Tag Archives: One Bloor condos

Through another lens: the One Bloor excavation

One Bloor condo tower construction

May 12 2012: Excavation activity at the One Bloor condo site. Photo by Doug Lewis Images.

 

Condo sandbox: Nobody has figured out how to turn back time yet, but this week some Toronto construction photos by Doug Lewis Images managed to instantly take me back to a summer during my childhood. The images — real photos made to look miniature — captured excavation activity during May and June at the One Bloor condo tower construction site. The second I saw them, I remembered playing “construction” with other kids in my neighbourhood, moving dirt around a sandbox with our die-cast Dinky® and Corgi® toy backhoes and dumptrucks.

Although I can’t remember what my buddies and I may have been trying to build way back then, it could well have been skyscrapers. But they would have been office buildings, not condo towers with 70-plus stories, like One Bloor. Those didn’t exist yet; in fact, neither did the CN Tower, the Toronto-Dominion Centre or Toronto’s new City Hall, for that matter.

Below are three more photos showing Doug Lewis’s unique miniature perspective of excavation work at the One Bloor site on June 1. (See the post below for a separate update on the One Bloor condo tower project.)

If you have photos of Toronto-area buildings and construction activity you’d like me to consider publishing in my new “Through another lens” feature, drop me a line. My email is: [email protected].

 

One Bloor condo excavation

June 1 2012: One Bloor condo tower excavation activity viewed from Bloor Street to the north. Photo by Doug Lewis Images.

 

One Bloor condo tower excavation

June 1 2012: An excavator works near the northeast corner of the excavation site, below the Xerox building at 33 Bloor St. East. Photo by Doug Lewis Images.

 

One Bloor condo tower excavation

June 1 2012: The pit’s southeast corner below Hayden Street. Photo by Doug Lewis Images.

 

Earth moving at Yonge & Bloor as excavation crews keep digging deeper on One Bloor condo tower site

One Bloor condos Toronto

January 11 2012: Excavation has progressed to roughly one level below grade at the One Bloor condo site, a dramatic change from exactly one year ago …

 

One Bloor condos Toronto

… when the property was still just a snow-covered empty lot. This is a view of the southern third of the One Bloor site, looking west from the Yonge-Bloor TTC subway entrance at the adjacent Xerox tower on January 10 2011 …

 

One Bloor condos Toronto

… while this is a view of the northern two-thirds of the property, also taken from the west side of the Xerox building on January 10 last year

 

Digging deeper: Exactly one year ago, the southeast corner of Yonge & Bloor Streets was just a large, empty, snow-covered lot, bisected by a pedestrian entrance to the Yonge-Bloor subway station. Now it’s a bustling construction site where an enormous excavation is taking shape for the 70-storey One Bloor condo tower.  So far crews have dug deeper than one level below grade, making steady progress on moving earth out of what will ultimately become a five-level underground parking garage. One Bloor is a project of Great Gulf Homes. The tower was designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects, with interior design by Cecconi Simone Inc. Below are photos I have shot of One Bloor’s excavation progress in the past two weeks. Renderings and illustrations of the tower can be viewed on the One Bloor East project page of the Hariri Pontarini website.

 

One Bloor condos Toronto

December 30 2011: Looking to the northwest across the construction site

 

One Bloor condos Toronto

December 30 2011: Digging still hasn’t started at the southwest corner

 

One Bloor condos Toronto

December 30 2011: Excavation at the north side of the site, along Bloor Street

 

One Bloor condos Toronto

December 30 2011: Construction equipment near the northwest corner

 

One Bloor condos Toronto

 December 30 2011: Idle excavating machines on the south end of the lot

 

One Bloor condos Toronto

January 11 2012: An excavating machine digs near the southwest corner of the lot, as seen here from the west side of Yonge Street

 

One Bloor condos Toronto

January 11 2012: The One Bloor excavation, viewed from the southeast corner of Yonge & Hayden Streets

 

One Bloor condos Toronto

January 11 2012: Looking from Hayden Street toward The Bay’s 44 Bloor Street East department store at the Hudson’s Bay Centre

 

One Bloor condos Toronto

January 11 2012: Overlooking excavation activity from the southeast

 

One Bloor condos Toronto

 January 11 2012: Two red dump trucks stand by for loads of dirt

 

One Bloor condos Toronto

January 11 2012: Excavation progress near the northeast corner along Bloor

 

One Bloor condos Toronto

January 11 2012: Excavation crews working near the northeast corner

 

One Bloor condos Toronto

January 11 2012: Construction entrance ramp off Bloor Street

 

One Bloor condos Toronto

January 11 2012: Excavation appears to be deepest at the northwest corner

 

One Bloor condos Toronto

January 11 2012: An excavating machine digs near the southwest corner

 

One Bloor condos Toronto

January 11 2012: In less than two weeks, several feet of soil has been excavated from virtually the entire site

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Neighbourhood Watch: Photos of Bloor-Yorkville area condos and construction activity (Part 1)

Crystal Blu condo tower and Uptown Residences Condo tower

April 30 2011: The Crystal Blu condo tower (left) and Uptown Residences Condo tower (right) soar skyward above Balmuto Street

 

High neighbours: As residents gradually move into the new 35-storey Crystal Blu condo tower at 21 Balmuto Street, buyers of luxury condos at The Uptown Residences anxiously await their own move-in dates. Exterior construction activity on the 48-floor Uptown Residences tower at 35 Balmuto has been finished for a few months, but finishing touches are underway and the front entrance is still being built. Information and photos of The Uptown Residences are provided in my March 2 2011 post about the project; below are several more pics I took of it and Crystal Blu last month.

 

The Uptown Residences condo tower

April 7 2011: A work crew applies finishing touches halfway up the west side of The Uptown Residences condo tower

 

The Uptown Residences condo tower

April 7 2011: A closer view of the workers on their swing stage

 

The Uptown Residences condo tower

April 22 2011: The Uptown Residences front entrance at 35 Balmuto Street

 

The Uptown Residences condo tower

April 22 2011: The Uptown Residences front entrance features a revolving door

 

Crystal Blu condo tower

April 22 2011: The Crystal Blu Condos front entrance isn’t 100% finished yet

 

The Uptown Residences condo tower

April 30 2011: The Manulife Centre across the street reflects in The Uptown’s shiny black and grey granite podium…

 

The Uptown Residences condo tower

…while a worker performs finishing touches on the lower southwest corner

 

The Uptown Residences condo tower

April 30 2011: A long look up the north side of The Uptown Residences

 

36 Hazelton luxury condo

April 23 2011: The 36Hazelton luxury condo project location and presentation centre opening this month at 36 Hazelton Avenue

Exclusive enclave: The presentation centre for 36Hazelton is being readied for an opening expected sometime this month. Only 18 residences will be available in the boutique condo development, which will rise seven storeys above the historic St Basil’s Catholic School at 36 Hazelton Avenue. Prices for the posh condominium suites, which will boast spacious outdoor terraces overlooking the quiet tree-lined street, range from $1.6 million to more than $10 million. See my March 26 2011 post for further information about 36Hazelton as well as numerous photos of the project site.

 

36 Hazelton luxury condo

April 23 2011: 36 Hazelton will incorporate the facade of the 83-year-old St Basil’s schoolhouse into the boutique condo building

 

The Florian Residences of Upper Yorkville condo tower

April 23 2011: Exterior brickwork and window installation on the east side of The Florian Residences of Upper Yorkville condo tower on Davenport Road

 

Florian facade fills out: Brickwork and window installation at The Florian Residences of Upper Yorkville continues to climb higher up the 25-storey condo tower. My February 12 2011 post describes The Florian project and includes numerous building photos, while my March 18 2011 post provides further construction pics. Below are several more photos from last month, along with a pic showing The Florian’s location before construction of the condo tower commenced.

 

The Florian  Residences of Upper Yorkville condo tower

April 23 2011: Another view of The Florian’s brick and glass exterior

 

The Florian Residences of Upper Yorkville condo tower

April 23 2011: A view of the western point of The Florian’s long curved podium along  Davenport Road (at the top of Bay Street)

 

The Florian Residences of Upper Yorkville condo tower location

August 14 2008: An Infinity car dealership and a Premier Fitness gym previously occupied the site where The Florian is presently under construction

 

Toronto Reference Library

April 23 2011: Toronto Reference Library new main entrance construction

Corner cube: The dramatic new entrance “cube” for the Toronto Reference Library is gradually taking form on the northeast corner of Yonge Street and Asquith Avenue. That, plus an expansion of the library’s Yonge Street facade, are among the highlights of a five-year, $34 million makeover scheduled for completion next year. Construction photos and an architectural rendering of what the library will look like post-renovation can be viewed in my January 27 2011 post; additional photos and another rendering are provided in my March 24 2011 update post. Below are several recent photos of a construction worker atop the giant steel frame for the cube.

 

Toronto Reference Library

April 23 2011: The steel frame for the library’s glass entrance cube

 

Toronto Reference Library

April 23 2011: A construction worker sits astride one of the steel beams

 

Toronto Reference Library

April 23 2011: The entrance cube will stand about three storeys tall

Toronto Reference Library

April 23 2011: The library’s website explains that the bold glass entrance is intended to encourage “a dynamic interface” between the library and the community, “connecting the interior more directly to the street.”

 

One Bloor condo tower

April 30 2011: A billboard advertising the One Bloor condo tower sales centre

 

Number One: I’m still waiting on tenterhooks, figuratively speaking, for shovels to hit the ground at the One Bloor condo tower site on the southeast corner of Yonge & Bloor. Since my January 10 2011 post, the project developer has opened a new sales centre for the much-anticipated condo skyscraper right next door to the building site, at 33 Bloor Street East. But I haven’t yet seen any preliminary construction activity on the property, which remains a rubble-strewn vacant lot. Below are some pics of it from earlier this week.

 

One Bloor condo tower location at Yonge & Bloor

April 30 2011: Colourful marketing banners adorn security fencing around the One Bloor condo tower location at Yonge & Bloor

 

One Bloor condo tower site

May 1 2011: The One Bloor Condo tower site, looking southwest toward the corner of Yonge and Hayden Streets

 

One Bloor condo tower site

May 1 2011: The One Bloor site viewed from the west entrance to the Xerox building at 33 Bloor Street East

 

One Bloor condo tower site

May 1 2011: Northwest view of the One Bloor condo tower site

 

 

City Scene: Bloor Street keeps building up

Bloor Street

Looking west on Bloor Street from Avenue Road on February 12 2011


New kids on the block: The north side of Bloor Street from Avenue Road to Bedford Road keeps filling in and growing taller. Museum House condos is close to topping off and has nearly all its windows installed, while the One Bedford condo tower to its west is partly occupied and almost finished construction. Yet another condo tower — Exhibit Residences — is poised to join them. Their residents will only have to walk across the street to visit the Royal Ontario Museum (left) and the Royal Conservatory of Music, while the Yorkville neighbourhood is just around the corner.