One Bloor condo building progress finally in view

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Designs for the two towers proposed for 1 Bloor East Toronto

At left is an artistic illustration of the original 1 Bloor condo tower that architect Roy Varacalli designed for Bazis International. At right is the design for the One Bloor tower now being built by Great Gulf. It was designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects.

 

 

 

Bazis sells 1 Bloor site to Great Gulf

By mid-September of 2009 the lot was still vacant but had a new owner — Toronto development firm Great Gulf had just acquired the property from Bazis and was planning to propose a totally new development for the site. (See the Globe and Mail‘s September 17 2009 article, How the plan to build Canada’s tallest condo fell apart, for a detailed account of what went awry with the project originally proposed by Bazis.)

The site remained empty throughout 2010 while Great Gulf and Hariri Pontarini Architects finalized plans for a new One Bloor project — a 70-storey condo tower that would have retail space in its podium, but no hotel component.  (The City later gave Great Gulf approval to increase the tower height to 75 floors.)

 

An artistic rendering of the One Bloor condo tower designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects

This artistic rendering of the One Bloor condo tower appears on the One Bloor website. Click the image to view a full-size version.

 

 

One Bloor condo tower Toronto marketing billboard

July 25 2010: The illustration on this One Bloor marketing billboard shows how the podium and lower residential floors will look when viewed from the northwest corner of the Yonge & Bloor intersection.

 

 

Official groundbreaking in July 2011

The lot stayed empty until the summer of 2011 when heavy machines finally rolled in to conduct preliminary foundation drilling work. The official groundbreaking for the new One Bloor took place in mid July, and scaffolding was installed on the property’s perimeter soon afterward. Excavation began in earnest, but from that point it was difficult for passersby to see what progress was being made since all the construction activity was happening below ground level. Until this summer.

During the past two months, construction of the podium’s ground-level walls and support columns has climbed above the Urban Umbrella scaffolding, finally giving passersby a clear look at the ongoing building activity. And from this point onwards, they will have a largely unobstructed view as the building continues to rise, completely transforming the entire look and feel of Yonge & Bloor in the process.

Below is a series of photos showing the One Bloor site during and after demolition, followed by photos of recent construction progress on the condo building’s podium.

 

One Bloor condo site demolition

August 14 2008: Vehicles clog the Yonge & Bloor intersection as crews continue to demolish buildings on the southeast corner. (See the January 17 2008 post on BlogTo.com for information about the popular businesses that were forced to relocate when redevelopment of the corner commenced.)

 

 

One Bloor condo site demolition

August 14 2008: Looking north from Hayden Street at the demolition work. Crews have already razed most of the structures on the site, leaving just the facades and front sections of the buildings along Yonge Street to be taken down.

 

 

 One Bloor condo site demolition

August 14 2008: View toward the rear of the buildings that fronted on the east side of Yonge Street. Retail tenants in the Yonge Street premises had included a Harvey’s burger outlet, a Toby’s Good Eats restaurant, and a City Optical shop.

 

 

One Bloor condo site demolition

August 14 200: Demolition progress viewed from the west exit/entrance of the Xerox building immediately to the east of the One Bloor site.

 

 

One Bloor condo site demolition

August 14 2008: Demolition machines block the view toward the Yonge & Bloor intersection. A restaurant-lined lane called Roy’s Square used to wrap around the buildings that occupied the redevelopment site.

 

 

One Bloor development site September 21 2008

September 21 2008: View of the west side of the Xerox tower after demolition work has wrapped up on the future One Bloor condo tower site

 

 

One Bloor development site September 21 2008

September 21 2008: Bloor Street view of the One Bloor site after the buildings have been razed and the rubble removed from the property

 

 

One Bloor development site September 21 2008

September 21 2008: The full block of Yonge between Hayden and Bloor Streets is visible now that the demolition on the One Bloor site is complete.

 

 

One Bloor development site October 30 2008

October 30 2008: With the old buildings gone, pedestrians on Hayden Street now have a clear view beyond the Yonge & Bloor intersection to the 36-storey condo building at 18 Yorkville Avenue (rear) …

 

 

One Bloor development site October 30 2008

… while pedestrians at Yonge & Bloor have a clear view of construction progress on the 46-storey Casa Condominium building at 33 Charles Street East. Casa opened for occupancy in 2010.

 

 

 One Bloor development site November 2 2009

November 2 2009: The vacant development site is surrounded by security fences and hoarding. A path down the middle provides pedestrian access from Yonge Street to the subway station entrance in the Xerox building at 33 Bloor East.

 

 

One Bloor development site on November 1 2010

November 1 2010: One Bloor remains a big empty lot

 

 

 

One Bloor development site January 9 2011

January 9 2011: Still no construction underway. Meanwhile, the new Four Seasons Toronto hotel/condo tower rises closer to 55 storeys in nearby Yorkville (far left).

 

 

One Bloor condo development site on April 30 2011

April 30 2011: Signs on the security fence along Bloor Street point the way to Great Gulf’s presentation centre for the One Bloor project …

 

 

 billboard on the One Bloor site April 30 2011

… as do colourful billboards, like this one, that were erected on what would soon become a skyscraper construction site

 

 

foundation drilling activity on the One Bloor site

August 22 2011: Construction is in full swing — finally! — as foundation drilling and preliminary excavation work has the site buzzing with activity

 

 

One Bloor condo construction site on December 30 2011

December 30 2011: As the year draws to a close, the One Bloor condo construction site is covered with a light blanket of snow

 

 

March 2 2012 view of the One Bloor condo construction site

March 2 2012: The site excavation continues to make progress

 

 

August 6 2012 view of the One Bloor condo construction site

August 6 2012: Excavation work nears completion; the construction entrance ramp at the southwest corner will be dug out next

 

 

November 22 2012 view of the One Bloor condo construction site

November 22 2012: Two construction cranes operate on the site, and work is well underway on the base for the tower’s elevator core

 

 

One Bloor condo construction progress February 17 2013

February 17 2013: The building’s underground levels begin to take shape

 

 

1 Bloor condo construction July 13 2013

July 13 2013: Supporting walls begin to take shape on the condo podium’s ground-floor level

 

 

1 Bloor condo construction August 17 2013

August 17 2013: With most of the ground floor level filling in, it won’t be long before One Bloor climbs above the west wing of the Xerox tower next door (right)

 

 

1 Bloor condo construction August 17 2013

August 17 2013: The ceiling for the ground floor will soon be poured on the southern half of the site

 

 

1 Bloor condo construction progress on August 17 2013

August 17 2013: Construction packs the biggest visual punch on Hayden Street, where the south podium wall extends the length of the One Bloor property

 

 

1 Bloor condo construction August 17 2013

August 17 2013: Looking across the east side of the podium toward Bloor Street

 

 

1 Bloor condo construction progress on August 17 2013

August 17 201: Looking across the site toward the Yonge & Bloor intersection, which is now almost completely blocked from view

 

 

1 Bloor condo construction progress on August 17 2013

August 17 2013: Looking toward the building’s southwest corner at Yonge & Hayden Streets

 

 

1 Bloor condo construction progress on August 17 2013

August 17 2013: Ground-level view of One Bloor’s southwest corner and its south side along Hayden Street

 

 

1 Bloor condo construction progress on August 17 2013

August 17 2013: Construction has climbed higher than the entrance gate at the corner of Yonge & Hayden Streets

 

 

1 Bloor condo construction progress on August 17 2013

August 17 2013: Construction hasn’t yet climbed as high along the west side of the building as it has along Hayden Street …

 

 

 

1 Bloor condo construction progress on August 17 2013

… but passersby can now clearly see the construction progressing above the scaffolding at the southeast corner of Yonge & Bloor

 

 

1 Bloor condo construction progress on August 17 2013

August 17 2013: Construction forms rise above the scaffolding at the building site’s northwest corner

 

 

1 Bloor condo construction progress on August 17 2013

August 17 2013: Construction of the 78-storey Aura condo tower at Yonge & Gerrard (center rear) is still visible from Bloor Street, but will be blocked from view in a couple of weeks once One Bloor’s second level is built.

 

 

1 Bloor condo construction progress on August 17 2013

August 17 2013: A view of the One Bloor site from the RBC banking machines on the north side of Bloor Street

 

 

1 Bloor condo construction progress on  August 17 2013

August 17 2013: Another view of the One Bloor site from the north side of the street. The building at left is the Xerox Tower at 33 Bloor East.

 

 

1 Bloor condo construction progress on August 17 2013

August 17 2013: Pedestrians on Bloor Street East get this view of One Bloor’s podium construction progress as they walk past security fences along the north side of the site

 

 

1 Bloor condo construction progress on August 17 2013

August 17 2013: Construction isn’t as advanced on the Bloor Street side of the site as it is along Hayden Street, but will soon catch up

 

One thought on “One Bloor condo building progress finally in view

  1. cruzin4u

    Bazis original design looked better.I wonder what we’ll see with Bazis and 1 Yorkville. They seem to have a love affair with Roy Varacalli, which I am perfectly fine with!

    Reply

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