the local community.

One resident who told me nearly two months ago that the sale of 81 Wellesley was imminent also said he has heard that a developer has a large condo tower in the works for the Wellspring site and the adjacent property to its west — a four-storey brick apartment building with street-level retail at the southeast corner of Church and Wellesley Streets. An H-shaped structure constructed in 1926, that building has street addresses of 77 Wellesley Street East and 501 Church Street. I asked a member of the City’s planning department staff last month if a condo tower has been proposed for the corner, and was told no development applications had been filed. However, the planner did say that since Church & Wellesley is among several downtown areas facing significant “development pressure,” it’s quite possible someone will seek to build a highrise there. (As of today, there were no development proposals for either property listed on the City’s planning application website.)

Below are several photos taken today of 81 Wellesley and the apartment/retail building next door.

 

85 81 and 77 Wellesley Street East Toronto

September 27 2011: The south side of Wellesley east of Church Street includes the 10-storey rental apartment building at number 85, left, Wellspring’s Odette House at 81, and the 4-storey apartment/retail building on the southeast corner of Church & Wellesley Streets (largely obscured by the tree in front of Odette).

 

Odette House 81 Wellesley Street East Toronto

September 27 2011: Wellspring’s Odette House at 81 Wellesley Street East

 

81 Wellesley Street East Toronto

September 27 2011: Odette House front entrance on Wellesley Street

 

81 Wellesley Street East Toronto

September 27 2011:  Odette House and the coach house at the rear of the lot

 

81 Wellesley Street East Toronto

September 27 2011: Wellspring began offering services in the coach house in 1992 and acquired Odette House in 2002

 

81 Wellesley Street East Toronto

September 27 2011:  Odette House has not been listed or designated as a heritage property by the City of Toronto

 

81 Wellesley Street East Toronto

September 27 2011: Odette House viewed from the northeast

 

81 Wellesley Street East Toronto coach house

September 27 2011: The two-storey coach house at the rear of 81 Wellesley Street East. A parking lot occupies the space between it and Odette House.

 

81 Wellesley Street East Toronto

September 27 2011: Odette House viewed from the northwest

 

77 Wellesley Street East/501 Church Street Toronto

September 27 2011: The apartment/retail complex at the southeast corner of Church and Wellesley Streets, next door to Odette House.

 

77 Wellesley Street East/501 Church Street Toronto

September 27 2011: There is some speculation in the neighbourhood that a condo tower could be in the works for this property and 81 Wellesley to its east.

 

501 Church Street Toronto

September 27 2011: Church Street view of the apartment/retail complex at the southeast corner of Church & Wellesley Streets

 

East waterfront skyline poised for profound change as Pier 27 condo construction reaches street level

Pier 27 condos on Toronto waterfront

September 13 2011: Construction crews arrange forms for first-floor walls at the northeast corner of The Residences of Pier 27 condo project site on Queen’s Quay East, just a stone’s throw from the Redpath Sugar Refinery

 

Pier 27 waterfront condos Toronto

August 30 2011: A Toronto Islands view of four cranes towering above the Pier 27 condo building site and sales centre (white structure at bottom middle of photo). This view of the waterfront will look markedly different by this time next year …


Pier 27 waterfront condos Toronto

... once substantial progress has been made on construction of the East Bayfront condo complex’s distinctive design, seen in this artistic illustration …

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Pier 27 waterfront condos Toronto

… and in this video screen capture, both from the Pier 27 website

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Redpath’s neighbour ready to rise: Toronto’s eastern waterfront is about to get an exciting new look now that Phase 1 construction of The Residences of Pier 27 has reached grade along Queen’s Quay Boulevard East. The first condominium complex to be built on Toronto’s East Bayfront, Pier 27 will transform a prime piece of property at the foot of Yonge Street from a large dusty parking lot into a gleaming glass and steel midrise residential community with publicly-accessible waterfront green space and parkland. I’ll be thrilled to watch these condo buildings rise; their sleek modern architecture should vastly improve the appearance of what I consider to be one of downtown’s most dismal streets — a gritty stretch of landscape presently dominated by the huge, hulking Redpath Sugar Refinery.

Construction has made the most progress at the northeast corner of the Pier 27 property, right next to the refinery, where pedestrians and passing motorists can now see crews working at street level, just a few meters from the security fence running along the south side of Queen’s Quay Boulevard. In late July, you couldn’t see the workers unless you walked right up to the fence to peer into the giant excavation; at that time, the crews were still well below grade, gradually filling in the underground parking levels for the Phase 1 construction on the easterly half of the site. The Phase 2 construction zone to the west isn’t visible from the street at all, but work has been steadily progressing on the foundation there, and a fourth construction crane was erected on the site last month. According to a July 25 2011 post on the Cityzen Urban Lifestyle blog, crews had been pouring 3,000 cubic meters of concrete per month just for Phase 1 construction — that’s equivalent to the load carried by 333 concrete trucks. Once Phase 2 construction gets going full steam, the pour is expected to increase to 5,000 cubic meters (555 truckloads) per month, the Cityzen blog says.

A project of Cityzen Developments and Fernbrook Homes, The Residences of Pier 27 was designed by Peter Clewes of Toronto’s architectsAlliance.

Below are some of my photos of Pier 27’s recent construction progress. Photos of earlier building activity can be viewed in my posts on July 21 2011, April 22 2011, February 18 2011, and January 4 2011.

 

Pier 27 waterfront condos Toronto

July 17 2011: Underground level construction on the east side (Phase 1) of the Pier 27 site, seen through the security fence on Queen’s Quay Boulevard

 

Pier 27 waterfront condos Toronto

August 17 2011: A construction crew works at street level at the northeast corner of the Pier 27 site, mere steps from the Queen’s Quay Boulevard sidewalk

 

Pier 27 waterfront condos Toronto

August 17 2011: Pier 27’s midrise towers, each topped by a distinctive multi-level “SkyBridge,” are depicted on this promotional billboard outside the project sales centre on Queen’s Quay Boulevard

 

Pier 27 waterfront condos Toronto

August 17 2011: Billboard illustration of the SkyBridge spanning the top of Pier 27’s Phase 1 towers on the east side of the project site

 

Pier 27 waterfront condos Toronto

August 30 3011: A Toronto Islands view toward the Pier 27 site

 

Pier 27 waterfront condos Toronto

August 30 3011: Toronto Islands view of cranes above the Pier 27 building site

 

Pier 27 waterfront condos Toronto

August 30 3011: Ward’s Island ferry view of cranes at the Pier 27 site adjacent to the Redpath Sugar Refinery (right)

 

Pier 27 waterfront condos Toronto

September 12 2011: Construction moves above street level as seen in this view of the Phase 1 site from the sidewalk on Queen’s Quay Boulevard

 

Pier 27 waterfront condos Toronto

September 12 2011: Building forms along the eastern perimeter of the Pier 27 site, next to the Redpath Sugar Refinery

 

Pier 27 waterfront condos Toronto

September 12 2011: Building forms begin to rise above street level next to the construction crane near the northeast corner of the Pier 27 site

 

Pier 27 waterfront condos Toronto

September 12 2011: Three construction cranes are visible in this view of wall forms rising toward the center of the Pier 27 building site

 

Pier 27 waterfront condos Toronto

September 12 2011: Looking up at the four cranes working the Pier 27 project

 

 

 

Couture condo construction climbs to 8th floor

Couture Condos Toronto

September 3 2011: Construction has begun on the 8th floor of Couture Condos, seen here in a southwest view of the tower’s rear side …

 

Couture Condos toronto

… and in this front view from Ted Rogers Way (Jarvis Street)

 

Couture climbs: Last time I reported on Couture Condominium in my June 23 2011 post, the building was beginning its climb above grade, with forms for some of the walls on the first floor being put in place. By the end of the first week of August the first two floors were poured, and by August 19 crews were up to the fifth floor. Now they’ve begun work on the eighth level, bringing them more than one-sixth of the way to the tower’s ultimate height of 44 storeys.  Meanwhile, design elements of the tower’s two-storey podium and indented front facade have already become apparent.

According to the Couture Condominium website, the project is 97% sold, with only 11 suites remaining. They range from a 590 square foot 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom “Tokyo” suite for $292,490 to a 665 square foot 1-bedroom + den and 1 bathroom “Milan” unit for $360,990.

Couture Condominium is a project of Monarch Group. The slender glass tower was designed by Graziani + Corazza Architects Inc. of Mississauga.

Below is a series of my photos showing Couture’s construction progress during July, August and so far this month, along with two building renderings from the project website. 

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

From the Couture Condominium website, an artistic rendering of the sleek glass tower and its two-storey podium along Ted Rogers Way (Jarvis Street)

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

From the Couture Condominium website, an artistic rendering of the 44-storey tower designed by Mississauga’s Graziani + Corazza Architects Inc.

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

July 16 2011: First floor has been poured and construction starts on second level

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

July 17 2011: A view of Couture Condominium’s first floor construction from the east side of Ted Rogers Way (formerly known as Jarvis Street)

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

July 17 2011: Southwest view of Couture Condominium construction progress. The ground-level section of property behind the tower (left side of photo) will be a landscaped outdoor amenities area.

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

August 6 2011: Southeast view of construction starting on Couture’s third level

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

August 6 2011: Looking west at the front of the Couture tower. The glass building at upper left is Casa Condominium, two blocks west on Charles Street.

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Couture Condominium Toronto

August 6 2011: A view from Ted Rogers Way of Couture’s northeast corner. The entrance to the tower’s underground parking garage is located at this corner (it’s partly visible behind the two grey portable toilets).

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

August 6 2011: Couture’s two-storey podium takes shape. The black glass and steel tower to the south is the 44-storey X Condominium on Charles Street.

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

August 6 2011: Stacks of building materials at the building’s southeast corner

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

August 6 2011: Looking north at columns supporting Couture’s two-storey podium

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

August 13 2011: Couture construction viewed from the west on Hayden Street

 

Couture condominium Toronto

August 13 2011: Southwest view as construction starts on the fourth floor

 

Couture condominium Toronto

August 13 2011: A view of the first two floors on the tower’s south side

 

Couture condominium Toronto

August 13 2011: Looking up the south side of the building

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

August 13 2011: Construction viewed from the building’s southeast corner

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

August 13 2011: Sidewalk view of the Couture Condos podium

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

 August 13 2011: Looking to the south along the Couture podium

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

August 13 2011: Another view of the podium

 

Couture Condominium

August 13 2011: Construction forms on the podium’s east side

 

Couture Condominium

August 19 2011: Couture viewed from the southwest. In several months, the tower will rise above the 28-storey concrete apartment building to its north.

 

Couture Condomium Toronto

August 19 2011: Southwest view as construction starts on the fifth level

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

August 22 2011: A view of the northeast corner of Couture

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

September 3 2011: Couture Condos viewed from the southeast on Ted Rogers Way

 

Couture Condominium

September 3 2011: Looking up eight floors from the tower’s southeast corner

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

September 3 201: Street-level view of Couture’s southeast corner

 

Couture Condominium

September 3 2011: Looking up at the building’s southeast corner

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

 September 3 2011: Couture podium viewed from the southeast

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

September 3 2011: Couture billboard inside the hoarding along Ted Rogers Way

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

September 3 2011: Looking to the south along Couture’s two-storey podium

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

September 3 201: Columns on the east side of Couture’s podium

 

Couture Condominium Toronto

September 3 2011: X Condominium looms large to the south of Couture

 

Couture Condominium

September 3 2011: The indented center section of Couture’s east facade