Category Archives: Architecture & Construction

Will Chaz and a proposed new 64-storey tower turn Charles Street East into a condo canyon?

West view down Charles Street from Church Street on February 23 2011. The Casa condo (rear left, 46 floors) and the Bloor Street Neighbourhood (BSN) condo (right, 32 storeys) soar high above all other buildings on the block.

A developer purportedly has plans to build a 64-storey condo tower on this location at 42 Charles Street East, currently a YMCA child care centre.

Too many towers? According to an old proverb, March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. That’s supposed to describe the weather for a month that begins in the dead of winter but ends with the welcome arrival of spring. According to some Toronto real estate agents, however, there won’t be anything sheepish about this month at all. They’re fully expecting March to come in with a giant roar and keep on roaring — all the way through spring and for many months beyond. But the king of beasts whose arrival they are anxiously anticipating isn’t an animal, and doesn’t have anything to do with stormy weather. Instead, it’s a highrise building project for which the realtors are forecasting a fast and fierce storm of sales to condo-craving buyers eager to pounce on what’s being aggressively promoted as an incredible not-to-be-missed investment opportunity.

The project: a 64-storey condo tower that’s supposed to launch sometime early this month with spectacular gala preview sales events for VIP purchasers. The location: 42 Charles Street East, a property occupied by a nine-storey office building currently home to a YMCA child care (some years ago, it was more famous as the location of CTV headquarters and broadcasting facilities; back in the 1990s a developer — Harry Stinson, if I recall correctly — even proposed converting the building into condos, but that project never got off the ground). The developer: Cresford Developments, already a highly familiar presence on this block, having just recently built the Bloor Street Neighbourhood condo tower right next door at 38 Charles St. E. as well as the critically-acclaimed Casa Residenza Condominio tower across the street at 33 Charles East.

Interestingly, the city hasn’t approved a 64-storey tower for the site; in fact, as of this morning, the city’s development application and planning website didn’t even show any listings for 42 Charles East. But residents of Casa and Bloor Street Neighbourhood (BSN) have been buzzing about the condo tower project for weeks — especially BSN owners with east-facing suites who are pissed at the prospect of losing their views if a skyscraper gets built right next door. And dozens of “in the know” real estate agents have been hyping the project on their blogs and websites and even in videos posted on youtube.com, urging interested buyers to contact them ASAP for “exclusive” invitations to upcoming “preconstruction” VIP sales extravaganzas. Those agents have been quick to point out that units in Chaz on Charles, a 39-storey condo tower that’s going to be built directly across the road at 45 Charles East (currently the site of an eight-storey office building), have been selling briskly, and already earning impressive investment returns for their buyers. That’s great news for those agents and their lucky clients, of course. But is a 64-storey tower on the north side of the block, along with the new Chaz highrise on the south, going to be good for Charles Street, too? Will four towers crowded so close together in the middle of the block improve the immediate neighbourhood and nearby streets? Or could they encourage even more tower proposals for elsewhere on the block, ultimately creating a condo canyon on Charles?

I admit I’m not happy that Charles Street will be developed more densely. Although I’m not fond of BSN’s design, I’m glad it’s an L-shape that accommodates the charming Charles Court apartment building below it. On the other hand, I love Casa; it’s been one of my favourite downtown condo towers since it started construction in 2007 and then opened for occupancy last year. Its striking design is simple yet sophisticated, and I find it fascinating to watch how its streamlined windows and glass balconies change colour and texture under different sunlight and sunset conditions. But those two towers are enough for this block of Charles Street. Two more will be too many. Frankly, I’m not looking forward to seeing Chaz become Casa’s neighbour because I believe its close proximity will detract from Casa’s appearance, and I’m even more dismayed by the prospect of an even taller tower rising right behind them. Although the skyscraper cluster would undoubtedly create an impressive skyline, I fear a row of tall towers will spoil the streetscape and ruin what is presently a pleasant downtown residential street.

Since BSN and Casa were built, I’ve noticed a sharp increase in the volume of pedestrians and vehicles on the one-way road; the street feels particularly congested around the two condos because of the additional traffic from service, delivery, resident and visitor vehicles. Even the sidewalks feel too narrow. The tight feeling will only get worse once Chaz is built because its podium, regrettably, has been designed to “synch” with Casa’s, “adding significantly to the street wall,” to quote from the Chaz project website.

“Street wall?” Ugh. Sounds as bad as it will probably look and feel once it’s constructed. One of the redeeming features of the office building that Chaz will replace is its generous setback from the street; a taller new building with a podium closer to the sidewalk will likely make strolling down Charles Street as appealing as walking down Bay Street in the heart of the Financial District; in other words, not something you’d really want to do unless you had to do it. The skyscraper planned for 42 Charles will only make things worse. And if other developers jump on the “let’s build Charles Street” bandwagon, I think the low-rise apartment buildings and post office on the eastern half of the block will become targets for future highrise development. Last thing the neighbourhood needs is for Charles Street to become a busy, narrow and shadowy wind tunnel. Below are some of my photos of 42 Charles East and its neighbours which, I think, will help put the proposed developments and my comments about them in context. What do you think?

The Bloor-Yorkville skyline on April 4 2010. The Casa condo tower — still under construction, with the developer’s Cresford.com banner on its east penthouse level — already dominates the area. The BSN condo building stands at Casa’s right, blocking most views of The Bay office tower at Yonge & Bloor.

On this photo, shot today, I’ve marked my “guesstimate” of where Chaz and the 64-floor tower proposed for 42 Charles St. E. will stand on the skyline.

February 23 2011: This view from Charles Street West shows BSN and Casa towering above Charles Street just east of Yonge Street. The tower at center rear is the X Condo building at the northeast corner of Jarvis and Charles.

December 3 2010: Charles Street view of the south and west sides of BSN

November 1 2010: A west view of BSN and the YMCA building at 42 Charles Street East. If the rumoured 64-storey skyscraper goes up, it will soar high above BSN.

February 28 2011: Charles Court apartments and Bloor Street Neighbourhood

January 9 2011: BSN’s streetscape presence

February 12 2011: BSN and 42 Charles Street East

February 12 2011: 42 Charles Street East

December 3 2010: Looking up Casa’s sleek 46 storeys

December 21 2010: Southwest view of BSN and Casa

November 1 2010: BSN’s image reflects off Casa’s lobby facade

November 1 2010: Northwest view of Casa’s podium and the brick building that houses the Sanctuary Toronto ministry, to its immediate west

November 1 2010: Casa’s glass facade along Charles street, looking west

April 19 2010: A sidewalk-level perspective of Casa’s presence on Charles St.

November 1 2010: BSN reflects in Casa’s main entrance

October 3 2010: Casa’s facade reflects images of 42 Charles and BSN

August 29 2010: Another Casa reflection of 42 Charles and the BSN condos

February 28 2011: 42 Charles Street East

February 28 2011: Charles Street postal station next to 42 Charles St. E.

February 12 2011: Northwest view of the proposed condo tower site

February 23 2011: Hayden Street view of the rear of 42 Charles Street East and the east side of BSN. I don’t know if this parking area, used by the postal station next door, is part of the property on which the 64-storey tower may be built.

Another Hayden Street view of the rear of 42 Charles & BSN

February 23 2011: This brick house on Hayden Street sits in the northwest corner of the lot directly behind 42 Charles Street East and BSN.

January 10 2011: Hayden Street view of Casa, left, and BSN. Part of the building at 42 Charles is visible in the bottom left corner of the photo.

February 28 2011: The Chaz on Charles condo site at 45 Charles Street East

Another view of the Chaz site at 45 Charles Street East

January 29 2011: Isabella Street view of the Chaz condo site at 45 Charles St. E.

The 39-storey Chaz on Charles will tower above The Bromley apartment building on Isabella Street, seen here January 29 2011

February 28 2011: The Charlesview apartment building next door to the Chaz site

February 28 2011: An apartment building next door to the Charlesview

February 28 2011: The heritage houses at 62 and 64 Charles Street East

February 28 2011: The house at 66 Charles St. E., left, dates from the late 1880s

February 28 2011: The Manhattan apartments at the corner of Charles and Church

February 23 2011: Looking west on Charles Street from outside the Town Inn Suites at the southwest corner of Charles & Church

February 23 2011: This middle section of the block could become a virtual condo canyon once the Chaz on Charles condo highrise is constructed on the left, followed by another tower where the YMCA building sits on the right.

Renovators tackle Eaton Centre’s Trinity Court

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Scaffolding stands three storeys high in the Trinity Court escalator banks while the 250 Yonge St. office tower entrance (top right) sports a sleek new look

Renovators move north: Now that Centre Court looks crisp and clean with its new flooring, handrails and refurbished escalator banks, Toronto Eaton Centre renovators have turned their attention to the northern half of the shopping mall area — specifically, in and around Trinity Court outside the Sears store.

The Centre’s two-year, $120-million revitalization project has been chugging along for months, and regular visitors have become accustomed to taking detours and dodging scaffolding en route to their favourite retailers. For the past few weeks, shoppers have had to wind around hoarding to access the Trinity Court escalators while contractors replace handrails on the upper levels, refurbish the lifts, and replace the old tile floors.

New glass and stainless steel handrails have been installed on Level 2 in the retail area between the information desk and Trinity Court, but the old floor tiles there haven’t yet been changed. But with the railing replacement work out of the way, the scaffolding and temporary artificial ceiling have been removed from Level 1 (the mall’s lower level), and traffic is back to normal down there.

For its part, Level 2 looks open and bright — it has lost the dark, almost claustrophic feel it had before.

Below are some recent photos; to see even more, check out the Toronto Eaton Centre revitalization album on the Photo Sets page of the blog.

February 3 201: The old handrails will be ripped out soon

North view of scaffolding being set up around the Trinity Court escalators

Level 2 view of scaffolding and hoarding around the Trinity Court escalators

Level 2 view of scaffolding in Trinity Court

The scaffolding in Trinity Court is stacked three storeys high

Hoarding on Level 1 (the Eaton Centre’s lower retail floor)

February 15 2011: Scaffolding is gone, but Level 1 floor still hasn’t been replaced

With the temporary ceiling removed, shoppers can look up to Level 2 once again

Escalator refurbishment at the Queen Street end of the mall

Someone shut the barn door: The Pottery Barn has moved out of the Eaton Centre

The Shooting Fountain in Centre Court is still popular with visitors

Level 2 (behind the information kiosk) feels far less confined and dark

The new railings on Level 2 provide a better view of Level 1

The new flooring looks good on Level 3, but it looks bare without the row of giant ficus benjamina trees that used to grace this stretch of shops

February 25 2011: The old metal handrails have been removed from Trinity Court

Level 4 view of the scaffolding in Trinity Court

Old railings and floor tiles on Level 4 eventually will be replaced

These stairs and escalator at Centre Court were refurbished recently

A closer look at the new stairs and refurbished escalator

Visitors check out the Level 4 south view over Centre Court

Toronto Eaton Centre south view from Level 4

Keeping tabs on …. 400 & 500 Wellington West

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400 Wellington condo construction progress on February 17 2011

Windows on Wellington: After I walked down Wellington Street West more than a month ago, I reported that construction at the 400 Wellington condo building had reached the fifth floor — almost halfway to its final height. Since then, construction workers have made considerable progress: eight floors have been poured, and windows are being installed on the lower levels. But just a short stroll down the street, the 500 Wellington West condo development didn’t look much different than it did in January. Photos of both projects, below, will let you judge for yourself how quickly these two new condo buildings are coming along.

Southeast view of 400 Wellington condo construction on Febuary 17 2011

Construction viewed from the south side of Wellington Street

Window installation on 400 Wellington’s south facade

Another view of 400 Wellington’s new south walls and windows

400 Wellington construction viewed from the southwest

Southeast view of 500 Wellington West construction on February 17 2011

Upper southview floors of 500 Wellington West condos

Middle south-facing floors at 500 Wellington West

The building boom at 500 Wellington West

City Scene: Wall of waves at the waterfront

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Red window frames accent a wall of blue waves at 77 Harbour Square

1 up, 2 to go: Southcore office & hotel towers will change city skyline south of the railway tracks

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Artistic rendering of the three Southcore Financial Centre towers…

…and a southeast view of the Centre as it appeared on February 18. The 26-storey PricewaterhouseCooper head office building at 18 York Street (right) is nearing completion, but excavation is still in early stages for the Delta Toronto hotel and Bremner office tower office still to be built.

Trackside towers: As downtown’s newest office tower approaches the end of construction, site excavation has only just begun for its two younger siblings, who will gradually grow into prominent hotel and office towers standing proudly right next door.

Work on the 26-storey PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) office building at 18 York Street is winding down, and occupancy for most of its floors is scheduled for the third quarter of this year. (Four and a half floors of the PwC tower, which is 86% leased, won’t be ready for occupancy until early in 2013.)

Meanwhile, crews are preparing to build downtown’s next new highrise hotel, the Delta Toronto, as well as the city’s next new office block, the Bremner Tower, on lands along Bremner Boulevard just west of PwC.

But this young family of buildings, formally known as the Southcore Financial Centre (SFC), is already having a major impact on the city. Along with some newer neighbours (Telus Tower and Maple Leaf Square) who recently took up residence nearby, SFC is changing the look of the skyline and railway lands while at the same time drawing the Financial District to the south side of the train tracks.

And with construction currently underway for the ÏCE and Infinity3 condo towers just one block to the south, and construction expected to start later this year on the Ripley Toronto Aquarium one block to the west, this formerly derelict railway lands district is being transformed into a bustling and vibrant urban neighbourhood.

Sometimes I still can’t believe this is happening. Before I even moved to Toronto in the early 1980s, politicians kept promising new office and residential developments would revitalize the ugly railway lands between Union Station and Lake Shore Boulevard. As is typical for Toronto, it took so long for things to get going, I never thought I’d see construction actually get underway. But it has been happening, and the pace of transformation from blight to bright has been phenomenal.

For years, there wasn’t much more than a few parking lots and dusty, vacant fields on the vast swath of land stretching from the CN Tower in the west to the old Canada Post building at the corner of Bay Street and Lake Shore Blvd., in the east. Then the Air Canada Centre opened in 1999, followed in late 2005/early 2006 by the 35- and 16-storey Infinity condominium buildings at the corner of Bremner and Simcoe. Last year, both the Telus office tower and the Maple Leaf Square condo/office/hotel/retail complex opened on the east side of York at Bremner. This year, condos, offices and a hotel are under construction, and a major tourist attraction will be joining them soon. Whew! Three years from now, I might not even recognize the neighbourhood!

But let’s get back to Southcore, the new kids on the block bounded by Lower Simcoe Street to the west, Bremner Blvd. to the south, York Street to the east, and the railway tracks to the north. The Delta Toronto will be a 45-storey, 566-room, four-star hotel standing at the corner of Bremner and Simcoe, conveniently just across the street from the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The 30-storey Bremner Tower will sit between the Delta and PwC, on Bremner Blvd.

When I walked around the area last week, a construction crew and pile driver were working along the north perimeter of the site, right next to the rail tracks. Below are some pics I snapped from street level and from the Convention Centre stairs, along with some hotel and office tower renderings from the Southcore Financial Centre website.

Website illustration of the south elevation of the three Southcore towers

Rendering of the Southcore Financial Centre towers viewed from the southeast

Website rendering of the 45-storey Delta Toronto hotel tower

Website rendering of the Delta Toronto hotel tower courtyard

January 3 2011: West view of the PricewaterhouseCoopers office tower, left, the Maple Leaf Square complex and the Infinity condos (right)

January 3 2011: The top floors of the west side of the PwC office tower

January 3 2011: Southwest view of the PwC tower and Telus Tower

January 3 2011: PwC office tower construction gate on Bremner Blvd.

January 3 2011: Northwest view of the Southcore Financial Centre location for the Delta hotel and Bremner Tower. Overlooking the site are the PwC tower and Telus Tower at left, Maple Leaf Square towers (center), and the Infinity condos.

January 3 2011: Trailers and dumpsters on the hotel and office tower building site

February 18 2011: Delta Hotel and Bremner Tower site viewed from the southwest corner of Bremner Blvd and Lower Simcoe Street. Once built, the two towers will completely block this view of the Financial District skyscrapers.

February 18 2011: Another view of the hotel and office tower building site

February 18 2011: Yellow pile driving machine (center) on the Southcore site

February 18 2011: Toronto Convention Centre view of the Southcore building site

February 18 2011: Another convention centre view of the building site

Within months, full-scale excavation of this site will be in progress

February 18 2011: Pile driver at the site’s railway perimeter

While the pile driving machine prepares the Southcore site for excavation, another huge construction project is underway nearby — the Union Station railway platform revitalization project (the covered area at the rear left side of the photo).

The structure behind the pile driving machine is the north side of the PwC tower

Construction workers guide the pile driver

A closer look at the foundation-building machine

February 18 2011: PwC tower viewed from corner of York St. and Bremner Blvd.

A closer look at the top southeast corner of the PwC tower

February 18 2011: Simcoe Street view of the cranes atop the PwC office tower

Closer view of the upper west side of the PwC office tower

February 18 2011: A Simcoe Street view of the CN Tower reflecting in the west windows of the new PricewaterhouseCoopers office building.

Infinity views and ÏCE foundations

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Three white cranes rise from the massive South Financial district (aka railway lands) excavation where the Infinity3 and ÏCE condo towers are being built.

From black asphalt to green courtyard canopy: What was once a vast asphalt-paved open-air parking area near the foot of York Street is gradually being transformed into an environmentally-conscious urban courtyard, covered by a 6,000-square-metre green canopy that will surround the base of two slender cylindrical skyscrapers — the 55- and 65-storey ÏCE Condominiums.

At the same time, what used to be a scruffy vacant lot right next door has become the building site for a new highrise condo complex, too — the 35-storey Infinity3 condos off Lower Simcoe Streets. The parking lot, which sat to the north of Lake Shore Blvd. and the Gardiner Expressway, used to be popular with people driving into the city to attend events at the nearby Air Canada Centre and Harbourfront. But it’s now one of downtown Toronto’s largest condo building excavations, where foundations for underground parking levels are in the early stages of construction.

Three construction cranes operate high above the enormous, L-shaped pit, while the construction entrance ramps off Grand Trunk Crescent and Lower Simcoe Street handle a steady stream of cement and dump truck traffic.

Below are photos I have taken from the CN Tower of the ÏCE and Infinity3 locations both before construction started, and during the early stages of site excavation. There’s also several pics I snapped at the side-by-side condo building site on a sunny day last week, along with some artistic renderings, from the ÏCE Condos website, of the two ÏCE towers and their courtyard canopy. Above left is a website rendering of the Infinity3 building under construction; it will be a new sibling to the two Infinity condo buildings that were constructed several years ago at the corner of Bremner Blvd. and Lower Simcoe Street.

ÏCE Condos is a project by Lanterra Developments and Cadillac Fairview; the buildings were designed by Peter Clewes of Toronto’s architectsAlliance. Infinity3 is a project of The Conservatory Group. The Infinity 3 website doesn’t name the project architects; however, the E.I. Richmond Architects Ltd. website includes the Infinity towers in its portfolio. Another rendering of the Infinity3 complex can be viewed on that site.

September 22 2008: CN Tower view of the two Infinity condo buildings and the site for the Infinity3 project — a vacant lot off Lower Simcoe Street

September 22 2008: A CN Tower view of the parking lot that is now an excavation for the two ÏCE Condos skyscrapers. The brown structure in the upper left corner is the foundation for the ÏCE Condos sales office being set up at the time.

September 22 2008: CN Tower view of the Infinity3 condo site off Lower Simcoe Street; the little square building was the Infinity3 condo sales centre.

November 2 2010: CN Tower view of substantial excavation progress at the construction sites for the ÏCE Condos and Infinity3 Condos

November 2 2010: ÏCE Condos and Infinity3 Condos site excavation progress

February 18 2011: The two existing Infinity condo buildings, left, overlook the deep Infinity3 excavation pit to their south.

February 18 2011: Worksite viewed from Lower Simcoe Street

February 18 2011: Eastward view of the Infinity3 and ICE Condos worksites

Infinity3 condo construction site entrance off Lower Simcoe Street

Infinity3 and ICE Condos foundations taking shape

A man standing outside the beige construction crew trailer (top center) supervises the ÏCE Condos building activity at the bottom of the pit

A closer look at the foundation forms taking shape in the pit

One of the construction crew building the condo’s underground levels

Construction workers at the bottom of the deep ÏCE Condos excavation

Surveyors at work near the construction entrance to the ÏCE Condos excavation. The building in the background is the new Maple Leaf Square complex.

The surveyors working above the ÏCE Condos excavation

ÏCE condos website rendering of the two condominium skyscrapers

ÏCE condos website rendering of the green canopy for the condo courtyard

The ÏCE condo towers depicted in an animated video on the project website

Website video suggests how the ÏCE towers might appear on the skyline

Aura condo tower foundation reaching street level

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The Aura webcam captured this view of the construction site this morning

This February 15 photo shows construction workers atop foundation forms level with Yonge Street near the north end of the condo tower construction site…

…while this February 20 photo shows street-level forms in the middle of the site

Street view: Foundation construction activity for the 75-storey Aura at College Park condo tower has reached street level at the north end of the project site, while underground floors continue to take shape at a slower pace on the southern two-thirds of the property. When I passed Aura on February 15, construction crews were working atop street-level foundation forms between the north (orange) construction crane and the hoarding that protects the pedestrian entrance to the College Park mall. On February 20, forms extended farther south, creeping toward the white construction crane near the Gerrard Street side of the Aura property. Meanwhile, the southwest construction zone — on the west side of the truck ramp leading from Gerrard Street into the underground College Park loading docks — has considerable catching up to do. This area, where a third construction crane operates, is basically still a deep pit with just one underground level poured, far behind the progress achieved elsewhere on the Aura building site. Below are some of my recent photos of construction progress on the tower foundation.

February 15: Street-level foundation work at the north end of the site

February 15: Street-level foundation forms extend to the first crane

February 15: Northeast corner of site viewed from Yonge Street

February 15: Another north view of the site from Yonge St.

February 15: Foundation work is still below grade south of the orange crane

February 15: Foundation forms begin filling in the south half of the tower site

February 15 : Workers on top of foundation forms at the north end of the site

February 18: Yonge-Gerrard view of the three cranes at the Aura site

February 20: Gerrard Street view of the east side of the construction site

February 20: Basement level construction beneath the truck ramp that leads from Gerrard Street into the underground loading docks for the College Park complex

February 20: Underground levels on the east side of the site

February 20: Gerrard Street view toward the elevator block construction

February 20: The elevator block takes shape below the orange crane

February 20: Gerrard Street view of the south half of the construction site

February 20: Construction progress along the Gerrard Street flank of the site

February 20: Gerrard Street view of the southwest corner of the project site

February 20: Foundation work at the southwest corner of the site

February 20: North view of the site from corner of Gerrard and Yonge

February 20: Street-level foundation work viewed from Yonge Street

February 20: Northwest section of the site, looking toward Yonge Street

Proposed 26-storey Yorkville residential tower could bring curves to Bellair-Cumberland corner

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A 26-storey condo tower with three floors of restaurant & retail space might replace this drab office building at the corner of Bellair and Cumberland Streets.

Development proposal sign posted at 94 Cumberland Street

Arrivederci, Lettieri? Java junkies could lose one of their favourite Yorkville coffee shop hangouts if a developer gets the green light to redevelop a drab, non-descript office building at the northeast corner of Bellair and Cumberland Streets.

The Lettieri espresso bar and café at 94 Cumberland — directly across the street from Yorkville’s famous Sassafraz restaurant — is one of the most popular coffee joints in the neighbourhood, especially in summer when its sun-soaked corner patio is constantly packed with people-watching patrons. But the European-style café could disappear from that busy location if MintoUrban Development Services Inc. gets city approval to construct a condo tower in place of the 9-storey office building in which Lettieri is a ground-floor tenant.

MintoUrban wants to redevelop the site by constructing a mixed-use commercial and residential building that would stand 26 storeys tall. A 23-floor tower with 105 residential units (29 one-bedroom and 76 two-bedroom) would rise from a three-storey podium with restaurant and retail space; the podium roof would have space for an outdoor restaurant patio. There would be five levels of underground parking; access to the garage, service and loading docks would be from Genoa Street behind the building.

Site plans and drawings filed with the city planning department suggest that, unlike the boring, boxy office building it will replace, the condo tower’s design could include a curved wall above the Bellair-Cumberland corner. With an interesting design, along with three full floors for retail and restaurant space, the new building could enhance the corner considerably, and perhaps even help brighten the short block between Bellair and Bay Street which always looks and feels dark because it sits in the shade most of the day. So I’m not upset that 94 Cumberland could get a date with a wrecking ball in the future.

However, approval of the project isn’t in the cards just yet. Last month, the Toronto & East York Community Council requested that a consultation meeting be scheduled to gather community input about the proposal; there’s no word yet on when that meeting will take place, but it should be sometime soon.

Below are some pics of 94 Cumberland, along with a site plan drawing and south-view building elevation illustration that were presented in a city planning department report to the Community Council in January.

94 Cumberland viewed from the SW corner of Cumberland & Bellair

Bellair Street view of 94 Cumberland, looking east toward Bay Street

The popular Lettieri espresso bar and cafe at 94 Cumberland

The 100 Yorkville condo, left, and 94 Cumberland, right

West side of 94 Cumberland viewed from Bellair Street, looking SE

Bellair-Cumberland intersection viewed from the south at Bloor Street

Site plan illustration for the proposed residential tower

Illustration of the south elevation for the proposed building

Renovations will transform seedy budget motel into trendy boutique hotel at corner of Bay & Elm

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650 Bay Street, seen Sunday, was previously a budget motor inn…

…but after extensive renovations will reopen as a boutique hotel

From sketchy to trendy: A dilapidated budget hotel at the southwest corner of Bay and Elm Streets is undergoing a top-to-bottom transformation, and will re-enter the city’s hospitality market as a trendy boutique hotel.

The former Bay Street Motel at 650 Bay Street had been looking down-at-the-heel in recent years, and most of the people I saw going in and out looked equally sketchy. I’ve never been inside and, given the seedy look of the hotel and its clientele, never considered recommending it to out-of-town visitors seeking bargain accommodations. Although it offered reasonable rates and an excellent location, the place looked like a dive, and not surprisingly received poor reviews on travel websites. I always assumed the run-down building would get demolished and replaced by a condo tower, and when it appeared that the hotel had closed in late 2010, I kept expecting to see a development proposal sign posted outside.

Instead, I saw renovation activity, and noticed that the windows had been replaced. On Sunday, the sounds of hammering and drilling on the premises echoed two blocks up Bay Street, and I could see several contractors working on the roof and carrying renovation debris to a dumpster at the south end of the building.

When I got home, I did a quick Internet search and discovered that the building is being completely refurbished and converted into a boutique hotel. As described in a featured listing on Toronto real estate agent Addy Saeed’s website, 650 Bay “is currently undergoing an exterior and interior renovation and will re-open as one of Toronto’s most trendy boutique style hotels.”

The website says “[p]remium ground floor space is currently available and suitable for entertainment, retail, hospitality and food services,” while plans to create “Toronto’s largest rooftop patio” are underway. Saeed told me that the building owner still hasn’t chosen a name for the new hotel. Meanwhile, the renovation completion date and hotel opening are up in the air pending the search for a commercial tenant to run the food services operation, which Saeed said “could be a nice take out or sit in restaurant as well.”

Once the weather improves, the building will start getting a new limestone facade; Saeed says that work should be finished by summer. I’m glad to see the old brick building being spruced up and given a new lease on life. If the renovations restore the small building’s charm and character, I’m sure the boutique hotel will do brisk business — especially since its prime location is just a short walk from downtown shopping, hospitals, universities and offices.

650 Bay is just one of many properties bustling with construction activity in the immediate vicinity. One major building going up right across Elm street is the 21-storey SickKids Research and Learning Tower, while condo, apartment, university, and other hospital construction projects are all in progress or launching soon within less than a five-minute walk.

Below is an artistic rendering that appears on Saeed’s website, illustrating how the hotel should look after the renovations, along with several more pics I have taken showing the 650 Bay exterior viewed from several different angles.

An artistic rendering, provided by the building owner, which suggests how the 650 Bay boutique hotel will look with a new limestone facade.

650 Bay viewed from northeast corner of Bay and Elm Streets

Building viewed from the southeast corner of Bay & Elm

A contractor carries a sheet of plywood past the building…

…to a dumpster in the parking lot at the building’s south end

New windows were installed in the building recently

This photo from November 9 2010 shows 650 Bay Street, left, and two cranes on the SickKids Research & Learning Tower construction site

SickKids Research & Learning Tower construction on February 20 2011

City Scenes: Looking up at Maple Leaf Square

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Design details: The various design patterns in the glass walls and balconies of the Maple Leaf Square south condo tower become evident in this photograph of the 50-storey skyscraper, shot from the east sidewalk on York Street. A project of Lanterra Developments, Maple Leaf Square was designed by Page + Steele IBI Group Architects and KPMB Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects.

Five towers: From left are the CN Tower, Maple Leaf Square south tower, a construction crane atop the PWC 18 York office tower, Maple Leaf Square north tower, and the Telus office tower. Photo was taken from a parking lot next to the Toronto Harbour Commission building on Harbour Street on February 18 2011.

High road: The Maple Leaf Square towers viewed from a parking lot located off Harbour Street beneath the Gardiner Expressway.

High life: The two Maple Leaf Square condo towers viewed from Harbour Street. The towers rise from a nine-story podium housing a Le German boutique hotel, offices, shops, restaurants, a grocery store and a bank. The South Tower, left, stands 50 floors, while the North Tower soars a little higher: 54 storeys.

Above the awning: Another view of the Maple Leaf Square south condo tower, this time from beneath the unique artistic awning that extends above the sidewalk along the east side of York Street. More pics of the entire complex — from both indoors and out — can be viewed in the Maple Leaf Square album on the Photo Sets page of the blog.

Historic Addison on Bay building reconstruction partially revealed at Burano condo site

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Part of the reconstructed Addison on Bay building was revealed this week when protective wrapping was removed from the facade on Grenville St.

This is how the building looked in September 2008 when it was being dismantled to make way for construction of the Burano condo complex

This artistic rendering from the Burano Condos website suggests how the reconstructed building will appear as part of the new condo complex

Addison’s back on Bay! The Addison on Bay Cadillac dealership closed four years ago, and the historic Addison building itself completely disappeared from the landscape during late 2008 and early 2009. But the building is right back where it had operated as a car dealership since 1925 — only now it’s going to have an entirely new life and function as part of the Burano luxury condo complex currently under construction.

The Addison showroom at 832 Bay Street was designated a historical property by the City in 1999. The dealership continued in business for another eight years after that, but finally shuttered its doors in the middle of March 2007. Despite its prominent, lengthy history downtown, the dealership was forced to close the Bay Street business because of “economic factors, including the increasing cost of maintaining a central downtown location,” dealership president Clarke Addison explained in a letter to customers. (Further details about the Addison site and the demise of the downtown dealership were reported in a Toronto Star story published on March 2, 2007.)

Though the downtown location ceased operations, the Addison car business continued — in Mississauga where, as Addison Chevrolet, it’s that city’s “youngest General Motors dealership.”

But the Bay Street property wouldn’t sit idle for long.

Addison had been operating not just the historically-designated showroom and a repair garage on the west side of Bay, between Grosvenor and Grenville Streets, but also a new and used car display lot on the east side of the street, also between Grosvenor and Grenville.

Lanterra Developments ultimately acquired the properties on both sides of Bay, and built the two-tower Murano condo complex on the east side. Since the summer of 2008, it has been building Burano on the west property. During the fall and winter of that year, the Addison showroom was dismantled so the site could be excavated for the condo tower. Once the foundation for the new complex had been built, reconstruction of the Addison building commenced.

Protective sheeting has blocked the facade from public view for the past three months, but a section of wrapping was removed from the Grenville Street wall of the structure late last week.

Below are some pics I took while the Addison building was being dismantled and then re-assembled. There’s also some pics of the newly revealed Addison facade on Grenville Street, along with other recent photos showing construction progress on the Burano condo tower. An album of Burano pics from the beginning of construction to this month can be viewed on the Photo Sets page of the blog.

October 13 2008: The Addison on Bay building gradually being dismantled

November 22 2009: Foundation work begins in the Burano condo excavation

May 2 2010: Addison building takes shape during reconstruction

May 2 2010: Another view of the Addison building reconstruction progress

July 26 2010: Grenville St. view of frame for new Addison building

November 9 2010: Rebuilding progress before the structure went under wraps

December 21 2010: Frame of building partly visible under wraps

February 9 2011: Murano tower, crane seen from College St. at University Ave.

February 9 2011: Burano viewed from Grosvenor Street near Surrey Place

February 20 2011: Burano construction progress viewed from College Street

February 20 2011: Burano viewed from southeast corner of Bay and Grenville

February 20 2011: The unwrapped Grenville Street facade viewed from Bay Street

February 20 2011: Reconstructed Grenville Street facade is exposed

Another view of the reconstructed Addison facade on Grenville

Foundation work reaches grade at southern half of SickKids Research & Learning Tower building site

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An aerial view from the SickKids Research and Learning Tower webcam shows the construction site under a light blanket of snow this afternoon

Making grade: Roughly half of the foundation for the SickKids Research and Learning Tower is virtually at street level on the southern half of the construction site at Bay and Elm Streets. The north half is taking shape quickly, and isn’t far behind. Shouldn’t be long before the 21-storey tower starts to rise above the bright blue and white hoarding that protects pedestrians passing the construction site on the west sidewalk along Bay Street. Below are some construction progress photos from yesterday morning.

Tower construction site viewed from Elm Street, east of Bay Street

Main floor construction forms have reached ground level

Looking north from a security fence at the Elm Street construction entrance

The gap should be closed early this week when work resumes

Looking north from corner of Elm & Bay Streets

Looking northwest from corner of Bay & Elm Streets

A glimpse of the first underground level, from the corner of Bay & Elm Street

Looking northwest from corner of Bay & Elm Street

Looking west through a window in the hoarding along Bay Street

More foundation work remains to be done at the north end of the site

Walton Street view of progress on the north half of the foundation

Columns for west wing of tower visible above the hoarding along Bay Street

Construction site viewed from southeast corner of Bay and Elm Streets

Keeping tabs on … M5V condos on King West

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M5V condo tower viewed from Clarence Square Park January 14 2011

Big Red Box: I have to be honest: I keep confusing the M5V Condominium tower on King Street West with Boutique Condo at the corner of Simcoe and Nelson Streets, a few blocks to the east. In fact, I have nearly mislabelled photos of the two towers while organizing my pictures. Though they’re products of completely different designers, builders and developers, they’re both tall glass boxes with what I consider quite similar designs — particularly up top.

What does distinguish them, however, are the splashes of colour on the north and west facades of M5V’s tower and podium. And I never mistake M5V when viewing the tower from the north or the west: there’s just no way to miss the distinctive big red box that sits nearly halfway up the 34-storey tower’s northwest corner. (It houses the building’s mechanical room and rainwater retrieval system.)

M5V is drawing closer to completion, and the project website says that building occupancy is scheduled for June. I’m anxious to see the hoarding come down from the front of the tower, so I can see and feel how the building contributes to the King West streetscape. Shouldn’t have to wait too much longer for that.

M5V is a project of Lifetime Developments and TAS DesignBuild. There’s more information and photos of M5V on the project website as well as on the M5V section of the TAS website.

Below are some photos I’ve taken of M5V at different stages of construction in recent months; there are more pics in the M5V album on the Photo Sets page of the blog.

The big red box that houses the M5V condo tower’s mechanical room

November 2 2010: CN Tower view of M5V Condominium building

November 2 2010: CN Tower view of M5V’s upper floors and roof

November 29 2010: Charlotte Street view of the CN Tower and M5V Condo tower

November 29 2010: Coloured window panels on north wall of M5V condo tower

November 29 2011: Another Charlotte Street view of M5V

November 29 2011: Looking up from corner of King & Charlotte Streets

November 29 2011: Tower viewed from the north side of King Street

November 29 2011: A view of the 8-storey podium above King Street

November 29 2011: Looking up at the big red box mechanical room

January 14 2011: M5V viewed through the bare trees at Clarence Square park

January 14 2011: The upper floors of the tower’s west side

January 14 2011: M5V condo tower viewed from the southwest on Front Street

February 17 2011: The street level hoarding I can’t wait to see dismantled

February 17 2011: Another view of M5V, this time looking west along King Street

February 17 2011: The M5V tower on a dull, overcast afternoon

Excavation getting deeper for Lofts 399 condos

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Website rendering of Lofts 399 condo currently under construction

Lofts 399 excavation activity on February 17 2011

Digging away: Looks like a condo building is slowly but surely getting constructed, at last, at 399 Adelaide Street West.

A condo project called Mode Lofts originally had been planned and sold for the site west of Spadina Avenue, but never materialized. Mode ultimately got cancelled, but Cresford Developments resurrected plans for a loft project on the same location, and now there’s finally a big hole in the ground.

Now named Lofts 399, the 10-storey building will have 173 units. It will become a new neighbour to the two Quad Lofts buildings that will flank its east and west sides, as well as the Victory condos building which is nearing completion to its immediate south.

Once Lofts 399 has finished construction, it will enclose a landscaped contemporary square between the four condo buildings — the so-called “Hidden Garden” pictured on the Lofts 399 website.

Below are several photos I took Thursday of the ongoing excavation work at the project site.

The two Quad Lofts buildings bookend the Lofts 399 excavation while Victory Condos on King St., nearing the end of construction, sits to the southeast.

Quad Lofts, left, and Victory condos behind the excavation site

Lofts 399 excavation viewed from the east side of the property

The construction vehicle ramp from Adelaide Street into the pit

Only three or four construction workers were on site

Excavator digging at southwest corner of the pit

The pit is more than two levels deep so far

One worker watches the backhoe dig

Making the mucky earth move

Will City’s fear of heights trim plans for 39-storey condo tower at King & Spadina?

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The LCBO store at the corner of King Street West and Spadina Avenue on Jan. 14 2011. A developer wants to build a 39-storey condo tower here.

Goldilocks planning principles?: The bizarre attitudes that City Hall sometimes displays toward building development proposals in the downtown core can be enough to drive a guy to drink. Thank God the big liquor store at the southeast corner of King & Spadina should be staying put for at least a few more years!

The one-storey LCBO outlet occupies part of a prime piece of property on which a developer has unveiled plans to build a 39-storey condo tower featuring high-tech windows that would harness solar energy. The proposed building would have fewer floors than the Theatre Park tower I wrote about yesterday — the condo building that Lamb Development Corp. got the go-ahead to build just three blocks east, next door to the Royal Alexandra Theatre, after initially getting double thumbs-down from city planners and politicians. (Lamb appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board; ultimately, the parties settled the case and the Theatre Park project is now being marketed to purchasers.)

Councillor advocates block-by-block development

Yesterday I mentioned a November 11, 2010 National Post story that described the Theatre Park planning ruckus. The article quoted Ward 20 City Councillor Adam Vaughan as saying Theatre Park “may be the last tall building on this block.” According to the National Post, Vaughan “wants to move away from site-by-site development, and toward block-by-block development, so that neighbourhoods retain a certain scale, and residents can count on keeping the view they purchased.”

Protecting precious views sounds like a great idea, but it’s totally unrealistic for a city that’s expecting its population to increase by hundreds of thousands of people in the decades ahead. Toronto certainly won’t be able to pack all those people into low-rise accommodations (which wouldn’t have views in any event). And while it seems completely reasonable for the city to oppose highrise construction in certain places, such as established, low-rise residential neighbourhoods, it doesn’t make sense to object when towers are proposed for downtown locations totally suitable for tall structures.

Is developer “aiming too high?”

That’s the case with the LCBO site, over which Vaughan is up in arms because the developer is aiming too high with its condo plans. “We’ve got a building there that’s too short. They’re coming in with a building that’s just a bit too tall,” Vaughan told The Globe and Mail earlier this week. He “would like to see the developers shave at least 50 metres off the proposed height — and throw in some community benefits like supportive housing or family-centred units,” the Globe reported in a story published on Tuesday.

Okay, so a one-storey building is “too short,” 39 storeys is “too tall,” but something 50 metres shorter would be just right? Sounds to me like the city is purporting to apply Goldilocks’ porridge and furniture preferences to city development planning! Given Vaughan’s strenuous objection, you’d think that the developer, Cabo Three Investments Inc., was proposing to plunk its tower smack in the middle of a historic residential district with streets of distinguished one- and two-storey houses. But that’s not the situation with the liquor store location.

Neighbourhood already has condo towers

Spadina is one of the city’s widest and busiest streets and there’s already several condo towers in the immediate vicinity, with more under construction and even more being marketed for sale. And just two blocks south, the mammoth Concord CityPlace condo development is a dense urban canyon of enormous tall towers, with even more on the way. I have walked around the King & Spadina area three times in the past six weeks, and think Cabo Three’s tower would suit the site perfectly. Heck, an even taller one would, too! To me, Vaughan’s height complaint seems ridiculous. Besides, the tower won’t be going up until the end of this decade at the earliest, because the LCBO’s lease runs until 2019. Moreover, the solar-energy gathering glass windows the developer would like to install in its tower are still in the development stage, but should be a viable technology by the time Cabo Three wants to sink its shovels into the ground.

Residential plus office and retail space

By the end of this decade, tens of thousands more people will be living downtown, and the King & Spadina area will be substantially more busy and dense than it is now. In those circumstances, building tall makes sense and is realistically the only way to go. So I’m hoping that this project, like Theatre Park, gets the green light and ultimately comes to fruition. By the way, as proposed, the tower would house 443 residential suites atop two floors of commercial office and retail space (the LCBO has said it would be interested in acquiring space in the new building, no doubt because the neighbourhood’s population is forecast to grow by nearly 11 per cent in the next five years). The tower would have five underground parking levels with 311 spaces, and the brick heritage building next to the LCBO on King Street would be incorporated into the complex. Below are photos I’ve taken recently of the project site and immediate vicinity.

Development proposal sign on the LCBO store at King & Spadina

The LCBO store at King & Spadina seen here on February 3 2011

This 6-storey heritage building at 401 -409 King St. W. would be incorporated into the 39-storey condo complex proposed for this prime corner location

Upper floors of 401 – 409 King St. W. seen February 17 2011

Street level view of 401 – 409 King St. W. on February 17 2011

Site viewed from the NW corner of King and Spadina on February 17 2011

Spadina Avenue view of the LCBO store, left, and some of condo skyscrapers at the massive Concord CityPlace development two blocks south on Spadina

Site viewed from west side of Spadina Avenue, just north of King Street

Site viewed from the NW corner of Spadina Ave. and Adelaide St. W.

LCBO store seen from west side of Spadina Avenue on Feb. 17 2011

Intersection of King and Spadina viewed from the west side of Spadina

Oh the horror! The proposed condo would completely dwarf the Winners store and the Petro Canada gas station to its south, seen here on February 17 2011

These townhouses on Clarence Square, one block south, are the nearest low-rise houses. Although highrises already overlook their back decks, including the M5V condo tower at center, they face charming tree-lined Clarence Square, so residents can’t complain about losing nice views.

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Building Boom.

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Category Archives: Architecture & Construction

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Proposed 26-storey Yorkville residential tower could bring curves to Bellair-Cumberland corner

Renovations will transform seedy budget motel into trendy boutique hotel at corner of Bay & Elm

City Scenes: Looking up at Maple Leaf Square

Historic Addison on Bay building reconstruction partially revealed at Burano condo site

Foundation work reaches grade at southern half of SickKids Research & Learning Tower building site

Keeping tabs on … M5V condos on King West

Excavation getting deeper for Lofts 399 condos

Will City’s fear of heights trim plans for 39-storey condo tower at King & Spadina?

Tracking Downtown Toronto's AmazingBuilding Boom.

Tracking Downtown Toronto's Amazing
Building Boom.