Monthly Archives: July 2012

Cladding & glass on new condo/loft complex brings shades of grey to Front Street West

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300 Front Street West Toronto

July 27 2012: A view from the west of construction progress on the Three Hundred Front Street West condo tower being built by Tridel at Front & John Streets

 

300 Front Street West Toronto

July 27 2012: Charcoal grey and silver cladding is being installed on the southwest corner of what ultimately will be a 49-storey condo tower …

 

300 Front Street West Toronto

… with an attached 15-storey loft building …

 

300 Front Street West Toronto

… both of which are seen here from the south side of Front Street last Friday

 

Nearly halfway there: The exterior colour of a condominium tower currently under construction on Front Street West shares two things in common with one of the year’s most popular novels. Not only do shades of grey figure prominently with the building’s cladding and the book’s title, but both have been selling exceptionally well also.

Three Hundred Front Street West, a project of Toronto’s Tridel group of real estate development and management companies, is an L-shaped condo-loft complex being built at the northwest corner of Front and John Streets, just north of the CN Tower. The condo tower will soar 49 storeys above the street, while the loft section of the building will rise just 15 floors.  As of last week, the tower was approaching the halfway mark, while work on the midrise loft wing had reached the 12th level.

 

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Cinema Tower adds angles, curves & colour to city skyline as condo construction climbs higher

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Cinema Tower Toronto

July 27 2012: Looking up the SW corner of Cinema Tower from Widmer Street

 

Cinema Tower Toronto

July 27 2012: Cinema Tower viewed from he northwest on Adelaide Street

 

Curves & colour:  The last time I walked around the Cinema Tower construction site in late March,  the highrise condominium component of the 43-storey tower had climbed about 5 floors above its sizable 6-storey podium. Although the striking curves and angles of the condo floors were already obvious at that point, I still wasn’t sure what to make of the tower’s design, since the building was basically just a massive concrete frame.

It was a completely different story when I finally got back down to take a fresh look on Friday. The tower has since climbed three-quarters of the way to its ultimate height, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how the building’s interesting angles, curves and colours make Cinema Tower stand out on the Entertainment District skyline. It’s turning out to be a much better-looking building than I had expected, based on the artistic illustrations I had seen on the Cinema Tower website and on hoarding around the construction site.

 

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Nathan Phillips Square revitalization inches along; construction expected to finish by end of 2013

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Nathan Phillips Square Toronto

July 19 2011: Construction of the relocated Peace Garden continues along the western flank of Nathan Phillips Square next to Osgoode Hall (right) …

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Nathan Phillips Square Toronto

… as does work on a new live performance stage midway between City Hall and the new skate and snack bar pavilion which opened last September (rear).

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Nathan Phillips Square Toronto

Meanwhile, the reflecting pool will be a dry dustbowl throughout the summer as it receives extensive maintenance work and upgrades…

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Nathan Phillips Square Toronto

… including repairs to mechanical facilities along the pool’s entire perimeter …

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Toronto City Hall

… while window upgrade work continues on City Hall’s west tower, seen here July 7 2012. Hundreds of window panes on City Hall’s east tower were replaced last year.

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Nathan Phillips Square Toronto

However, a two-level restaurant that was supposed to be constructed at the square’s southwest corner won’t materialize until some unprojected future time, as part of a third phase of the revitalization project for the 40-year-old square

 

Slow progress: In recent months a lot of people have been wondering just how much longer downtown Toronto’s building boom is going to last.  I keep wondering the same thing about the Nathan Phillips Square Revitalization project at Toronto City Hall.

Like much of the downtown area, Nathan Phillips Square remains a giant construction zone for the third consecutive summer as the $40-million-plus revitalization project drags on, with work gradually progressing on a new theatre/stage facility as well as a relocated and enlarged Peace Garden along the west side of the square.

Extensive maintenance and upgrades have forced the closure of the square’s signature reflecting pool/winter skating rink and put another huge section of the square off-limits for months — although that work isn’t part of the revitalization plan.

And as if all that isn’t enough, this is the second year that work has been in progress to replace the 40-year-old window panes in the iconic City Hall towers.

 

 

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Highrise condo cluster could threaten character of leafy low-rise street near Yonge & Wellesley

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Dundonald Street Toronto

The lush trees and gardens adorning the front yards of these brick homes on the north side of Dundonald Street could be imperiled by construction of up to four condo highrises …

 

17 Dundonald Street Toronto

… including an 18-storey tower that would incorporate parts of the brick, travertine and glass facade of this Modern-style office building constructed in 1956 at 17 Dundonald …

 

31-37 Dundonald Street Toronto

… a potential 18-storey condo on the site of these three-storey houses at 31-37 Dundonald, currently being offered for sale as a block for redevelopment …

 

22, 40 and 50 Wellesley Street East Toronto

… and two more condo towers, each at least 28 storeys tall, that would loom above Dundonald Street from this location on Wellesley Street East to the immediate south ….

 

40 Wellesley Street East Toronto

… including a 118-meter-tall (32 storeys) condo tower that a developer wishes to build on the site of this 5-storey office building at 40 Wellesley Street East …

 

50 Wellesley Street East condo site

… and a 28-storey condo, now being marketed to prospective purchasers, on the site of what is currently an empty lot at 46-50 Wellesley Street East

 

Dundonald doomed?: A quiet, tree-lined residential street in north downtown’s Church-Wellesley neighbourhood could lose much of its appeal, charm and character — and possibly even much of its lush greenery — if proposals for four condo towers in the area come to fruition.

Only one block long, Dundonald Street runs east-west between Yonge and Church Streets, just one block north of Wellesley Street. It’s among my favourite downtown streets, one I walk several times each week to avoid the noise, steady vehicular traffic and busy sidewalks of Wellesley Street. But my alternative walking route might lose its quiet, pleasant appeal in several years’ time if two highrise condo buildings get built on the south side of Dundonald, along with two more right behind them on the north side of Wellesley Street.

 

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Wellesley Street site touted as potential new park now listed for sale for highrise redevelopment

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11 Wellesley Street potential city park site

The 11 Wellesley Street West site, viewed from the northeast last year …

 

11 Wellesley Street West Toronto

… and viewed today from the northwest on Wellesley Street near Bay Street

 

CBRE Limited website illustration of the Bay & Wellesley lands

This image, from a flyer on the CBRE Limited website,  shows an aerial view of the property now listed for sale for redevelopment

 

CBRE Limited website illustration of the Bay & Wellesley lands

This illustration, also from the CBRE Limited online flyer, suggests the highrise development potential for the 2-acre Ontario Government property

 

Park plans deep-sixed?: Downtown residents who were hoping a new public park would be created on provincial government property that has sat vacant near Yonge & Wellesley for years will be dismayed to learn that the land has instead been listed for sale for potential highrise redevelopment. Nevertheless, a city councillor plans to seek City Council approval to direct municipal real estate officials to negotiate acquisition of the property “for parkland purposes.”

A commercial real estate advertisement in today’s Globe and Mail newspaper touts the 2-acre “East of Bay” lands at 11 Wellesley Street West as a “downtown Toronto development opportunity.” The ad, published by real estate brokerage CBRE Limited, says the land “is located in a prime downtown residential development corridor,” and is “centrally positioned” between the city’s financial core and its tony Bloor-Yorkville district.

 

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52-storey condo tower proposed for site of historic Selby Hotel on Sherbourne near Bloor

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Clarion Selby Hotel & Suites

The Clarion Hotel & Suites Selby mansion at 592 Sherbourne Street is where celebrated writer Ernest Hemingway and his wife, Hadley, lived in the 1920s while Hemingway worked as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star.

 

Tower and townhouses: A condominium complex featuring a 52-storey tower with a 4-level podium and 5 townhouses has been proposed for the site of an historic 130-year-old Victorian mansion on Sherbourne Street near Bloor Street.

Designed by architect David Roberts and constructed in 1882 for the founder of Toronto’s Gooderham and Worts Distillery, the mansion is perhaps best known as the residential hotel where Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Ernest Hemingway lived in the 1920s while working as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star.

 

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