Category Archives: East Annex

Exhibit Residences to give Bloor Street a twist with striking 32-storey stacked cube condo tower

Exhibit Residences condo tower

Architectural rendering supplied by Exhibit Residences suggests how the condo tower will appear when viewed from Philosopher’s Walk south of Bloor Street


Culture, condos and controversy: During the past 10 years, major building projects for cultural institutions and condos have captured public attention and sparked considerable controversy and criticism on the Bloor Street block between Avenue Road and Bedford Road. Now, a stunning new highrise condo project, Exhibit Residences, is set to keep the busy east-west corridor in the public eye — and quite possibly stir up some more civic consternation in the process. Essentially four stacked cubes, three of which rotate slightly from the base, the 32-storey Exhibit Residences condo tower resembles a skyscraper version of a shimmering glass Rubic’s Cube. Though the condo project is still in the sales phase (its presentation centre has just opened in Yorkville), the tower’s distinctive design means Exhibit Residences is destined to turn heads on Bloor Street both during construction and long after afterwards. That’s no mean feat, considering the stiff architectural “competition” nearby, especially the Royal Ontario Museum’s Michael Lee-Chin Crystal directly across the street.

This particular block of Bloor has been a busy hub of building activity for a decade. But the growth, and some of the architectural design, has drawn mixed and sometimes highly-charged negative reaction from the public. Change started on the south side of the street when the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) launched its “Renaissance ROM renovation and expansion project” and hired internationally renowned architect Daniel Libeskind to design the Crystal — a building addition featuring spectacular new gallery space and a dramatic Bloor Street entrance.  Evocative of giant ice crystals bursting through the brown brick façade of the original 1914 neo-Romanesque museum’s north wall, The Crystal celebrated its official opening during a massive street party on June 2 2007. Controversial from the start, the Crystal has become one of the city’s top “either love it or hate it” buildings, its design derided by many Toronto residents and visitors while lauded by others, including Conde Nast Traveler magazine, which named it one of “The new seven wonders of the world” in April 2008.

Meanwhile, right next door, the venerable Royal Conservatory of Music engaged in an extensive renovation and expansion project of its own, building its Telus Centre for Performance and Learning. Designed by Toronto’s Kuwabara, Payne, McKenna, Blumberg Architects, the Telus Centre gave the RCM two brand-new performance venues as well as new academic classroom and studio facilities. The academic wing opened in September 2008, while the grand 1,135-seat Koerner concert hall debuted to wide critical acclaim in 2009.

On the north side of Bloor, eyes have focussed on highrise condo construction rather than cultural icons. The first residential tower to rise on the block was another Kuwabara, Payne, McKenna, Blumberg-designed building — One Bedford, at the northeast corner of Bloor and Bedford Road.  Like the ROM’s Crystal, the One Bedford project encountered controversy from the start. Many Annex residents initially opposed the 32-storey luxury condo tower in part because they believed its height and size were simply too big for the area. Now partially occupied after more than three years of construction, One Bedford seems, to me at least, to fit quite nicely into the neighbourhood; it will enhance the Annex gateway even more once work finishes on its exterior landscaping and Bedford Road courtyard entrance. In the middle of the block, the slender 19-storey Museum House on Bloor luxury condo highrise has topped off, and looks more complete each day as window installation approaches the penthouse level. By the time Museum House is finished construction and its exclusive, posh suites are fully occupied, preliminary construction work could be ready to start on Exhibit Residences.

A development project by the Bazis, Metropia and Plaza corporations, Exhibit will rise immediately to the east of Museum House, occupying several adjacent sites currently home to retail shops and restaurants, including a popular McDonald’s outlet. That particular property has a history of controversy, too. Once owned by the City of Toronto, the site was sold to McDonald’s for a bargain price of $3.38 million; the restaurant chain re-sold the land to Bazis International Inc., the developer of Exhibit.  Details of the dispute over that contentious real estate transaction are outlined in a March 6 2008 story in the Toronto Star.

Designed by Rosario Varacalli of Toronto’s r. Varacalli Architect, Exhibit will cut a striking figure with its stacked cube shape, wrap-around windows and fritted-glass balcony panels. But the dramatic design isn’t the only intriguing element of the tower. Since it’s going up next to the Bloor subway line, the tower’s parking area must be built above-ground. Since the parking floors will be situated in Cube One (the bottom cube), residents in the lower tower section will enjoy “the unique convenience of above-ground parking on the same level as their suite,” the Exhibit Residences website notes. For some residents, it might actually be easier to leave the building by car than by foot! Although that’s bound to please some condo purchasers, some people are quite unhappy about the tower’s height; namely, heritage groups and activists who have been fighting to preserve vistas of the Ontario Legislature building at Queen’s Park to the south.  They fear that, when seen from as far south as Queen Street, the Exhibit tower will appear to loom largely behind the Queen’s Park silhouette, spoiling northward views of the historic government building. Whether or not their fears are justified will become apparent in a couple of years once construction approaches the tower’s top cube.

Below are some photos of the Exhibit Residences location on Bloor, along with a tower rendering that appears on the project website.

Exhibit Residences on Bloor condo tower development site

April 1 2011: Exhibit Residences on Bloor condo tower development site

 

Exhibit Residences on Bloor condo tower development site

April 1 2011: The Exhibit Residences billboard was installed earlier this month after signs for the building’s prior retail occupants were removed.

 

Exhibit Residences on Bloor condo tower development site

April 1 2011: The McDonald’s property was owned by the City of Toronto until 2008, when it was sold to the restaurant company for $3.38 million.

 

Prince Arthur Avenue view of the Exhibit Residences site

April 1 2011: A view toward the Exhibit Residences development site from one block north on Prince Arthur Avenue in the East Annex. Exhibit will rise to the left of the Museum House on Bloor condo tower currently under construction.

 

Royal Ontario Museum Michael Lee-Chin Crystal

January 9 2011: Bloor Street at Avenue Road view of the Royal Ontario Museum’s Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, left,  One Bedford condo tower, rear right, and Museum House on Bloor condo construction, center right.

 

Exhibit Residences on Bloor condo tower development site

February 12 2011: Bloor Street view toward the Exhibit Residences site

 

Exhibit Residences on Bloor condo tower development site

February 12 2011: The controversial McDonald’s property and adjacent sites on which the Exhibit Residences tower will be built

 

Royal Conservatory of Music and Telus Centre

November 1 2010: The main Royal Conservatory of Music building and its new Telus Centre on Bloor Street. The RCM sits next door to the Royal Ontario Museum, and directly across the street from the One Bedford condo tower.

 

January 19 2011 view of Queens Park and towers on Bloor Street

January 19 2011: A view of Queen’s Park and towers on Bloor Street. One Bedford looms 32 storeys to the left of the historic Ontario Legislature building, while the construction crane indicates where Museum House on Bloor will reach 19 stories. Exhibit Residences will soar 32 stories in between. Heritage activists worry that tall towers planned for Bloor Street will ruin views of Queen’s Park.

Exhibit Residences condo tower rendering

From the Exhibit Residences website, an illustration depicting how the stacked cube condo tower will appear from Avenue Road, looking west along Bloor Street.

 

Landscaping and exterior finishing touches underway at One Bedford & James Cooper Mansion Condos

One Bedford condos front entrance

April 1 2011: The Bedford Road entrance courtyard to the One Bedford Condos building is now being completed.

 

James Cooper Mansion Condos

April 2 2011: Landscaping work is underway outside the Linden Street townhouses at the James Cooper Mansion Condos complex

 

Yard work: With winter (hopefully) over at long last, two newly-occupied downtown condo buildings are now getting their landscaping and exterior finishing touches. Work is progressing on the Bedford Road courtyard entrance to the One Bedford Condos on Bloor Street, while landscaping and other outdoor property work is underway at the James Cooper Mansion Condos on Sherbourne Street. Below are some recent pics showing what’s been happening at street level outside both condo buildings over the past several weeks.

 

One Bedford Condos

March 24 2011: South side of the One Bedford tower viewed from Bloor Street

 

One Bedford Condos

March 24 2011: The One Bedford Condo tower’s signature rooftop design

 

One Bedford Condos

March 24 2011: One Bedford Condos upper south floors

 

One Bedford Condos

April 1 2011: One Bedford Condos penthouse level and upper south floors

 

One Bedford Condos

March 24 2011: One Bedford Condos southeast view from Bloor Street

 

One Bedford Condos

March 24 2011: Work orders pasted to the windows of upper east side suites

 

One Bedford Condos

March 24 2011: Glass and steel entrance canopy in the courtyard off Bedford Road

 

One Bedford Condos

March 24 2011: One Bedford Condos main entrance off Bedford Road

 

One Bedford condos

April 1 2011: Landscaping underway in the Bedford Road courtyard

 

One Bedford condos

April 1 2011: Landscaping underway in the Bedford Road courtyard

 

One Bedford condos

April 1 2011: The brick facade of the studio of noted Toronto architect John Lyle (1872 – 1945) has been incorporated into the courtyard off Bedford Road.

 

One Bedford condos

April 1 2011: Landscaping in progress south of the Lyle Studio facade

 

One Bedford condos

April 1 2011: The striking Bedford Road entrance canopy

 

One Bedford condos

April 1 2011: Landscaping in progress under the glass and steel canopy

 

James Cooper Mansion Condos

February 16 2011: James Cooper Mansion tower viewed from Sherbourne Street

 

James Cooper Mansion Condos

February 16 2011: James Cooper Mansion Condos viewed from Sherbourne St.

 

James Cooper Mansion condos

February 16 2011: The north side of the James Cooper Mansion condo complex. The exterior construction elevator has since been removed from the tower.

 

James Cooper Mansion Condos

February 16 2011: James Cooper Mansion Condos south side along Linden Street

 

James Cooper Mansion Condos

February 16 2011: James Cooper Mansion Condos south side walkway


James Cooper Mansion Condos

February 16 2011: James Cooper Mansion Condos entrance

 

James Cooper Mansion Condos

February 16 2011: James Cooper Mansion entrance at 28 Linden Street

 

James Cooper Mansion Condos

February 16 2011: James Cooper Mansion entrance at 28 Linden Street

 

James Cooper Mansion Condos

February 16 2011: Landscaping work still has yet to start outside the James Cooper Mansion Condos townhouses along Linden Street

 

James Cooper Mansion Condos

February 16 2011: Some of the James Cooper Mansion townhouses

 

James Cooper Mansion Condos

February 16 2011: James Cooper Mansion viewed from Linden Street

 

James Cooper Mansion Condos

April 2 2011: Landscaping work well underway outside the townhouses

 

James Cooper Mansion Condos

April 2 2011: Southeast corner awaits landscaping

 

James Cooper Mansion condos

April 2 2011: Walkway along the Linden Street side of the property

 

James Cooper Mansion Condos

April 2 2011: Southeast corner of the James Cooper Mansion Condos property

James Cooper Mansion Condos

April 2 2011: One of Eldon Garnet’s “Inversion” sculptures, part of the public art installation at James Cooper Mansion.

 

James Cooper Mansion Condos

April 2 2011: The north side of the property awaits finishing touches

 

7-storey luxury condo coming to East Annex street

Architectural rendering of 10 to 14 Prince Arthur Avenue condo

From the Hariri Pontarini Architects website, a rendering of the terraced condo building to be built at 10 to 14 Prince Arthur Avenue

 

Legal battles resolved: I don’t think W.C. Fields had condo development in mind when he cautioned: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” But people who saw great real estate potential in two prime East Annex properties seem to have heeded his sage advice. And despite more than a decade of rigorous and strong opposition, they’ve finally succeeded at winning approval to redevelop the site into condos. The lands in question are located near the edge of Toronto’s tony Yorkville district: 10 Prince Arthur Avenue, a 2-storey historic house that has sat vacant for more than two decades, and 14 Prince Arthur Avenue, a 4-storey office building with an Indian fine dining restaurant occupying the ground floor.

From 1998 to 2008, various applications to expand, alter and redevelop the adjacent properties were unsuccessful, for reasons outlined in detail in an April 23 2009 city planning department report. But in early 2008 a developer tried yet again, proposing a 19-storey mixed-use building for the site. City staff and area residents strongly the scale and other important elements of the building proposal, so the developer went back to the drawing boards and modified its plans. It returned with a new proposal for a 9-storey mixed-use building that would retain the historic house, but require demolition of the office and restaurant next door. Area residents and the city still objected with numerous planning concerns, while the Toronto Preservation Board recommended that the City refuse the developer’s application for non-compliance with East Annex Heritage Conservation District Plan guidelines. The developer appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board, but the dispute settled during mediation in February of this year.

The end result is that the developer, Castlepoint, will be permitted to build a seven-storey structure with significant setbacks from the street and neighbouring properties. The luxury condo complex, designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects of Toronto, will incorporate the historic house at 10 Prince Arthur. “The listed structure will be kept intact, the exterior restored, and moved southward towards the road. This move will enhance the normalcy of a street that has been fractured by the variety of built forms. The large treed terraces raking the North side of the nine-storey building eases the transition between the traditional three-storey residential fabric to the North, and the high-rise buildings of Bloor Street and Avenue Road to the South and East,” the Hariri Pontarini website explains. Though legal battles over the properties have finally been resolved, there’s no word yet on when Castlepoint plans to commence construction.

Meanwhile, changes could be coming to the heritage building directly across the street at 17 Prince Arthur Avenue. According to Ward 20 Councillor Adam Vaughan’s website, developers want to build a 4-storey addition to the rear of the structure, currently used as commercial office space. “The building owners would also like to preserve and enhance the grass boulevard and trees in front of the building and add a pedestrian walkway to the west of the building, which would connect the Green P parking lot to the south with Prince Arthur Avenue.  The four storey addition would be made of clear glass and zinc siding. A concern is that the addition would be visible just above the roofline. The developer and architect have met with representatives of the Annex Residents Association for initial community feedback on the design of the building and how concerns, such as the one above, might be addressed. A mechanical penthouse would be built at the rear and east side of the building. The architect proposed that it be clad in brick that matches the brick of the original building,” Councillor Vaughan’s website reports. No word yet on when an official application for that project will be presented to city planners. Below are recent photos of the two development sites and their immediate neighbours on Prince Arthur Avenue.

 

10-14 Prince Arthur Avenue condo development notice

Development sign posted on hoarding outside 10 Prince Arthur Avenue

 

8 Prince Arthur Avenue and 10 Prince Arthur Avenue

January 9 2011: 10 Prince Arthur Avenue, left, and 8 Prince Arthur Avenue. Number 8 is a city-listed historic house, currently used as offices.

 

14 Prince Arthur Avenue

January 9 2011: Formerly an apartment building, 14 Prince Arthur Avenue was converted into office space some years ago. The ground floor is occupied by an Indian fine dining restaurant, The Host.

 

A photo of 8 10 and 14 Prince Arthur Avenue

March 24 2011: Looking northwest toward 8, 10 and 14 Prince Arthur Avenue. The highrise apartment building in the background is 20 Prince Arthur Avenue.

 

10-14 Prince Arthur Avenue

March 24 2011: The boarded-up historic house at 10 Prince Arthur Avenue, right, has been vacant for 20 years. It will be restored and incorporated into the new condo building, but will be relocated closer to the city sidewalk.

 

10-14 Prince Arthur Avenue

March 24 2011: Northeast view of 14, 10 and 8 Prince Arthur Avenue. The brick building to their rear is The Prince Arthur at 38 Avenue Road, a 24-storey luxury condo tower on the western edge of Yorkville.

 

10 Prince Arthur Avenue

March 24 2011: A view of 10 and 8 Prince Arthur Avenue

 

10 Prince Arthur Avenue

March 24 2011: Another view of 10 and 8 Prince Arthur Avenue

 

14 Prince Arthur Avenue

March 24 2011: Direct north view of 14 Prince Arthur Avenue

 

14 Prince Arthur Avenue

March 24 2011: Northeast view toward 14, 10 and 8 Prince Arthur Avenue

 

14 Prince Arthur Avenue

March 24 2011: On the left is an above-ground parking lot and entrance to the underground garage for the apartment building at 20 Prince Arthur Avenue

 

20 Prince Arthur Avenue

April 1 2011: This 22-storey apartment building at 20 Prince Arthur Avenue is a listed historic property. Designed by architect Uno Prii, the Neo-Expressionist building was constructed in 1965.

 

20 Prince Arthur Avenue

April 1 2011: Another view of the sweeping curves on the 20 Prince Arthur Avenue apartment building designed by architect Uno Prii

 

20 Prince Arthur Avenue

April 1 2011: Looking east from the front lawn outside 20 Prince Arthur Avenue

 

20 Prince Arthur Avenue

April 1 2011: Looking east from the city sidewalk outside 20 Prince Arthur Avenue

 

20 Prince Arthur Avenue

April 1 2011: West view toward the 10-14 Prince Arthur Avenue development site

 

21 Prince Arthur Avenue

April 1 2011: East view from the city sidewalk outside 21 Prince Arthur Avenue. The tall building at the end of the block, on the right, is the Park Hyatt Toronto Hotel at the southeast corner of Avenue Road and Prince Arthur Avenue.

 

10-14 Prince Arthur Avenue

April 1 2011: Southeast views toward 10-14 Prince Arthur Avenue

 

21-23 Prince Arthur Avenue

April 1 2011: 21-23 Prince Arthur Avenue. The Women’s Art Association of Canada has offices and a gallery in number 23.

 

21-23 Prince Arthur Avenue

April 1 2011: 21-23 Prince Arthur Avenue. The tower visible to the rear right is the new One Bedford luxury condominium at on Bloor Street.

 

17 Prince Arthur Avenue Museum House condos and 21 Prince Arthur Avenue

April 1 2011: 17 Prince Arthur Avenue, left, the Museum House on Bloor condo tower on Bloor Street, center, and 21 Prince Arthur Avenue, right.

 

17 Prince Arthur Avenue

April 1 2011: A developer is planning to build a four-storey addition to the rear of the stately brick heritage house at 17 Prince Arthur Avenue, right.

 

15 Prince Arthur Avenue

April 1 2011: This building at 15 Prince Arthur Avenue is home to the Toronto offices for Brendan Wood International

 

9 and 11 Prince Arthur Avenue

April 1 2011: 9 and 11 Prince Arthur Avenue. Number 11 is occupied by Barristers Chambers, offices for a number of lawyers including prominent civil litigation specialist Clayton Ruby of Ruby & Shiller Barristers.