Monthly Archives: February 2013

300 Front Street West condo construction passes 45 storeys on way to 49th-floor topping-off

300 Front Street West

September 18 2008: The northwest corner of Front and John Streets used to be a parking lot just steps away from the CBC Canadian Broadcasting Centre at 250 Front Street West (right), the Metro Hall Civic Centre at 55 John Street (right rear), and the Rosemont Residences at 50 John Street (center rear) …

 

 

300 Front Street West

… as seen in this view from the CN Tower on September 22 2008

 

 300 Front Street West

But during 2010 and early 2011 Tridel excavated the site …

 

 

300 Front Street West

… and began building the foundation and underground levels …

 

 

300 Front West

… for its 300 Front Street West condo complex, depicted in this artistic night view rendering by Rudy Wallman of Toronto’s Wallman Architects.

 

 

 

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Photo update: a peek at below-ground building progress at the One Bloor condo tower site

One Bloor Condos

February 17 2013: Construction of the bottom underground level of the One Bloor condo tower has made considerable progress … 

 

1 Bloor condo

 … since I last photographed the site, back on December 5 2012

 

 One Bloor Condos

February 17 2013: A peek between the construction cranes at the northwest corner of the site

 

One Bloor Condos

February 17 2013: Walls and support columns are gradually taking shape on the north side of the site at the base of one of the construction cranes

 

 

Work starts on highrise apartment/condo addition to 42-year-old rental tower on Isabella Street

66 Isabella Street

February 12 2013: A construction crew begins cutting holes where new windows and balconies  will be installed …

 

 

66 Isabella

… on the southeast side of the 26-storey apartment tower at 66 Isabella Street

 

 

66 Isabella Street and 620 Church Street

The work is just the first phase of a project in which a 23-storey addition will be built next to the rental highrise (left) in place of the trees and lawn that have provided an open space at the northwest corner of Church and Isabella Streets for more than 40 years. Meanwhile, city approval is being sought for a 3-storey walk-up condo addition to the south and west sides of the Town Inn Suites at 620 Church (right) in a separate project that would fill in the remaining greenspace on the corner property between Charles and Isabella Streets.

 

 

Apartment tower add-on: The area around Church & Isabella Streets has been buzzing — literally — with the sounds of crews preparing a 42-year-old apartment tower for construction of a highrise addition that will contain 12 condo suites and 199 new rental units.

Workers started cutting holes in the south wall of the 66 Isabella Street building this week, the first step in reconfiguring apartments on the tower’s east side before a 23-storey addition is constructed only a few feet away.

The renovation work started last month, slightly more than two years after City planners released a preliminary report outlining issues that the project posed, and recommending that a community consultation meeting be called to get public input into the redevelopment proposal.

 

 

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$1.95 million penthouse still up for grabs as construction winds down at Charlie Condos

Charlie Condos

January 10 2013: Charlie Condos (second tower from left) stands proudly on the Entertainment District skyline. Its nearby highrise condo neighbours include M5V Condos (with the bold red mechanical room box on its west side), Cinema Tower (with the construction crane) and Festival Tower (right).

 

Charlie Condos

February 9 201: Looking up at the 36-storey Charlie tower from King Street

 

 

Final few with a superb view: Looking for a brand-new condo with plenty of space and spectacular views — plus an immediate closing? If you’ve got $1 million or more to spend, a spacious upper-level suite at Charlie Condos could be yours today.

Four years ago, a parking lot occupied the northwest corner of King & Charlotte Streets in the Entertainment District. Today, Charlie towers 36 storeys on the site, with owners of its 314 suites gradually taking occupancy of their units as construction draws to a close.

But anyone who missed out on purchasing a suite either before or during construction still has an “exceptional opportunity” to buy a signature suite on one of Charlie’s top floors.

 

 

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Construction crane installation underway at ChazYorkville condo tower site on Charles St E

ChazYorkville crane installation

February 12 2013: Already standing in place at the ChazYorkville condo construction site are the mast, operator’s cab, and machinery & counterweight arm of the tall white crane being installed today. The long boom that extends diagonally toward the upper right corner of the photograph …

 

 

ChazYorkville crane installation

… is part of this portable crane, parked on Charles Street. It hoists segments of the construction crane off flatbed delivery trucks …

 

 

ChazYorkville crane installation

… and maneuvers them into position so crews can assemble the jib (working arm) that will eventually be lifted and attached to the fixed-place crane. 

 

Chaz gets its crane: The block of Charles Street between Yonge and Church Streets is closed to traffic today as crews from Total Crane Rental install a tall white construction crane on the building site for the ChazYorkville condo tower.

The crane’s arrival appeared imminent in recent days as construction crews created a concrete pad for the crane’s base at the bottom of the 5-level-deep excavation for the 47-storey condo tower.

 

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Fashion House Condos’ stacked glass box design taking shape as construction climbs to 10th floor

Fashion House Condos

November 23 2010: Hoarding surrounds the historic Toronto Silver Plate Building at 570 King Street West before excavation commenced behind it for the new Fashion House Condos development. The city-designated heritage building will be restored and incorporated into the new condo complex for commercial uses.

 

 

Fashion House Condos

January 10 2013: The L-shaped King Building of the Fashion House condo complex climbs above the north and east sides of the Toronto Silver Plate Building as construction reaches the 10th floor, with 2 floors still to be built

 

 

Fashion House Condos

November 23 2010: A view of the Fashion House condo site from King Street shortly before foundation drilling and shoring work began.

 

 

Fashion House Condos

February 6 2013: The concrete frame for the new building has reached 10 storeys, while window and cladding installation has begun on three floors

 

Designer digs: With construction of Fashion House Condos now up to 10 floors and just a few weeks away from topping off at 12, the building’s stacked platform design is becoming more apparent to passersby on King Street West. Installation of floor-to-ceiling windows on three floors, so far, also indicates that the condo interiors will be cheery, bright spaces regardless of whether the sky is cloudy or clear — unless residents choose  to keep the building’s signature lipstick-red curtains closed.

The 334-unit complex is a project of Freed Developments, which had asked Toronto’s Core Architects Inc. to design a contemporary building that would celebrate King Street’s long history as a fashion district. (The area formerly was known as Toronto’s Garment District.)

 

 

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Two floors to go for boutique Downtown Condos under construction at Wellington & Portland

Downtown Condo

February 6 2013: Construction progress on the Downtown condo midrise, viewed from the south at the intersection of Wellington Street West and Portland Street.

 

9  up, 2 to go: One year ago, excavation work was just in its early stages at the 508-516 Wellington Street West site of the boutique Downtown condo building. As of this week, concrete has been poured for 9 floors of the 11-storey midrise structure.

A project of Parallax Investment Corportion, the 89-unit condominium building was designed by Sweeny Sterling Finlayson & Co. Architects Inc. It’s the third new midrise condo building to be constructed on Wellington West, between Spadina Avenue and Portland Street, just in the past two years. (The other two, now occupied, are 400 Wellington and Five Hundred Wellington West.) But Downtown is the first building — both in Toronto, and possibly the entire world — to feature the innovative Flexnatür raised-floor building design that Sweeny Sterling developed.

 

 

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Demolition underway at Bloor Street site for 32-storey Exhibit Residences stacked cube tower

Exhibit Residences

February 3 2013: You can’t see it from the street, but demolition is well under way inside the buildings behind the fences and hoarding at 192, 194 and 200 Bloor Street West, where developer Bazis Inc. will build its distinctive “twisting cube” Exhibit Residences condo tower 

 

Exhibit Residences condo tower

This artistic rendering depicts how Exhibit will appear when viewed from Philosopher’s Walk on the south side of Bloor Street. The  32-storey condo tower was designed by Rosario Varacalli of Toronto’s r. Varacalli Architect Inc.

 

Restaurant razing: Three Bloor Street West buildings that once housed busy budget-friendly restaurants, including a controversial McDonald’s outlet, are being razed to clear the site for construction of the Exhibit Residences condo tower, which will cut a distinctive figure on the Yorkville skyline with its striking stacked cube design.

Four popular restaurants once occupied the low-rise buildings: Pho Hung and China Garden at 200 Bloor West, a Gabby’s Bar & Grill at 194 Bloor West, and an open-all-night McDonald’s at 192A Bloor West. Gabby’s has since relocated two doors down the street to 192 Bloor West (which originally was expected to be part of the condo redevelopment property, but was dropped from the site plan during revisions to the project proposal). Pho Hung closed last June, but its sister Vietnamese restaurants remain open in Mississauga and on Spadina Avenue in Toronto’s Chinatown.  As reported in the Toronto Star, the McDonald’s closed nearly a month ago — on January 6 — after operating on the site for 41 years. But it will eventually return to occupy new street-level premises in the forthcoming condo tower.

 

 Exhibit Residences condo tower location

February 12 2011: The McDonald’s outlet operated for 41 years at 192A Bloor West. The City-owned property had been leased to McDonald’s for only $15,5000 in annual rent. The 192 Bloor West building with the Gabby’s Bar & Grill is not part of the Exhibit Residences condo property, and will remain as is, but the 3-storey structure with the Stretch Fitness centre sign at 194 Bloor West is part of the redevelopment site and is being demolished along with the McDonald’s building.

 

 

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