Tag Archives: Wallman Architects

Demolition clears site for Tableau condo tower

January 14 2011: This photo is a year old, but this was basically what the Peter & Richmond Street site for Tableau Condominiums looked like the last time I passed by a little less than two weeks ago …

… and this was how it looked like when I walked by on Friday evening

Tableau’s time has come: Back in February I noticed signs for Progreen Demolition outside the buildings on the southeast corner of Peter and Richmond Streets, where the 36-storey Tableau Condominium tower will be built. When I walked past about two weeks ago, I saw several contractors ripping apart the interior of the vacant Pizzaville store — one of three structures on the site. And when I passed by again this past Friday evening, all that I saw were piles of rubble, a few Liebherr excavation machines, and just a small section of the facade and former front entrance for what was once a four-level brick building at 117 Peter Street.

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Crews digging deep for X2 Condos foundation

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January 1 2012: A New Year’s Day view of the deep excavation pit for X2 Condos, looking west from the sidewalk along Jarvis Street

February 5 2011: An excavating machine sits idle in the muddy soil near the western end of the deep rectangular pit…

… but in just four days it has dug several feet deeper …

… and on February 11 gets some assistance moving a mound of earth

Crane coming soon?: Every time I walk past the X2 Condos building site — which lately has been about four times a week — I expect to see a construction crane rising from the deep excavation at the southwest corner of Jarvis and Charles Streets.

In early January, one of the construction crew told me that workers had to excavate just 20 more feet of soil, after which time a 6-foot-thick slab of concrete would be poured throughout the bottom of the pit to create the base for the 49-storey building foundation. Once the concrete had cured, the crane would be installed. That would take place sometime in January, the construction worker said.

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Neighbourhood Watch: Condo construction activity in downtown’s King & Bathurst area (Part 1)

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July 17 2011: The 9-storey King Street facade of Six50 King West

Good fits?: They’re not skyscrapers, but the collection of low- and midrise condo buildings under construction on Adelaide, King and Wellington Streets, between Spadina Avenue and Bathurst Street, are significantly transforming the vibrant west downtown neighbourhood nonetheless. Rising above, between and behind the old brick warehouse buildings that are characteristic of the area, they’re adding contemporary style, colour and flair — along with expensive “to die for” designer penthouses — to the once-gritty and now hot & trendy district.

I manage to visit what some call the “Central King West” area about once or twice a season. I still enjoy its general look and and atmosphere, and find it’s still a comfortable area to walk around. Although some of the new buildings do appear to loom rather large next to their neighbours, they don’t seem overwhelming or out of scale for the streets. So far, at least, the area hasn’t developed the sterile and impersonal “condo canyon” feel or annoying wind tunnel conditions of Bay Street and other downtown streets that keep sprouting skyscrapers. But since some of the projects are only in early stages of construction (three are still below grade, while one is just beginning to break ground), and just as many more are in the development pipeline, it’s possible my impressions of the neighbourhood could change significantly in several years’ time. Until then, I’m sure I’ll find it interesting to keep tracking the progress with each changing season. Below are photos I’ve taken recently of several different condo projects. Photos of additional neighbourhood projects will appear in Part 2.

Lofts 399 at 399 Adelaide Street West

A project of Cresford Developments, Lofts 399 is being built on the south side of Adelaide Street between the two Quad Lofts condos, and will sit back-to-back to the new Victory Condos on King West. My February 20 2011 post has several photos showing earlier construction progress at Lofts 399 and its proximity to the other condos.

From the Lofts 399 project website, an artistic rendering of how the 10-storey, 173-unit building will look when viewed from Adelaide Street.

July 17 2011: Looking from west to east across the Lofts 399 site

July 17 2011: The Lofts 399 foundation begins to take shape

July 17 2011: Looking along the south wall of the Lofts 399 site

July 17 2011: A closer view of the bottom underground level. Lofts 399 will have four floors of below-grade parking.

July 17 2011: Looking across the site toward Adelaide Street West

Victory Condominiums on King

This project by BLVD Developments is approaching completion on the north side of King Street just west of Spadina Avenue. Designed by Rudy Wallman of Toronto’s Wallman Architects, the L-shaped building is 12 storeys tall and has 175 units. My March 13 2011 post and my January 15 2011 post both include photos of Victory during earlier stages of construction.

From the Lifetime Developments website, an artistic rendering of the Victory Condominiums on King West building designed by Toronto architect Rudy Wallman

July 17 2011 : A street-level view of Victory Condos on King West

July 17 2011: The south side of Victory Condos, viewed from across King Street

July 17 2011: Balconies, windows and brickwork on the south facade

July 17 2011: Victory viewed from the southwest on King Street

July 17 2011: Victory Condos offers six penthouse suites. The smallest is an 800-square-foot 2-bedroom unit with 80-square-foot balcony; it was priced at $706,900. The largest is a 2,545-square-foot residence with a 530-square-foot balcony. It carried the eye-popping pricetag of $2,219,900.

July 17 2011: Victory rises behind the brick building at 500 King Street West

July 17 2011: Victory viewed from the intersection of King & Brant Streets

July 17 2011: Another view of Victory from Brant & King

July 17 2011: The upper four floors of south-facing balconies

Fashion House Condos on King West

One of several Freed Developments projects in the popular Central King West neighbourhood, Fashion House Condos was designed by Toronto’s Core Architects Inc. Its red colour accents and striking design are definitely going to make a bold architectural fashion statement on the street. As described on the project website: “a stunning 12-storey glass and steel staircase tower, the intricate platform design sets the stage for large terraces and balconies, while the glass showcases the massive floor-to-ceiling windows.” The 334-unit building is 85% sold. Photos of earlier construction progress at Fashion House can be seen in my April 2 2011 post and in my January 24 2011 post.

From the Fashion House Condos website, an artistic rendering of how the building will look when viewed from the south side of King Street

July 17 2011: King Street view of excavation progress at the Fashion House site

July 17 2011: Looking down on the southeast corner of the construction site

July 17 2011: Looking northwest across the construction site

July 20 2011: Excavation progress viewed from Morrison Street to the northeast

July 17 2011: Overlooking the excavation from the northeast corner of the site

July 20 2011: Morrison Street view toward the south side of the excavation

July 20 2011: A construction worker takes a rest on a woodpile in the pit

Six50 King West Condominiums at King & Bathurst

Another successful (80% sold) project by Freed Developments, Six50 King West is a 236-unit two-building complex with frontage on both King Street and Bathurst Street. The Bathurst wing will be the tallest, rising 15 floors, while the King section will have nine storeys. Like Fashion House, Six50 was designed by Core Architects Inc. Photos of earlier stages of construction can be viewed in my March 30 2011 post and in my January 20 2011 post.

From the Six50 King West condo project website, an artistic rendering of the two-building complex that will front on both Bathurst (left) and King Streets (right)

July 17 2011: Street-level view of the King side of the two-building complex

July 17 2011: The glass-fronted upper floors of the King Street building

July 17 2011: Northeast view of the building during streetcar track replacement work on King Street West

July 17 2011: Northeasterly view of the upper levels of the King Street wing

July 20 2011: Bathurst Street view of construction progress on the west wing

July 20 2011: West sides of the complex viewed from Bathurst Street

July 20 2011: The west wing will rise 15 storeys above Bathurst Street

July 20 2011: Adelaide Street view of the north and east sides of Six50 King West

July 17 2011: Balconies on the northeast side of the Six50 King complex

July 20 2011: Another view of balconies on the east side of the condo complex

July 20 2011: Balconies and windows at the northeast corner of the building

Thompson Residences on King Street West

Freed strikes condo gold — again. Thompson Residences is yet another Freed Developments project on the Central King West strip, just a stone’s throw from its hip Thompson Hotel & condo complex that opened at 550 Wellington Street West in 2010 (and scored a coveted spot on Condé Nast Traveler magazine’s Hot List Hotels 2011). According to the project website, Thompson Residences will offer “hotel inspired living” in 314 luxury condos, lofts and penthouses “loaded with the amenities and services of a top-tier hotel” — along with access to the Thompson Hotel on the other side of Stewart Street to the south. As such, it will be the polar opposite to the former motor hotel that once occupied the site at 621 King Street West.

For this project, Freed chose Saucier + Perrotte Architectes of Montreal, whose design for the 12-storey Residences (actually, two separate buildings situated parallel to each other) is described at length in a February 18 2010 Globe and Mail column by John Bentley Mays. But Freed had to battle the City for approval to build as high as it planned. City zoning permitted a maximum height of 20 meters for the site, but the Thompson Residences buildings will stand 36 and 40 meters tall, respectively. The height dispute wound up at the Ontario Municipal Board, which sided with Freed, and now the project is proceeding. (A short online story in the Toronto Star described the dispute and its outcome, as did a more extensive February 25 2011 Globe and Mail article available to online subscribers.)

Below are several photos showing the Thompson Residences site while the property was occupied by the condo project sales centre after the motel was demolished, and with recent pictures showing some preliminary site preparation and excavation activity.

From the Thompson Residences project website, an artistic rendering of the condominium, designed by Montreal’s Saucier + Perrotte Architectes

March 11 2010: The Thompson Residences site on King east of Bathurst Street. The Thompson Hotel complex at 550 Wellington Street stands at rear left.

November 23 2010: Sandwich board sign outside the showroom

January 14 2011: The Thompson Residences showroom reflects buildings on the north side of King Street in this view, looking east along King

January 14 2011: The old motel sign was re-purposed for the condo project

June 21 2011: Looking west along King Street at the Thompson Residences site

June 21 2011: Preliminary site preparation work is underway

June 21 2011: An excavating machine digging at the west end of site

June 21 2011: Marketing signs on hoarding along the east end of the property

July 17 2011: Looking across King Street toward the Thompson Residences site

July 17 2011: Looking toward the west half of the construction site

July 17 2011: Excavation work continuing at the west end of the property

July 17 2011: Two excavation machines at work on the site

July 17 2011: The Thompson hotel and condo complex on Stewart Street is visible across the Thompson Residences site

July 17 2011: A mound of demolition rubble at the east end of the property

Tableau turns the table on its condo competition

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Website renderings of Tableau condos, designed by Rudy Wallman

Great gams: With so many condo highrise projects either already on the market or being proposed for the Entertainment District, there’s a lot of competition for buyers. How do developers and architects make sure their own projects have more appeal to potential purchasers than the others on sale just around the corner or down the block?

Offering trendy building amenities and features might help, but I find every new condo project seems to offer the same stuff: posh pilates and yoga studios, luxurious city-view lounges, rooftop terraces with bars and BBQs, multimedia entertainment rooms, and stunning entrance lobbies conceived by top international interior designers. For me, it gets difficult distinguishing between them all: Which condo has the sky club? The infinity pool on the rooftop skyline terrace? The party lounge with the DJ recording studio?

9-legged base will make condo tower stand out

Maybe the key is a memorable building design — something unique and markedly different from the typical glass and steel box towers that keep popping up everywhere else. Something that will catch someone’s eye because it’s unusual and unforgettable. That’s what works for me, and it’s what I think will make Tableau condos at Richmond & Peter Streets a huge sales success. With an attention-grabbing design by Rudy Wallman of Toronto’s Wallman Architects, Tableau literally stands out in the Entertainment District and definitely gets a leg up on its nearby competition. Nine legs, actually. Nine long, slender, in-your-face legs that will be noticed by everyone who walks or drives through the neighbourhood.

Tableau is a 36-storey, 410-suite mixed-use condo tower planned for the southeast corner of Richmond and Peter, on the block where Richmond turns a bend as it continues west to Spadina Avenue. In what the Tableau website describes as the building’s “signature” architectural element, the condo residences will sit on a “structural table” built strategically above the four-storey warehouse building presently situated on the site. “The front of this building is being reinterpreted and reconstructed and will accommodate the commercial office space, ground floor lobby and retail. The table structure also creates a large, four-storey colonnaded public plaza on Richmond Street.”

Will Tableau look better than the artistic illustrations?

I have absolutely no doubt that the colonnade will command attention from passersby. I used to work just around the corner from the Tableau site, and still can’t even imagine just how a tower on a giant table is going to look and feel in that location. The words “shock and awe” come to mind, but not in a bad way. I’m just hoping the finished product will look better — much, much better — than the artistic renderings. Sometimes when I view the drawings I think the building looks striking, and will be even more impressive and perhaps even breathtaking to see in person. It has nuances of X Condos on Jarvis, and the TD Centre towers, all of which I really like. Other times, the Tableau base reminds me of the $7.99 Lack table advertised on the back cover of the 2011 IKEA catalogue (though Lack has fewer legs, of course). From my experience, most of IKEA’s products look great in the catalogue, but appear tacky and cheap when you inspect them in-store. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that this won’t be the case with Tableau’s table.

(Speaking of X Condos: it will share something in common with Tableau. “Nova,” the sculpture that will be incorporated into the Tableau colonnade, is the work of Kingston, Ont. artist Shayne Dark, who created the “Double Vision” sculpture standing outside X. I’ve included a pic of it, below.)

Here are some more renderings from the Tableau website, along with photos I’ve taken recently of the Tableau location.

Website rendering of the Tableau colonnade along Richmond Street

Another depiction of Tableau’s four-storey colonnade

Artistic impression of Tableau frontage along Peter Street

Kingston, Ont. artist Shayne Dark’s sculpture “Nova” will grace the streetscape at Tableau, left. Dark also created the “Double Vision” sculpture at X Condos, right.

Tableau condos location seen on Nov. 29 2010

Tableau condos sign on the warehouse building where the condo tower will eventually rise

Peter Street view of the warehouse on the Tableau condos site

Another view of the warehouse site where Tableau will rise

Peter street facade viewed November 29 2010

View of the Richmond Street block which the Tableau tower will dominate

The southeast corner of Richmond & Peter Street where Tableau will rise

The southeast corner of Richmond & Peter Street

Another view of Tableau’s location on the wedge-shaped corner lot

Original zoning sign (seen here Nov. 29 2010) called for a 29-storey building with condos and a hotel, plus street level restaurants and retail.

New proposal sign (seen here Feb. 3 2011 on Richmond Street) drops reference to a hotel and calls for a taller tower with condos plus retail and office space.

31-storey copper-toned condo tower aims to draw Yorkville district’s golden glow to Davenport Road

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Artistic rendering of The Yorkville Condominiums, a 31-storey luxury tower proposed for the corner of Davenport Road and McMurrich Street.

More new digs for Dav: The drab two-block stretch of Davenport Road between Yonge and Bay Streets keeps improving, slowly but surely.

At Yonge, the wedge-shaped parcel of land dividing Davenport from Scollard Street brightened up a bit when the Lotus condominium opened in 2008. Sadly, it took more than two years before work finally finished on a new public square in the awkward triangle at the front of the condo highrise. Paving stones, landscaping, lighting and benches weren’t installed until late summer 2010, but the narrow, long parkette instantly became a huge hit with the local pigeon population.

Meanwhile, The Florian luxury condo has been under construction just a short distance away, where Davenport twists to the northwest at its intersection with Bay. Once the location of an Infinity dealership and a Premier fitness club, the elegant 90-suite Florian promises to class up the corner with its gracefully curved brick and glass facade.

Now, Lifetime Developments has proposed a new neighbour for the site immediately east of The Florian, currently the offices of Moriyama and Teshima Architects. Lifetime’s latest venture, The Yorkville Condominiums, will be a 31-storey glass condo tower with six “executive” townhouses at the corner of Davenport and McMurrich Street. The project is being designed by Rudy Wallman of Wallman Architects, who also designed the Victory Condos development on King Street West that I profiled in a post several days ago.

So far, I’m ambivalent about his design for The Yorkville, though I admit the only drawing I’ve seen is the one displayed on its website and marketing materials (and shown at the top of this post). First time I saw it, I loved the building … but the more I look at it, the more I wonder if it’s just the artist’s choice of colours that appeal to me. At times, I think some elements of the tower — particularly the roof, the five floors that angle out from the south face of the tower, and the long rectangular gold stripe of glass down the east wall — are merely bold, attention-seeking design gimmicks that scream “Look at me!” Other times, I think those very same features look cool, and give the tower a distinctive appearance.

Maybe I’ll make up my mind once I see more renderings or models. Most likely, this is a building I’ll have to see in finished form before I can tell if I truly like it or not. Either way, I do think The Yorkville will improve this part of Davenport Road and enhance the neighbourhood, so I’ll be happy to see it go up.

Below are some photos I snapped of the proposed development site recently, along with a pic of the pigeon parkette at Lotus.

Development proposal sign outside the Moriyama and Teshima building

November 1 2010 view of The Yorkville Condominiums project site

November 1 2010 view of the corner of Davenport Road & McMurrich Street

January 9 2011 view of The Yorkville Condominiums proposed site

The Florian under construction next to The Yorkville site on Davenport Road

Pigeons enjoying the new parkette at Lotus condominium

BLVD Developments ready to declare Victory in condominium building battle on King Street West

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Victory condo construction progress on January 14 2011

Building exterior nearly done: Window, brickwork and balcony installations are giving the exterior of Victory Condos on King Street West a more finished look this week.

The L-shaped, 12-storey building is a project of BLVD Developments. It will feature 175 units, including penthouses with large terraces, 2,500 square feet of retail space on its ground level, and another 3.500 of retail shops accessed by a landscaped walkway at the west side of the property.

The building was designed by Rudy Wallman of Toronto’s Wallman Architects.

Below is a series of photos showing construction progress at Victory Condos. There are three shots showing the condo location in 2008 before construction commenced, a picture taken from the CN Tower in November, and several pics from just this past week.

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Tag Archives: Wallman Architects

Demolition clears site for Tableau condo tower

Crews digging deep for X2 Condos foundation

Neighbourhood Watch: Condo construction activity in downtown’s King & Bathurst area (Part 1)

Tableau turns the table on its condo competition

31-storey copper-toned condo tower aims to draw Yorkville district’s golden glow to Davenport Road

BLVD Developments ready to declare Victory in condominium building battle on King Street West

Tracking Downtown Toronto's AmazingBuilding Boom.

Tracking Downtown Toronto's Amazing
Building Boom.