Monthly Archives: December 2012

Aura condo construction approaches 50th floor

Aura condos

December 14 2012: Early morning sunshine glints off the east face of the Aura condo tower under construction at the NW corner of Yonge & Gerrard Streets

 

48 of 78: Bright sunny days have been few and far between in Toronto lately. But thanks to the Aura condo tower under construction at College Park, I can immediately tell if the morning sky is clear without looking out a window or even getting out of bed, for that matter. That’s because my apartment gets completely flooded with brilliant sunlight reflected by the glass windows and cladding on Aura, several blocks to the southwest.

Last week, Aura passed the two-thirds point of construction when work started on its 48th floor. The tower will ultimately rise 78 storeys, becoming the tallest residential condominium building in Canada.

 

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Massive retail complex with condo tower in the works for SE corner of Yonge & Gould Streets

335 Yonge Street

This illustration, from an online CBRE flyer, shows a mixed-use condo, retail and commercial development project being planned for the southeast corner of Yonge and Gould Streets

 

335 Yonge Street 335 Yonge Street December 25 2012 518 px  IMG_0705

December 25 2012: The redevelopment site includes the vacant corner lot at 335 Yonge St., where the Empress Hotel heritage building once stood, and the adjacent 3-storey HMV retail building at 333 Yonge. At rear is the hulking 10 Dundas East restaurant, retail and cinema complex, formerly known as Toronto Life Square, that occupies the remainder of the block bounded by Yonge, Gould, Victoria and Dundas Streets.

 

335 Yonge Street

December 21 2010: A view of the historic Empress Hotel building at 335 Yonge Street only two weeks before it was destroyed in a fire set by a serial arsonist

 

335 Yonge Street

January 7 2011: A demolition machine razes the fire-ravaged remains of 335 Yonge only four days after the heritage building was set ablaze

 

Arsonist sentenced, redevelopment proposed: Only days after an arsonist was sentenced to prison for torching a heritage building at the southeast corner of Yonge and Gould Streets, signs have been posted on the property to advertise potential leasing opportunities in a major retail and condo redevelopment project being considered for the prime downtown site.

On December 14, convicted “serial arsonist” Stewart Poirier, 53, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for setting a blaze that destroyed the historic Empress Hotel building at 335 Yonge Street. The 124-year-old building, which was a city-designated heritage property,  was consumed by a 6-alarm fire in the early morning hours of January 3 2011. The fire-charred ruins were demolished that same month and the property has sat vacant ever since, being used from time to time as a construction staging area for the new Ryerson University Student Learning Centre being built on the opposite side of Gould Street. In the nearly two years since the fire, speculation has run rampant about what type of redevelopment the property’s owner, Lalani Group, might propose for the site. Potential plans for the property now seem to be coming into focus.

 

 

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Construction underway on completely sold-out Pace condo tower project at Dundas & Jarvis

Pace Condos

December  13 2012: “Sold Out” signs dominate the hoarding around the Pace Condos construction site on the southwest corner of Dundas and Jarvis Streets

 

Pace Condos

December 13 2012: A foundation shoring machine towers above the hoarding along the Dundas Street sidewalk next to the Pace Condos site

 

Sales success: Construction is in full swing on a 42-storey condo tower development that could help revitalize a scruffy southeast downtown neighbourhood that is home to dozens of shelters and social service agencies serving one of the country’s largest low-income communities.

Shoring and foundation drilling machines have been stirring up dust at the southwest corner of Dundas and Jarvis Streets, where Pace Condos will gradually climb skyward over the next three years. The Great Gulf project at 155 Dundas East — which was approved by Toronto City Council just over one year ago — has been a tremendous sales success for the developer. The 384-unit building is completely “sold out,” according to bold signage posted on sidewalk hoarding along the Dundas and Jarvis perimeters of the construction site.

 

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U Condos construction approaches grade

U Condos

December 6 2012: A view of the U Condos building site, looking northeast toward the intersection of Bay Street and St Mary Street, as construction of the project’s underground parking floors approaches ground level. A row of 3-storey “urban townhomes” will rise in the immediate foreground — the southern flank of the 2-tower condo complex.

 

U Condos

December 6 2012: Construction progress at the southwest corner of the U Condos property, where the 45-storey west tower will rise. Townhomes will extend across this side of the site.

 

U Condos

December 6 2012: Looking southeast from St Mary Street toward the site where the 50-storey east tower will rise. Concrete will soon be poured atop the building forms in the foreground, which are nearly at street level.

 

U Condos

From the U Condos website, this photo offers an October 2012 aerial view of the construction

 

Making grade: As autumn draws to a close, construction of the U Condos tower and townhouse complex is drawing closer to ground level.

Forms have been put in place along much of the west half of the property to prepare for concrete pours that will create the ceiling of the P1 level. That area is where the 45-storey West Tower will rise, as well as a row of “urban townhomes” along on the north and south perimeters of the property. Although similar building forms haven’t yet been installed on the east half of the site, where the 50-storey East Tower will soar skyward above more townhouses along Bay Street and St Mary Street, construction progress on that part of the project isn’t far behind.

Although the two tall towers will become skyline landmarks at the east (Bay Street) end of the University of Toronto campus, the 19 townhouses that will enclose the complex will ensure that U Condos stands out at street level, too. Indeed, they will give the U Condos project a unique look on Bay Street, sharply distinguishing the complex from all nearby condo, apartment and office highrises.

 

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Fall photo update: One Bloor condo construction

1 Bloor condo

December 5 2012: Two construction cranes soar above the One Bloor condo tower excavation at Yonge & Bloor. Click on the photo to view a larger-size image.

 

Digging nearly done:  Last time I reported about construction progress on the One Bloor condo tower, in my September 4 2012 post, crews still had a huge amount of earth to excavate from the building site. As winter approaches some excavation work remains, but the two white construction cranes soaring above the property are a sure sign that the pace of building activity is going to pick up significantly. And at the bottom of the big pit more than five levels below the southeast corner of the busy Yonge & Bloor intersection, the base of the elevator core for the 75-storey skyscraper has started taking shape.

 

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A important note about my online photo albums

As regular readers of thetorontoblog.com are aware, many of my posts include links to online photo albums, some of which feature hundreds of pictures of downtown Toronto buildings and construction projects. The albums were hosted on Webshots.com, a popular site boasting more than 691 million member photos.

Unfortunately, the photos in my Webshots albums are no longer available for public viewing. The company that owned Webshots.com decided to shut the photo site down, effective December 1 2012. That means all links I have provided to my photo albums will not work. Editing posts to remove the Webshots links will be an incredibly tedious and time-consuming process that will take me weeks, if not months, since I have posted hundreds of photos since launching the blog.

I am gradually rebuilding photo albums on thetorontoblog.com’s Facebook page, as well as on TheTorontoBlog’s Flickr page, but that, too, takes an enormous amount of time.

I sincerely apologize for the dead links and trust you will understand this was completely beyond my control. Unfortunately, Webshots.com provided little advance notice of its intentions to close, and I have not yet had an opportunity to remove more than a few links. Please bear with me.

Moving forward, links will be provided for albums on either flickr on Facebook. Fingers crossed that neither of those websites decides to shutter its photo album operations, too!