Category Archives: Heritage & Historic buildings

November opening still uncertain for Loblaws store in Maple Leaf Gardens; Ryerson anticipates winter finish for athletics centre on building’s upper levels

November 1 2011: A mid-morning view of Maple Leaf Gardens at the northwest corner of Church & Carlton Streets

Coming soon: “When is it finally going to open?” That question is almost constantly on the minds of thousands of people who live and work near the intersection of Church and Carlton Streets, where construction activity both inside and outside the Maple Leaf Gardens building continues at a relentless pace.

For residents of nearby condos, co-ops and apartments, the long-overdue opening of the historic hockey arena’s new occupants — including a Loblaws grocery store, an LCBO liquor outlet, and Ryerson University’s Athletics Centre at the Gardens — won’t happen soon enough. They are weary from months of traffic restrictions on sidewalks and streets adjacent to the Gardens, as well as the daily disruption, dirt and noise from both construction work and the heavy concrete trucks, equipment and supply vehicles, and portable cranes that steadily stream to and from the project site.

Also eagerly anticipating an end to construction are hockey and heritage fans, as well as countless other people who are simply curious to see how the Gardens’ interior has been transformed during the two years since the revitalization project began.

Relief for all is now in the foreseeable future since the grocery store appears poised for a possible November opening, while the Ryerson athletic centre is on track for completion and occupancy sometime during the upcoming winter months.

Massive recruitment drive

Although a Loblaws spokesperson told me yesterday that details for the grocery store opening date haven’t been determined yet, the neighbourhood has been buzzing with word it could be open for business in as few as two to three weeks’ time. Loblaws recently launched a massive recruitment drive, hiring hundreds of part-time staff to work in what is shaping up to become the chain’s premier flagship store. Several new staff told me they’ve been training at various Toronto Loblaws stores during the past three weeks. They said they initially were advised they would be working in the Gardens by the end of this week, but the date was pushed back and they’re now expecting to start work in the new store shortly after the middle of the month. Similarly, staff at a nearby liquor store said they have been told the new LCBO Gardens outlet should be open sometime between the middle and end of November. From what I could see through windows and open doors earlier this week, however, a Loblaws opening closer to December appears more likely.

Meanwhile, Ryerson students will have to wait several more months before they’ll get to check out the university’s new sports and recreation facilities. According to the Ryerson University website, the sports centre is expected to be completed and ready for occupancy in “winter 2012.” A status update on the website says some of the construction activity currently underway includes “work on the roof dormers along the west side of the dome roof. Roof dormers are connected to the dome and are openings that provide ventilation to allow air to flow into the arena from the mechanical system. Work on the Carlton Street marquee is also underway; this canopy over the main entrance is being reinforced by additional steel and is being prepared for the installation of the historic ‘Maple Leaf Gardens’ signage. The installation of glass windows on the street level, light fixtures in the stairwells and the fire alarm system is also in progress. Work on the mechanical system continues, including installing piping for the gas, sprinkler and the hot and cold water systems.”

The Loblaw Companies Limited website doesn’t provide any information about its Gardens location, but the Ryerson University website says the architectural team for the Gardens transformation includes Turner Fleischer Architects Inc. for the “base building” and BBB Architects Inc. for the “Ryerson fit up.” Heritage consultant is E.R.A. Architects Inc.

Below are some of my recent photos of activity on the outside of Maple Leaf Gardens. I haven’t been able to photograph inside the building; however, if you want to see what’s been happening there, the Ryerson Builds webpage features a slideshow with 42 photographs showing construction activity inside the Gardens between January 2010 and September of this year (I have posted one of those pics below). The homepage of the Turner Fleischer website includes a direct link to more photos, from December 2009 to October 2010, in an album entitled “Maple Leaf Gardens Progress.” Additional photos can be viewed in my previous posts on the Gardens makeover: June 14 2011, April 14 2011, and March 29 2011.

From the Ryerson Builds webpage, this photo from September 2011 shows building progress on the NHL-sized hockey rink at the university’s new athletics centre. A slideshow on the webpage includes 41 more photos of construction activity inside Maple Leaf Gardens.

November 1 2011: The Carlton Street facade of Maple Leaf Gardens. The public sidewalk next to the building, along with one lane of westbound traffic, have been closed virtually all of this year.

November 1 2011: The canopy over the Carlton Street entrance is being reinforced with extra steel. Maple Leaf Gardens signage will be installed on the marquee.

November 1 2011: The entrance to the Loblaws grocery store will be at the Gardens’ southeast corner.

November 1 2011: Part of the frame for the corner canopy was put in place several weeks ago, but entrance doors haven’t yet been installed

September 3 2011: Looking west from Church Street at the sidewalk and street closure along the Gardens’ Carlton Street facade.

October 1 2011: Passersby will be able to see into the new Loblaws grocery store through these windows which were installed in the Gardens’ Church Street facade

October 8 2011: Another view of the new windows along Church Street

November 1 2011: New sidewalks being installed on Church Street

November 1 2011: Although new sidewalks are being installed on Church Street, work on the east wall of the Gardens is far from finished

November 1 2011: Grocery store windows on the east side of the building. Traffic on Church Street was restricted during sidewalk replacement work.

November 1 2011: The northeast corner of Maple Leaf Gardens, at Church and Wood Streets. The stretch of Wood Street next to the Gardens is usually crowded with cranes, concrete trucks, heavy construction vehicles and equipment.

November 1 2011: Newly-installed windows near the northeast corner of the building. During the spring and summer, this was one of three separate spots where concrete trucks and other vehicles could access the interior of the Gardens.

November 1 2011: A crew uses a portable lift to work on the Wood Street facade. A red construction elevator rises from the building’s north side, providing access to the Ryerson sports facilities being built on the upper levels inside the Gardens.

November 1 2011: Looking east along Wood Street at the external construction elevator and a truck delivering concrete for the Ryerson Athletics Centre at the Gardens. This stretch of street is usually jammed with cranes, lifts and trucks.

November 1 2011: Trailer-sized mechanical equipment on the roof of the Gardens dwarf two construction supervisors looking down onto Church Street.

August 2 2011: This mechanical equipment is a new Gardens fixture; it was installed only this year, during the spring and summer.

November 3 2011: Two men on a portable lift work on the Church Street facade

Hollywood film director slams ‘bizarre’ condo tower proposal for Yonge & Gloucester

Leave a reply

A 29-storey condo tower proposed for Gloucester Street would cast shadows on Norman Jewison Park as early as 3 pm each afternoon, and would block sunlight from Mr. Jewison’s offices in the 5-storey light-brown brick building at right …

… the former Rawlinson Furniture warehouse, constructed in 1878 at 18 Gloucester Lane just east of Yonge Street between Gloucester & Isabella Streets

No celebrity endorsement: I have attended a number of community consultation meetings the City has held in the last year to get feedback on proposed condo developments, but this past Tuesday night was the first at which one of Canada’s leading cultural icons stood up to express an opinion. And what world-renowned movie producer/director Norman Jewison had to say was anything but a celebrity endorsement for the condo tower project proposed for 2-8 Gloucester Street.

Mr. Jewison, 85, has offices in a 133-year-old building he owns immediately to the north of the potential condo development site. He told the meeting he was “amazed” that the condo proposal “has gotten so far,” because he had not even been advised that a tower might rise next door, just 3 meters from his windows.

Calling the condo plan “a bizarre idea,” Mr. Jewison expressed dismay that his building “will be completely in shade. Every single window in our building will now be looking into somebody’s bedroom. We’ll have no light. No sun. No view,” he said. “Everything is just squeezed in,” he added, referring to the compact site for the proposed L-shaped, 200,000-square-foot tower which, he said, would bring “a tremendous influx of people into this neighbourhood.”

The acclaimed director and producer of more than two dozen major Hollywood movies which have collectively received 46 Oscar nominations and won 12 Academy Awards, Mr. Jewison was among 25 people who commented on the condo proposal during the two-hour meeting.

As I have previously reported in posts on October 11 2011 and June 22 2011, a developer has applied to the City for zoning changes to permit construction of a 29-storey tower with 211 condominium units next to two heritage buildings at the corner of Yonge and Gloucester Streets. In an August 15 2011 background report, city planners identified 12 main issues with the development plan, and recommended that a community consultation meeting be held to obtain public feedback on the proposal. On September 12 2011, Toronto and East York Community Council directed staff to arrange the consultation session, and the meeting took place this past Tuesday evening at the 519 Church Street Community Centre.

Although many downtown residents and people involved in the condo development industry believe that the ultimate fate of the 2-8 Gloucester project could set the tone for further highrise projects along Yonge Street, turnout was lower than expected. I counted just over 50 people in the room midway through the meeting, but at least 15 of those were city officials, including Ward 27 Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, and the developer’s team of professional consultants and advisors.

Chaired by city planner Diane Silver, the meeting featured presentations by the developer’s planning consultant, Craig Hunter, and its architect, David Pontarini of Toronto’s Hariri Pontarini Architects. They led the audience through a slideshow of illustrations, renderings and photos that suggested how the proposed condo tower might look, and how it would visually and physically impact the surrounding neighbourhood.

Mr. Hunter said the developer has been working with its architects and other consultants for more than a year and half to develop its condo proposal. He said the parties realized the project had to be “sensitive” to the linear park and low-rise neighbourhood to its east, and also had to address transportation, heritage and density concerns. He called the proposal filed with the city “a very compatible fit with the existing mix of buildings in the area.”

Mr. Pontarini noted that his firm has “extensive involvement on North Yonge,” having designed the 45-storey FIVE Condos project currently under construction one block southwest of 2-8 Gloucester, as well as the 70-storey One Bloor condo tower presently being built three blocks north. Hariri Pontarini also was one of the consultants involved in the City of Toronto’s Tall Buildings Downtown Project. “We’re very interested in what’s happening along Yonge Street” and in Yonge Street historical preservation, Mr. Pontarini said, adding that the 2-8 Gloucester project “shows how development could occur along Yonge Street.”

His slide illustrations showed that the project calls for the 1878 Masonic Hall building at 2 Gloucester (a City-designated heritage building that now contains street-level retail, along with upper-level offices and condo units) to be preserved and restored, while the building at 8 Gloucester Street (listed, but not yet designated by the City as a heritage building) probably would be pushed forward closer to Gloucester at the southeast corner of the site. No decision has yet been made as to whether that building will be moved in its entirety, or dismantled and reassembled in the new location. Currently occupied by a restaurant and a nightclub, 8 Gloucester would become a “retail component” of the condo development, Mr. Pontarini said.

The condo entrance, forecourt and lobby would be situated off Gloucester Street, but the developer and architects are still considering “how to position the entrance,” Mr. Pontarini said. All service access to the condo would be from Gloucester Lane, including access to an elevator that would move cars into and out of the two-level, 34-space underground parking garage. Mr. Pontarini did acknowledge that city planners are “not happy with the transitions” that have been proposed between the tower and the two heritage buildings, and said the developer’s team will have to take another look at their design plans. “We want to do something remarkable because it [2 Gloucester] is a remarkable building,” he said.

Audience reaction to the proposal was mixed. I found it curious that several people who spoke in favour of the development used the exact same words, all saying they wanted to “commend” the developer, and all saying they found the glass tower design “intriguing” and “interesting.” One supporter said he thought the development would be “a plus for the neighbourhood,” while another said she thinks it “will upgrade the neighbourhood and make it more beautiful,” since the project will “improve amenities” in the area. But people who voiced criticism of the development, including several Gloucester Street residents, complained that they haven’t seen any amenity improvements in the area since three major condo towers were built close by on Charles Street.

At least six people objected to the tower’s height, including several who identified themselves as members of the recently-established Church Wellesley Neighbourhood Association (CWNA). One man complained that a 29-storey tower will be “a looming force over the Yonge Street heritage strip,” while another agreed that the tower “doesn’t work with existing buildings” nearby, and “overwhelms” the two heritage buildings incorporated into the development. A third concurred that the project “breaks the context of the low-rise neighbourhood.” 2 Gloucester is “the Crown jewel of Yonge Street between Bloor and College,” he said, but the condo tower would completely “wreck” that context. And a woman who identified herself as a member of the Bay Cloverhill Community Association (BCCA) argued that the condo would be nearly three times too tall as it should be for an area characterized by so many heritage buildings. “The last best piece of heritage left on Yonge Street” is along the strip from Grenville Street to Charles Street, she said, offering the view that “Yonge Street should become a heritage street from top to bottom.” When she asked: “What could you do with a 10-storey building on the lot instead?”, Mr. Hunter replied that it was “not likely” that the developer would work toward building a shorter condo.

Pointing out that most units in the condo tower will be studios or 1-bedrooms, one Gloucester Street resident said she wanted to know “Where do families fit in?” Although the development was being “sensitive to Yonge, what about the side streets?” she asked. “What are you bringing to our neighbourhood?” She noted that, not only would the tower block Mr. Jewison’s office building views and sunlight, but studies showed it would cast shadows on the adjacent Norman Jewison Park — one of the few public green spaces in the area — as early as 3 p.m. each day. Mr. Hunter responded that it was possible some of the condo units could be redesigned in a “convertible” configuration of 2-bedroom plus den or 3-bedroom styles that would be suitable to families. As for what the developer would be doing for the neighbourhood, he said it was proposing “custom crafted” amenities. It had plans to “transform” Gloucester Lane into “a more pedestrian feel,” he said. And while he admitted that the tower would cast afternoon shadows on Norman Jewison Park he said that, with any development, “there are gives and takes.” And, he pointed out, the City’s own mixed-use designation for the site “is meant to accommodate growth.”

Several speakers weren’t critical of the condo plan per se, but of the problems that would be posed by a new building that would bring several hundred more residents into the neighbourhood without a corresponding expansion of city services and resources, especially for transportation. Even though the tower would rise along a subway line, two speakers pointed out that the Yonge subway is already stressed and overcrowded, so adding more residents to the Yonge Street strip will only make a bad problem worse. “That has to be addressed,” said one area resident who complained about subway congestion. Another said it was “incongruous” that the city would consider further intensification in the neighbourhood without balancing that off with improvements to public transit.

And in what I thought was a novel argument, one man said he thought the city must allow the tower to be built because people who will move to downtown Toronto in future years have a “right” to live in buildings such as the one proposed for Gloucester Street.

Getting back to Mr. Jewison, who was upset to learn about what he repeatedly called a “bizarre project” only after the public consultation meeting was scheduled. Mr. Hunter said he had believed someone had contacted Mr. Jewison’s family to discuss the condo development proposal, and had not received any objection to the plan. Nevertheless, he apologized to Mr. Jewison for the oversight in not contacting him directly.

Below are several photos I shot today, showing Mr. Jewison’s building and the proposed condo tower site.

This rendering of the 29-storey condo tower proposed for 2-8 Gloucester Street appears on a zoning application sign posted outside the building site

October 14 2011: The 1878 Masonic Hall heritage building at the northeast corner of Yonge and Gloucester Streets, viewed from the southwest. The proposed condo tower would rise to the right of the five-storey brown brick building.

October 14 2011: Looking northwest from Norman Jewison Park toward the proposed condo tower location at 2-8 Gloucester Street

October 14 2011: The proposed 29-storey condo tower would be built where the two-storey building is situated. Canadian movie producer/director Norman Jewison owns the five-story building on the right, at 18 Gloucester Lane

October 14 2011: Mr. Jewison’s building at 18 Gloucester Lane, viewed from the linear park that the City of Toronto named in the film director’s honour

October 14 2011: Looking up the east side of 18 Gloucester Lane. The 5-storey brick building was constructed in 1878.

October 14 2011: A street-level view of 18 Gloucester Lane, location of the offices for Mr. Jewison’s Yorktown Productions Ltd.

October 14 2011: Looking up at the south side of 18 Gloucester Lane. The proposed condo tower would rise only 3 meters away from Mr. Jewison’s building.

Public gets to give feedback at city meeting tonight for 29-storey Gloucester Street condo proposal

Leave a reply

A community consultation meeting notice posted outside the 519 Church Street Community Centre advertises tonight’s public feedback session …

… for a 29-storey condo tower proposed for 2-8 Gloucester Street, seen here in an illustration on a city zoning notice outside the building site

Public feedback: What do the neighbours think? That’s what city planning officials will find out this evening during a community consultation meeting being held to gather feedback on a condo highrise planned for the northeast corner of Yonge and Gloucester Streets.

The two-hour presentation and question-and-answer session, taking place at the 519 Church Street Community Centre, will review plans for a 29-storey glass condo tower that would rise next to a 5-storey red brick heritage building constructed in 1888 as a Masonic Hall.

The heritage building, now known as Gloucester Mews, has street-level restaurant and retail tenants, and condominium suites on its upper levels. It would be kept intact as part of the proposed highrise condo development. A 2.5-storey semidetached building next door, at 8 Gloucester Street, would be “rehabilitated” and incorporated into the base of the proposed highrise , though the rear of the building and an addition behind 6 Gloucester Street would have to be demolished to make way for the condo tower. 6 Gloucester is currently the location of Fire on the East Side restaurant, while 8 Gloucester is home to Olympic 76 Pizza and Fly Nightclub.

Although the 29-storey height of the proposed tower is modest, and though the development would save the historic Masonic Hall, many people in the area believe the condo highrise has serious drawbacks, and are concerned about its potential negative impact on their neighbourhood.

Besides usual concerns about traffic congestion and related issues posed by increased population density on the street, residents are not happy that the development will eliminate two popular outdoor restaurant patios and require the destruction of several mature shade trees on Gloucester Street. They point out that people are attracted to live downtown not only because of its convenience to transit and workplaces, but also because of the proximity of appealing city amenities like restaurants and bars. And though Torontonians clearly love their downtown patios, fewer than 20 remain on or near Yonge Street along the stretch between Bloor and College Streets. The Fire on the East Side and Olympic 76 Pizza patios will be lost in the 2-8 Gloucester development, while several more patios are threatened by condo development proposals for other nearby Yonge Street locations. Residents worry that the continuing loss of restaurant terraces will rob the neighbourhood of charm, vitality and liveliness. (The street-level Brownstone Bistro & Bar in the Masonic Hall will remain, however, as will its outdoor terrace on Gloucester Street.)

Residents also consider the Yonge-Gloucester intersection to be a gateway to the Church-Wellesley residential area to the east of Yonge Street, and feel that the loss of the tree-shaded patios would be detrimental to this important element of their streetscape. (The building owner told me last month that the trees must be destroyed to permit construction; however, he said he intends to plant as many replacement trees as possible afterwards.) Moreover, there is concern that the tower could cast shadows over adjacent Norman Jewison Park, one of the few public green spaces in the neighbourhood. And some believe that a tall glass box simply doesn’t suit the district’s character.

Below are some recent photos of the 2-8 Gloucester site; additional photos appeared in my June 22 2011 post about the condo proposal.

Development proposal sign outside 2-8 Gloucester Street

July 9 2011: Looking east along Irwin Avenue toward the Masonic Hall building at the corner of Yonge & Gloucester Streets. The proposed 29-storey glass condo tower would rise behind the red brick heritage building.

July 7 2011: The tree-shaded terraces outside Fire on the East Side and Olympic 76 Pizza on Gloucester Street would be lost as a result of the condo development.

July 8 2011: These mature shade trees would be destroyed to permit construction of the condo. However, replacements would be planted afterwards.

June 30 2011: Looking west across Norman Jewison Park toward the Gloucester Street site on which the proposed condo tower would rise

July 8 2011: Gloucester Lane extends from Gloucester Street north to Isabella Street. The 2-8 Gloucester condo tower would rise on the left side of the lane.

July 8 2011: Norman Jewison Park, looking north from Gloucester Street. Some neighbours are concerned about the tower’s shadow impact on this park, one of the few public green spaces in the area.

October 11 2011: The Gloucester Mews (Masonic Hall) building at the northeast corner of Yonge & Gloucester Streets. The Brownstone Bistro & Bar and its outdoor patio on the corner would remain, but the two restaurant terraces to its east would be lost when the condo highrise is constructed.

Condo highrise expected for Church-Wellesley site sold by cancer patient support centre for $4.5M

2 Replies

September 27 2011: The Wellspring property at 81 Wellesley Street East, which includes the 3-storey Odette House, has reportedly been sold for $4.5 million.

Tower proposal coming?: A condo highrise could be in the cards for the Church-Wellesley Village — the heart of Toronto’s lesbian and gay community — if news circulating in the downtown neighbourhood proves to be correct.

According to a Twitter post yesterday by Urbanation, a research and consulting firm that tracks Toronto’s condominium real estate market, 81 Wellesley Street East has been sold for $4.5 million, with a “future high-rise condo site planned.” The property, which includes the 5,000-square-foot, 3-storey Odette house fronting on Wellesley Street, and a 2,200-square-foot, two-storey coach house behind it, was owned by the Wellspring cancer support centre. Wellspring has been providing services to cancer patients, their families and their caregivers in the coach house since 1992, and expanded into Odette House in 2002. The Urbanation tweet did not identify the purchaser, nor did it provide any further details about possible redevelopment plans for the property, which is situated just a stone’s throw from the southeast corner of Church and Wellesley Streets.

However, the tweet did link to a Colliers International real estate listing for the property, which describes 81 Wellesley as a “rare boutique building” that is “free of any historical designation/listing” and offers “development potential.”

Neighbourhood residents weren’t completely surprised by news of the sale, since the Wellspring board of directors had announced nearly a year ago that the popular cancer support facility might have to be relocated and, last November, listed the property for sale. Then, in a June 9 relocation update on its website, Wellspring announced that its board was negotiating terms for a possible sale.

Wellspring decided to sell the property not only since it was outgrowing the site as it provided additional services to meet steadily growing demand, but also because it was becoming too expensive to operate from the two houses. “[t]he property at 81 Wellesley Street East requires a number of expensive repairs and renovations in the near-term, just to be maintained for, and accessible to, the growing number of cancer patients and families it serves,” the board explained in an October 2010 letter to Wellspring members and volunteers.

Although many neighbourhood residents had expected the Wellspring site to be snapped up by a condo developer, they’re now nervously wondering just how big a development might be in store for the long, narrow site. The block already boasts several midrise rental apartment buildings, but some people in the area worry that a tall condo tower could be coming — something they believe would have an adverse impact on the look, feel and character of the local community.

One resident who told me nearly two months ago that the sale of 81 Wellesley was imminent also said he has heard that a developer has a large condo tower in the works for the Wellspring site and the adjacent property to its west — a four-storey brick apartment building with street-level retail at the southeast corner of Church and Wellesley Streets. An H-shaped structure constructed in 1926, that building has street addresses of 77 Wellesley Street East and 501 Church Street. I asked a member of the City’s planning department staff last month if a condo tower has been proposed for the corner, and was told no development applications had been filed. However, the planner did say that since Church & Wellesley is among several downtown areas facing significant “development pressure,” it’s quite possible someone will seek to build a highrise there. (As of today, there were no development proposals for either property listed on the City’s planning application website.)

Below are several photos taken today of 81 Wellesley and the apartment/retail building next door.

September 27 2011: The south side of Wellesley east of Church Street includes the 10-storey rental apartment building at number 85, left, Wellspring’s Odette House at 81, and the 4-storey apartment/retail building on the southeast corner of Church & Wellesley Streets (largely obscured by the tree in front of Odette).

September 27 2011: Wellspring’s Odette House at 81 Wellesley Street East

September 27 2011: Odette House front entrance on Wellesley Street

September 27 2011: Odette House and the coach house at the rear of the lot

September 27 2011: Wellspring began offering services in the coach house in 1992 and acquired Odette House in 2002

September 27 2011: Odette House has not been listed or designated as a heritage property by the City of Toronto

September 27 2011: Odette House viewed from the northeast

September 27 2011: The two-storey coach house at the rear of 81 Wellesley Street East. A parking lot occupies the space between it and Odette House.

September 27 2011: Odette House viewed from the northwest

September 27 2011: The apartment/retail complex at the southeast corner of Church and Wellesley Streets, next door to Odette House.

September 27 2011: There is some speculation in the neighbourhood that a condo tower could be in the works for this property and 81 Wellesley to its east.

September 27 2011: Church Street view of the apartment/retail complex at the southeast corner of Church & Wellesley Streets

Plug pulled on proposal to build 25-storey condo tower on heritage sites at Church & Gloucester

Leave a reply

August 22 2011: Heritage properties on the west side of Church Street between Dundonald and Gloucester Streets. The property owner has withdrawn plans to demolish some of the buildings and construct a condo tower in their place.

«»

Glass ‘shoebox’ shelved: Dozens of residents in the downtown Church & Wellesley neighbourhood breathed a collective sigh of relief earlier this month when a property owner formally withdrew its application to build a 25-storey condo tower on the site of several heritage properties along the west side of Church Street, between Dundonald and Gloucester Streets. The decision not to proceed with the development means, for the near future at least, that five charming brick buildings will not be either completely or partially demolished to make way for the tall glass and steel structure that had been proposed.

The heritage buildings had been threatened by a condo development plan filed with the City on April 9 2010. Property owner Church 18 Holdings Inc. wanted to build a 25-storey glass point tower with a podium ranging in size from 3 to 7 storeys. The project would have required the complete demolition of two listed heritage buildings and a 3-storey brick house built in 1909, along with partial demolition of two additional century-old buildings (also listed heritage properties) from which only the facades would have been retained.

Under Church 18’s proposal, the complex would have contained a total of 193 units, of which 158 would have been condos — in 1- and 2-bedroom configurations — and 35 would have been replacement rental apartments. Condominium facilities and retail space would have occupied the ground level of the new building, while rental apartments would have been situated on floors 2 to 6. Four townhouses and 10 “live-work” units would have been included in the podium. Indoor and outdoor amenity spaces would have been provided on the top (7th) level of the podium, while condominiums would have occupied floors 8 to 25.

The development would have had a profound impact on half a dozen buildings constructed between 1873 and 1911, and would have drastically changed the look of an entire block in the area popularly known as Toronto’s Gay Village. Only one of the buildings would have remained largely intact: 580-582 Church Street, a 3-storey, Second Empire-style semi-detached house constructed in 1878 and added to the City’s Inventory of Heritage Properties in 1979. A popular restaurant location for years, the building presently is home to Fuzion Resto-Lounge and Sugo Trattoria, both of which have attractive outdoor dining terraces fronting on Church Street. The rest of the buildings on the block would not have been as fortunate.

584 Church Street, a 3-storey detached house known as the Catherine Collard House, was built in 1909. In recent decades, it has been used for residential and commercial purposes, and is currently the home of Club 584 Salon and Spa. The building would have been demolished entirely to be replaced by the main entrance to the condominium tower.

592 Church Street is a 3-storey semi-detached building constructed in 1873. Known as the Wallace Millichamp House, it has been a walk-up rental apartment building for decades, and was listed on the City’s Inventory of Heritage Properties in 2009. Only the front facade of the building would have been incorporated into the condo complex; the rest would have been destroyed.

596 Church Street is a 3-storey walk-up apartment building constructed in Edwardian Classical style in 1911 at the southwest corner of Church and Gloucester Streets. Part of the Gloucester Mansions, it was listed as a heritage property in 2009. Immediately to its west is 69 – 71 Gloucester Street, which was constructed in 1875 as a second part of the Wallace Millichamp House (the two buildings actually are connected). It, too, contains rental apartment units. These buildings would have been completely demolished to make way for the condo tower and its podium.

67 Gloucester Street, another part of Gloucester Mansions, is a 3.5-storey walk-up rental apartment building constructed in 1911 and added to the City’s Inventory of Heritage Properties in 2009. Only its front bay and facade would have been retained as part of the condo complex; the rest of the building would have been demolished.

The condo plan drew swift and strong disapproval from the neighbourhood, not only since it proposed the demolition and partial destruction of several beloved heritage buildings, but also because it proposed to demolish nearly three dozen affordable rental apartments, and replace them (with presumably more expensive rental accommodation) in the new building. Indeed, the proposal galvanized area residents into organizing opposition to the development, and was a key catalyst for the creation of the Church Wellesley Neighbourhood Association (CWNA) last year. More than 150 people attended a community consultation meeting that the City held last December to obtain feedback about Church 18’s proposal, and reaction was overwhelmingly negative and critical. Many in the audience applauded and cheered in agreement when one man derided the proposed condo tower as an “ugly glass shoebox.”

City planners didn’t like many aspects of the plan, either. One drew cheers and applause when he told the December meeting that he would be opposing the development because of serious concerns about its proposed height and density, among other reasons. [A May 25 2010 preliminary report by the city planning department described the Church 18 proposal — and the issues it raised — in extensive detail.]

The condo proposal took an unexpected twist that delighted neighbourhood residents during this past winter when, as I reported in my March 14 2011 post, the developer asked the City planning department for a six-month “hold” on its development application. Then, in mid-July, residents were further buoyed when Toronto City Council voted to declare its intention to designate the six historic buildings under the Ontario Heritage Act. [An April 17 2009 planning department report explained why the properties were recommended for inclusion on the city’s inventory of heritage properties, while a separate document elaborated on the historic significance of the Willace Millichamp House at 592 Church Street.]

[“Listing” and “designation” carry different legal weight when demolition or redevelopment is proposed for heritage properties. According to an explanation on the heritage preservation page of the City of Toronto website: “Listing” a property on the Inventory of Heritage Properties allows Heritage Preservation Services to review development and building applications affecting those properties. It also requires the owner to give the City 60 days notice of his or her intention to demolish the property. “Designation” confers a legal status on a property by a specific city by-law under the Ontario Heritage Act and gives City Council the legal authority to refuse an application that will adversely affect the property’s heritage attributes. Designation may fall under one of two categories under the Ontario Heritage Act: Part IV (individual property designation) or Part V (Heritage Conservation District designation). “]

Just 12 days ago, lawyers for Church 18 advised the City that the development applications were being withdrawn. Area residents and members of the Church Wellesley Neighbourhood Association were thrilled to learn that the city had closed its files for the application, and even happier to see the project proposal signs being removed from the property several days later. However, their relief that the project isn’t proceeding has been tempered by the realization that the property owner can bring another redevelopment plan forward at any time. Unless and until that happens, the buildings will continue to grace Church and Gloucester Streets with their history, charm and character.

Below are recent photos of the Church and Gloucester Street heritage buildings.

580 Church Street, left, is home to Fuzion Resto-Lounge, while #582, right, is the location of Sugo Trattoria. Both restaurants have outdoor terraces.

584 Church Street, center, is the former Catherine Collard House, built in 1909. It would have been destroyed and replaced by the condo tower entrance.

584 Church Street, left, currently is home to Club 584 Salon and Spa, while 592 Church Street, right, has been a rental apartment building for decades

The Wallace Millichamp House at 592 Church Street was built in 1873. Only its facade would have been retained if the condo plan had proceeeded.

The Gloucester Mansions apartment building at 596 Church Street was built in 1911. It would have been destroyed to make way for a condo tower

71 Gloucester Street, left, is part of the Gloucester Mansion apartment building on the SW corner of Church Street. Number 69 Gloucester, right, is connected to the Wallace Millichamp House at 592 Church Street. Both would have been demolished if the 25-storey condo tower project had proceeded.

Only the facade of the Gloucester Mansions apartment building at 67 Gloucester Street would have been retained in the condo development plan that was withdrawn by the property owner two weeks ago

One of the condo development proposal signs that had been posted on the property for the past year. The signs were removed August 23.

Condo tower in the works for site of heritage office building on Dundonald St. near Yonge & Wellesley

Leave a reply

August 19 2011: This office building at 17 Dundonald Street was built in 1956. Included on the City’s inventory of heritage properties, it is considered culturally significant as an early example of the Modern style of architecture.

Tall “cube” coming? A developer is planning a condo highrise for 17 Dundonald Street in the Yonge & Wellesley area — but the tower’s projected floor count apparently is up in the air.

People living on and near Dundonald Street say various sources — including their city councillor — have told them a new development is in the works for the property, currently the site of a 2.5-storey office building situated just a stone’s throw from the Wellesley subway station. Constructed in 1956 as the Commercial Travellers’ Association of Canada Building, the low-rise office structure was designed by the Toronto architecture firm Weir Cripps and Associates.

The building is included on the city’s inventory of heritage properties; in fact, on June 8 2010, Toronto City Council adopted an “Intention to Designate” for the property. In an April 21 2010 background report presented to city councillors and the Toronto Preservation Board, city planners stated that 17 Dundonald had “cultural heritage value” worthy of designation under the Ontario Heritage Act. “As a small-scaled office building, the Commercial Travellers’ Association of Canada Building (1956) is an early and representative example of the Modern style with design merit that through its scale supports and maintains the prevailing character of Dundonald Street as the location of low-rise buildings,” the report explained.

The report, along with a notice of intention to designate published on the City’s website, said some of 17 Dundonald’s heritage attributes include: its “scale, form and massing”; “the near-square plan under a flat roof”; “the cladding, employing concrete, turquoise-hued glazed brick, travertine, aluminium and glass”; the organization of the building’s north facade into four bays; and the placement of the building itself, with a “small landscaped forecourt” separating it from the street. (The report provides extensive interesting information about the history and design of the building; it’s well worth a read.)

At present, 17 Dundonald is surrounded by residential properties, including the Terrace Court townhouses and low-rise condominium complex on its east side, the 24-storey Continental Tower apartment building on its west flank, and 22 Condominiums, a tower rising 23-storeys to its immediate south at 22 Wellesley Street East.

Area residents say Ward 27 City Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam has told meetings of neighbourhood condo owners that a developer has been discussing redevelopment proposals for 17 Dundonald with city planners. Their intention, apparently, is to construct a highrise condo building in a Cubist style intended to emulate the Modernist architecture of the office building it will replace. But I’ve heard conflicting information about just how tall the building might be: 18, 19, 25 and 30 storeys are the floor counts people have mentioned. Word on the street is that a tower taller than the nearby 22 Condominiums and Continental Tower (23 and 24 storeys, respectively) doesn’t sit well with city planners, who feel too much height would be out of character for Dundonald Street. So far there has been no word on the identity of either the proposed building’s developer or the architectural firm designing it.

Below are some recent photos of 17 Dundonald and its neighbours.

July 8 2011: Looking west along Dundonald Street toward the office building at # 17. The Terrace Court condo townhomes (left) sit to the east, while the 24-storey Continental Tower, built in 1971, rises to the west.

July 8 2011: The north and east sides of the building

«»

July 8 2011: The building’s cladding includes concrete, glass, travertine, aluminium and glazed brick with a distinctive turquoise hue

July 8 2011: Two of 17 Dundonald’s neighbours include Terrace Court, an 8-storey condo and townhouse complex at 19-29 Dundonald Street (left), and the 22 Condominiums tower behind it on Wellesley Street

July 8 2011: The building was designed by Weir Cripps & Associates Architects

July 8 2011: Looking towards 17 Dundonald from the northwest, outside the Continental Tower apartment building at 15 Dundonald Street.

July 13 2011: A walkway between the two fences at the west side of the building links Dundonald Street to Wellesley Street and the Wellesley subway station

July 13 2011: The north facade and recessed front entrance to 17 Dundonald

July 13 2011: A city planning report says the placement of the main entrance in a recessed and glazed bay, with a protective angled canopy, is one of the building’s important heritage attributes

«»

July 13 2011: The driveway separates the office building from its Terrace Court condo and townhouse neighbours at 19 – 29 Dundonald Street

August 19 2011: The main entrance is set in one of four bays on the north facade

August 19 2011: The angled canopy above the double aluminum front doors

August 19 2011: The west wall of 17 Dundonald and the north side of 22 Condominiums, viewed from the pedestrian walkway linking Dundonald and Wellesley Streets alongside the Wellesley subway station

«»

August 19 2011: The west wall of 17 Dundonald Street catches some evening sun and reflects the Continental Tower apartment building next door

August 19 2011: There are five bays along the building’s west elevation

August 19 2011: The south wall has turquoise-hued brick at its southwest corner. Next door is the brown brick wall of the 8-storey Terrace Court condo.

August 19 2011: 22 Condominiums rises to the south at 22 Wellesley Street East

August 19 2011: 22 Condominiums was built by Lanterra Developments in 2007

August 19 2011: Peter Clewes of architectsAlliance designed 22 Condominiums

August 19 2011: Balconies at the northwest corner of 22 Condominiums

Sales starting soon for 9-storey, 38-suite luxury condo development at Davenport & Hazelton

Leave a reply

This building illustration appears on promotional signage at the corner site of the proposed 133 Hazelton Residences luxury condo project

Another promotional sign for 133 Hazelton Residences

Launch date approaching: A former high-end office interior design showroom on Davenport Road is being transformed into a sales centre for a high-end luxury condominium development proposed for the Yorkville neighbourhood.

Mizrahi Khalili Developments of Toronto has planned a 9-storey, 38-suite luxury condominium building for the southeast corner of Davenport Road and Hazelton Avenue, the former Yorkville location of plan b office (now situated at 380 King Street East). The 1-storey plan b building at 195 Davenport Road is currently under renovation for a September reincarnation as a condo showroom, while security fencing around the property is draped with signs advertising the exclusive 133 Hazelton Residences project.

According to the developer’s May 16 2011 rezoning application, 133 Hazelton will offer 130 square meters of ground-level retail space with 38 condominium residences on the floors above. The building will rise 31.5 meters (not including the mechanical penthouse), and will have an underground garage with 79 parking spots. Residences will be priced from $1 million to more than $7 million. The building is a design of Page + Steele IBI Group Architects, with interiors by Gluckstein Design.

With its September sales debut, 133 Hazelton will be the second posh condo project launched this year on Hazelton Avenue , a quiet leafy street lined with expensive brick mansions, townhouses, apartments, galleries and shops. Earlier this year, Alterra Group and Zinc Developments opened a sales centre for 36 Hazelton, a 7-storey, 18-suite boutique condo being built on the site of the historic St Basil’s Catholic School. That project was designed by Quadrangle Architects Limited, with interiors by Chapman Design Group Ltd. 36 Hazelton made international headlines in June when the project’s publicity firm announced that Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg had just purchased the 4,600-square-foot penthouse for $12 million. Will 133 Hazelton have similar star-drawing success? Stay tuned.

In the meantime, below are recent photos of the 133 Hazelton project site, along with some pics of the 36 Hazelton property. Additional information and photos of 36 Hazelton are available in my March 26 2011 post.

133 Hazelton Residences development proposal sign

133 Hazelton building illustration from the development proposal sign

133 Hazelton Residences condo development site plan

Google maps image of 195 Davenport Road when it was the showroom for plan b office, before the 133 Hazelton project was announced

July 13 2011: Promotional signage for 133 Hazelton Residences surrounds the condo site at 195 Davenport Road, just blocks from the new Four Seasons Hotel + Private Residences Toronto (left rear).

July 13 2011: Another view of the 133 Hazelton Residences project site at the southeast corner of Davenport Road and Hazelton Avenue

July 17 2011: A view of the site from the north side of Davenport Road

July 13 2011: The former plan b office showroom is being converted into a sales centre for the new condo project

July 17 2011: Looking west along Davenport Road toward the condo site and office/retail buildings at the SW corner of Hazelton Avenue

July 13 2011: Looking southeast along Davenport Road toward the 133 Hazelton Residences location

July 13 2011: Hazelton Avenue view of the condo development site

July 13 2011: Northeasterly view of the site from Hazelton Avenue

July 13 2011: 133 Hazelton’s immediate neighbour to the south, this brown brick office building at 131 Hazelton Avenue, used to be a cosmetic surgery institute

August 14 2011: Promotional signs for 133 Hazelton cover the security fencing around the development site

August 14 2011: Renovation work underway to transform the former showroom at 195 Davenport Road into the condo sales centre

August 14 2011: The developer anticipates a September launch for its new condo showroom, seen here from the west side of Hazelton Avenue

July 13 2011: The 36 Hazelton condo presentation centre on the project development site, the former St Basil’s Catholic School in Yorkville

July 13 2011: A 36 Hazelton building illustration on a billboard outside the presentation centre. Hollywood actor Mark Wahlberg has purchased the 4,600-square-foot penthouse for $12 million.

July 13 2011: Billboard outside the 36 Hazelton development site

July 13 2011: Window and brickwork details on the former St Basil’s School building that will be incorporated into the condo development

July 13 2011 The northeast corner of the St Basil’s School building

April 23 2011: 36 Hazelton Avenue seen prior to the opening of the condominium presentation centre

Burano climbs into the 40 floors+ condo tower club

Leave a reply

August 12 2011: Burano Condos, seen from the SE corner of Bay and College. The tower has climbed to 40 floors atop its 2-storey heritage building base.

Bay Street beauty: The Burano condo tower has become the newest member of Toronto’s steadily growing club of buildings taller than 40 storeys. On Friday, I counted 40 full floors of concrete, glass and steel rising from Burano’s two-storey base, a reconstructed heritage building that once was home to the Addison on Bay auto dealership. That means construction crews have only 10 more floors to build before Burano tops off: eight additional condominium levels, plus a two-storey mechanical penthouse.

Burano has looked impressive for months as the trapezoid-shaped tower has gradually climbed higher on the downtown skyline. With its angled south wall accenting Bay Street’s bend to the west at Grenville Street, and the striking, sharp points at its northeast and southwest corners, the Burano tower attracts attention from all directions. Its base will make an equally dramatic architectural statement once its three-storey glass lobby is installed on Grosvenor Street.

A project by Lanterra Developments, Burano Condos was designed by Peter Clewes of Toronto’s architectsAlliance.

Below are several photos showing Burano’s construction progress during the summer. Additional photos can be viewed in my four previous blog posts on the project: June 11 2011, March 29 2011, February 21 2011, and January 7 2011.

June 14 2011: This view from Grenville Street shows Burano, left, and the two Murano condo towers built by the same developer and architectural team.

June 14 2011: Grenville Street view of Burano’s southwest corner

June 14 2011: The tower’s south wall is comprised entirely of windows. There are balconies only on the east and west sides of the building.

June 14 2011: One of the Murano condo towers reflects in Burano’s south windows while a construction elevator climbs the west wall

June 14 2011: A view from the south of the Burano Condos tower rising above the upper level of its two-storey restored heritage building base

June 21 2011: The former Addison on Bay auto dealership building has been completely rebuilt on the Burano site

June 21 2011: Another view of the reconstructed Addison building

June 21 2011: This billboard on the Bay Street sidewalk hoarding illustrates the dramatic glass lobby planned for Grosvenor Street

June 28 2011: A concrete pumping machine at work atop the Burano condo tower

July 1 2011: Burano condo tower viewed from SE corner of Bay & College Streets

July 13 2011: The upper south side of the Burano condo tower

July 15 2011: Condos on the tower’s north side

July 15 2011: Looking up the tower’s south and east sides

July 15 2011: The upper south side of the tower

July 15 2011: North side windows and west wall balconies

July 15 2011: Wall and floor forms on the tower’s south side

July 15 2011: Grosvenor Street view of the Murano condo towers, left, and the north side of the Burano tower

July 15 2011: Looking up the tower’s east and north sides

July 15 2011: The tower makes a strong point at its northeast corner

July 15 2011: Balconies near the tower’s northeast corner

July 15 2011: A peek inside some of the condos on the north side

July 15 2011: Windows on the north wall

July 17 2011: Burano viewed from College Street just west of University Avenue

July 22 2011: A view from my balcony of workers atop the Burano tower

July 24 2011: Looking up the south side of the tower

July 24 2011: Balconies on the west wall and windows on the south

July 24 2011: The south side of the tower is a tall wall of windows

July 24 2011: Wellesley Street view of the Murano condos, left, and Burano

July 31 2011: My balcony view of the crane atop Burano at sunset

July 27 2011: Upper floors of the tower viewed from the west

August 2 2011: My balcony view of a concrete pumper at work atop Burano

August 12 2011: Windows on the tower’s south side

August 12 2011: The Burano tower, left, its heritage building base, center, and the south Murano condo tower on the east side of Bay Street, right

August 12 2011: Looking up the tower’s west and south sides

August 12 2011: Looking up the tower’s west side

August 12 2011: Looking up the tower’s east side

Ripe for redevelopment: Will offices or condos rise from the demolition dust at 90 Harbour Street?

4 Replies

July 1 2011: Constructed in 1953 as the Ontario Workmen’s Compensation Board Building, 90 Harbour Street was headquarters for the Ontario Provincial Police from 1975 to 1989. It has been vacant since then, apart from occasional short-term occupation for film productions.

The five-storey stone frontispiece on 90 Harbour Street’s front (south) facade. The building is a blend of Art Deco, Art Moderne and Modern Classical styles.

The building’s first floor base is clad in polished black granite, while the upper floors are clad in buff brick. The window trim is limestone.

July 17 2011: Demolition of the building’s west wing gets underway

July 17 2011: A mound of rubble beneath two holes smashed in the west wall

Prime location: A 2.5-acre piece of property being touted as one of the last major development sites available in downtown Toronto is up for grabs near Harbourfront.

The Ontario Realty Corporation is selling 90 Harbour Street, a building originally constructed in 1953 as offices for the Ontario Workmen’s Compensation Board and subsequently used as headquarters for the Ontario Provincial Police. With frontage on Lake Shore Boulevard, York Street and Harbour Street, the five-storey structure occupies a prime piece of real estate in an area currently experiencing a massive building boom.

Just a short walk from Union Station, 90 Harbour is situated directly across Lake Shore Blvd. from the recently completed Maple Leaf Square office, condo, hotel, retail, and restaurant development. It also sits kitty-corner to York Centre, where four condo towers are currently under construction for two different building projects: ÏCE Condominiums and Infinity3 Condominiums. Immediately to the north of those is the Southcore Financial Centre, where the 26-storey PwC office tower at 18 York Street is nearing completion and where construction has commenced on two more highrise buildings: the 30-storey Bremner Tower and the 45-storey Delta Toronto hotel tower. And just south of 90 Harbour, a 30-storey office building has been proposed as Phase III of Waterpark Place across the street.

When I passed by 90 Harbour at the beginning of this month, Ontario Realty Corporation “for sale” signs were posted at several places on the property, but public parking lots were still operating on the east and west sides of the building. When I passed by this afternoon the signs were gone, the entire property was surrounded by blue security fencing, and a Progreen Demolition machine was working next to a large mound of rubble on the west side of the building, beneath two large holes that had been smashed into the brown brick wall.

The demolition work will disappoint any city heritage buffs who may have been hoping that the building might be retained as part of any new development project. The City of Toronto had intended to designate 90 Harbour as a heritage building several years ago because of its “cultural heritage value” as “a representative example of a mid-20th Century office building that blends features of the three prevalent styles of the period.” As a “reasons for listing” document explained: “While the symmetry, cladding and profile reflect Modern Classical styling, the stepped plan and vertical elements recall Art Deco and the band windows are identified with the Art Moderne. All three styles were introduced in the 1920s and remained popular until the International Style or Modern Movement gained acceptance in the 1960s.” However, the City could not proceed with the heritage designation because it did not have authority, under Ontario law, to impose such a designation on provincial government property. The City subsequently withdrew its notice of intention to designate, and issued a demolition permit on February 14 2011.

So what’s in store for 90 Harbour? I wasn’t able to find out today if any parts of the facade or other building elements will be saved, or if the building will be demolished completely. However, the ad on the Ontario Realty Corporation website does state that “Proposed development scenarios and designs have continued to retain heritage elements of the existing structure.” The website also points out that the property has “excellent” potential for commercial and residential development and is bound to “build off the success of established and proposed commercial and residential developments along the Harbourfront” as well as the new “office and residential projects immediately to the north.” I will follow up once I learn of any development plans for the site.

Below is an aerial photo that appears on the Ontario Realty Corporation website flyer for 90 Harbour, showing the property’s location in downtown Toronto, along with some of my own recent photos of the building.

Ontario Realty Corporation website photo showing the location of 90 Harbour Street between Harbourfront and the Gardiner Expressway

July 1 2011: 90 Harbour Street seen from the intersection of York Street and Lake Shore Boulevard, looking to the northeast

June 22 2011: A for sale sign posted outside the property on York Street

June 22 2011: Looking north from the parking lot on the west side of 90 Harbour Street toward the PwC office tower at 18 York Street (left) and the Maple Leaf Square condo/office/retail/restaurant/hotel development

June 22 2011: To the south of 90 Harbour are the Waterpark Place office towers (left), the 33 Harbour Square condos (center) and the 55 Harbour Square condos

July 1 2011: 90 Harbour viewed from York Street, looking east. The two condos in the background are the Pinnacle Success Tower and the 33 Bay Residences at the Pinnacle Centre, both on Harbour between Bay and Yonge Streets.

February 18 2011: The Toronto Harbour Commission building at 60 Harbour Street on the east side of 90 Harbour

July 1 2011: The CN Tower and Maple Leaf Square condo towers rise behind 90 Harbour, viewed here from the parking lot on the east side of the building

July 1 2011: Looking east along the front facade of 90 Harbour Street

July 1 2011: The dilapidated condition of the front lawn and wheelchair entrance created an eyesore outside an otherwise attractive building

July 1 2011: A “for sale” sign outside the building’s former main entrance

July 1 2011: Broken windows on the front facade of 90 Harbour Street

July 1 2011: The building’s 3-storey west wing and the 5-floor center section.

July 1 2011: A view of the west wing from the Harbour Street sidewalk

July 1 2011: Looking toward the CN Tower from the west parking lot

July 1 2011: 90 Harbour viewed from the corner of York St. and Lake Shore Blvd.

July 17 2011: Security fencing along the northeast perimeter of the property

July 17 2011: Demolition activity at the west wing of 90 Harbour

July 17 2011: Demolition machine working beside the west wing of 90 Harbour

July 17 2011: Water sprays control dust during demolition activity at 90 Harbour

July 17 2011: Water sprays control dust from the huge pile of rubble

July 17 2011: Only one demolition machine was working on the site today

July 17 2011: A closer look at the two gaping holes in the wall of the west wing

Glass cladding installation adds shape & sheen to new Bridgepoint Hospital being built in Riverdale

3 Replies

July 13 2011: Glass cladding gradually encloses floors of the new Bridgepoint Hospital under construction in Riverdale (seen here looking to the northeast from the Gerrard Street bridge above the Don Valley Parkway)

July 13 2011: Cabbagetown view of cladding along the lower west wall

July 13 2011: Closer view of cladding on the lower west wall

July 13 2011: A glass wall segment on the west side of the building

July 13 2011: Cladding installation on the building’s southwest corner

July 13 2011: Cladding along the south side of the building, facing Gerrard Street

July 13 2011: Glass cladding installation in the southeast corner

July 13 2011: A cloud reflects in a panel on the south side of the building

July 13 2011: A construction worker appears to emerge from clouds as he works behind one of the newly installed glass wall panels

July 13 2011: Glass cladding installation along the east side of the hospital building

Glass goes on: One long-familiar city landmark is set to disappear while a notorious historical building under restoration close by is going to get a new lease on life serving a function completely different from its original purpose. The Bridgepoint Health hospital building near the northwest corner of Broadview Avenue and Gerrard Streets has been a landmark for decades. Standing on a Riverdale hillside overlooking the Don Valley, the distinctive semicircular building has been seen daily by thousands of commuters driving up and down the Don Valley Parkway, or crossing over the valley and the Don River on either the Bloor Street Viaduct or one of the east-west bridges farther south that connects Riverdale to downtown. But construction of a new hospital building has been taking attention away from the curved structure for months — and in two years’ time, the old Bridgepoint building will disappear from the landscape altogether.

Originally established in 1860 as a House of Refuge for “incurables and the indigent poor,” Bridgepoint evolved into an institution renowned for specialized care, research and education for complex chronic disease and multiple lifelong illnesses. In the process, it outgrew its dated and inefficient building, and desperately needed to redevelop its facilities to better cope with steadily increasing demand for care and services. In 2006, the City of Toronto approved a Community Master Plan that gave Bridgepoint the green light to construct a new 472-bed hospital facility as part of a comprehensive neighbourhood redevelopment program that will revitalize a vast swath of land northwest of the Broadview-Gerrard intersection, including the historic Don Jail and two heritage buildings nearby.

Converting the historic jail into part of a state-of-the-art health care facility is arguably one of the most intriguing elements of the Bridgepoint redevelopment. Built in 1864, the Don Jail was designed by William Thomas, the same architect who designed Toronto’s St. Lawrence Hall on King Street East at Jarvis Street. The jail was closed in 1977; a “new jail” has been operating right next door ever since, but will itself be closed and then demolished once a new detention centre has been opened in Etobicoke. Restoration work on the “old” Don Jail started last year and is currently in full swing. According to the Preserving the Historic Don Jail information page on the Bridgepoint website, the building exterior is being restored and preserved, and will be linked to the new hospital building by a modern glass bridge. Inside, the building’s rotunda will be restored to its original splendour. The rotunda once featured a glass floor, which at some point was covered over, along with a skylight, which was similarly tiled in. Both will be uncovered during the restoration process, and the rotundra will become a publicly-accessible space for community and hospital events. “On the second level, walkways run the circumference of the rotunda and are held up by wrought-iron gargoyles (dragons and snakes). The walkways, the gargoyles and the wrought-iron railings along the walkways will all be preserved. As well, a group of cells in the basement and the gallows will be retained in their original state for historical purposes,” the website states.

When complete, the Bridgepoint campus will include the new hospital, the Bridgepoint Collaboratory for Research and Innovation, Bridgepoint Family Health Team primary care services, and the Bridgepoint Health Foundation. Toronto firms Stantec and KPMB Architects developed the “design exemplar” for the Bridgepoint request for proposals process, while the project’s architects of record — HDR Architects and Diamond + Schmitt Architects — worked from that exemplar to develop a final design that met compliance requirements. Construction of the new hospital commenced in 2009 and is scheduled for completion in 2013. Renovation of the Don Jail began last year and is expected to finish in 2012. Demolition of the existing hospital, along with the Toronto Jail facility to the east of the Don Jail building, is anticipated to take place between April and June of 2013.

Below are renderings of the new hospital building as they appear on the Bridgepoint website, along with photos I’ve taken showing construction progress at various stages.

September 26 2010: Riverdale Park view of the current Bridgepoint Hospital

This architectural rendering from the Bridgepoint Health website offers an aerial view suggesting how the Bridgepoint campus in Riverdale will look in several years with the new hospital (left), and the restored historic Don Jail (right)

This architectural rendering from the Bridgepoint website suggests how the hospital will look when viewed from the southwest on Gerrard Street

Another architectural rendering, from the project website, showing a Gerrard Street view of the new hospital and restored Don Jail

Also from the project website, a rendering that depicts how the hospital will appear when viewed from the northeast, in Riverdale Park

Above is a rendering of the hospital viewed from the east, while below …

… is a rendering showing a view of the hospital from one of the footbridges that crosses the Don Valley to the northwest of the project site

April 27 2010: From the Bridgepoint website, an aerial view of the excavation underway immediately west of the present hospital and the Don Jail

October 27 2010: A photo I took from Cabbagetown, to the west, of three construction cranes at the Bridgepoint hospital construction site …

… and, from the Bridgepoint Health website, a photo showing an aerial view of the construction site on the very same day

Bridgepoint redevelopment proposal sign posted on Gerrard Street East

March 27 2011 : Bridgepoint hospital construction sign on Gerrard Street

March 27 2011: Riverdale Park view of the north side of the semicircular Bridgepoint Hospital. This building will be demolished — likely in early 2013 — after the new hospital is finished and occupied.

March 27 2011: Riverdale Park view of the present hospital, left, and the new facility under construction next door to its immediate west

March 27 2011: Riverdale Park view of construction of the hospital’s north side

March 27 2011: The present hospital building, seen from Broadview Avenue

March 27 2011: Construction viewed from the southwest on Gerrard Street

March 27 2011: Construction progress viewed from the parking lot situated to the southeast of the building site

March 27 2011: View from the southeast of ground floor construction progress

March 27 2011: Construction progress on the south side of the building

March 27 2011: Looking up at the southeast corner of the new hospital building

March 27 2011: Parking lot view of the southeast corner of the new building (left), the present hospital (center) and the west wing of the Don Jail (right)

March 27 2011: Looking northeast from the parking lot at restoration activity underway on the exterior of the historic Don Jail building

March 27 2011: Exterior restoration work on the Don Jail’s west wing

March 27 2011: The central rotunda section of the Don Jail

March 27 2011: The Don Jail’s main entrance and rotunda will be accessible to the public for community uses and public gallery space. it also will be used for hospital events and lectures.

March 27 2011: Architectural details on the front of the Don Jail building

March 27 2011: The “Father Time” sculpture above the Don Jail main entrance

March 27 2011: The upper southeast corner of the Don Jail, built in 1864

March 27 2011: The east wing of the “old” Don Jail and the adjacent “new” jail, which will be closed and then demolished once a new detention centre has been constructed in the west end of the city

March 27 2011: Gerrard Street view of the Don Jail and the “new” jail (right).

March 27 2011: Two historic houses will be retained on the Bridgepoint property along Gerrard Street. New park grounds will enhance this area.

March 27 2011: The west side of the jail’s former gatekeeper house. The building will be retained and incorporated into the new park area.

March 27 2011: The former Governor’s House at 562 Gerrard Street East will be retained and restored as part of the Bridgepoint redevelopment project

March 27 2011: The Governor’s House sits next door to the Riverdale branch of the Toronto Public Library. The library entrance, at the northwest corner of Broadview Avenue and Gerrard Street East, is seen here.

March 27 2011: Gerrard Street view of construction on the southwest corner of the hospital building

March 27 2011: Bridgepoint hospital construction progress viewed from the Gerrard Street bridge above the Don Valley Parkway

March 27 2011: Hospital construction viewed from the Gerrard Street bridge

March 27 201: Bridgepoint Hospital construction progress viewed from from a park below the Cabbagetown neighbourhood on the west side of the Don Valley

June 21 2011: Riverdale Park view of the Bridgepoint Health hospital buildings

June 21 2011: Construction progress on the south end of the new building

June 21 2011: Exterior restoration work on the Don Jail building

June 21 2011 The exterior of the Don Jail is being restored and preserved. The Jail will be connected to the new hospital by a modern glass bridge.

June 21 2011: Restoration activity on the east wing of the Don Jail

June 21 2011: Hospital construction progress viewed from the southwest

June 21 2011: Construction progress viewed from the Gerrard Street bridge

July 13 2011: The new hospital rises above Gerrard Street. Below is an online album containing dozens more photos of the hospital construction.

New Casey House HIV/AIDS health care building will restore 1875 heritage mansion at Jarvis & Isabella

1 Reply

July 6 2011: This city heritage-designated mansion at 571 Jarvis Street — the William R. Johnston House from 1875 — will be restored and incorporated into the Casey House redevelopment proposed for the corner of Jarvis & Isabella Streets …

… however, this coach house at 119 Isabella Street (seen on March 1 2011) would be demolished during construction of the new HIV/AIDS care facility. A city heritage-listed property, the coach house was built in 1889.

Casey House: The city has scheduled a community consultation meeting for tomorrow evening (July 7) to obtain neighbourhood input on a redevelopment proposal that would see a new Casey House HIV/AIDS health care facility constructed along the south side of Isabella Street, between Jarvis and Huntley Streets. The new building would include a five-storey structure rising behind and attached to the William R. Johnston House at 571 Jarvis Street, a brick mansion built in 1875. Used as offices for decades, the grey-painted mansion (affectionately called “The Grey Lady” by neighbourhood residents) would be restored as part of the Casey House redevelopment. From its 22.7-metre peak height behind the mansion, the new building would terrace down to three storeys toward Huntley Street, where the entrance to an underground parking garage would be situated — directly across the street from the existing Casey House hospice at the southeast corner of Huntley & Isabella.

Although Toronto heritage building enthusiasts will be relieved that the historic mansion will be saved and incorporated into the new facility, they undoubtedly will be dismayed that a handsome 122-year-old coach house at 119 Isabella Street will be destroyed during construction. Built at the southwest corner of Huntley & Isabella in 1889, the coach house is currently used by Casey House for administration and training space. Since it couldn’t be included in the new building design, its demise appears likely — unless an individual or organization with property to which the coach house could be relocated steps in to save it.

Established as Canada’s first free-standing HIV/AIDS hospice in 1988, Casey House is a 13-bed specialty hospital funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. Community programming initiatives, including a Home Hospice Program, counselling, nursing and outreach services, are funded primarily through donations to Casey House Foundation.

The new building will enable Casey House to double its capacity to meet increasing needs for its services, and to develop a Day Health Program that the Casey House website says will be “a centre of excellence in HIV/AIDS clinical care, education and research.” To this end, Casey House is undertaking a capital redevelopment campaign to raise $10 million. (Final renderings aren’t publicly available yet because Casey House needs approval from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care before it proceeds with detailed building designs, CEO Stephanie Karapita told me today.)

Below are photos I’ve taken in recent months of the Casey House redevelopment site, including the mansion at 571 Jarvis and the coach house on Isabella Street, along with the present Casey House facility at 9 Huntley Street. The community consultation meeting about the Casey House project is scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Wellesley Community Centre.

July 6 2011: The 571 Jarvis Street mansion which will become part of the new Casey House facility, seen here from the west side of Jarvis this morning.

July 6 2011: Lush foliage obscures street views of the front entrance to the William R. Johnston House at 571 Jarvis Street

April 7 2011: The 571 Jarvis Street mansion viewed from the southwest corner of Jarvis and Isabella Streets. The new Casey House facility would rise above “The Grey Lady” mansion and extend east to Huntley Street.

April 7 2011: A view from the west side of Jarvis Street toward the Casey House development site. The new health care building will rise in the area that appears in the middle of this photo (behind the tall evergreen tree).

April 7 2011: The enormous Rogers Communications office building looms large above the 571 Jarvis Street mansion (right)

April 5 2011: A spring look at The Grey Lady mansion from Jarvis Street, before seasonal greenery obscures much of it from view

April 30 2011: A rental apartment building at 10 Huntley Street rises behind the 571 Jarvis Street mansion.

April 30 2011: Looking toward the south side of 571 Jarvis Street from the parking lot behind the 10 Huntley Street apartment building. The highrise building at right rear is the James Cooper Mansion Condos, a project noteworthy for having incorporated a restored historic mansion into the new building.

April 30 2011: A closer view of the south side of The Grey Lady mansion

April 30 2011: Southeast view of The Grey Lady mansion from the 10 Huntley Street apartment building parking lot next door

April 30 2011: Two 11-storey rental apartment buildings face the Casey House building site from the west side of Jarvis Street.

March 1 2011: The north side of The Grey Lady mansion along Isabella Street

March 1 2011: A view of The Grey Lady from the north side of Isabella Street

March 1 2011: Windows overlooking Isabella Street. The exterior of The Grey Lady will get a much-needed sprucing up when the new Casey House is built.

March 1 2011: The property between 571 Jarvis Street (right) and the 119 Isabella Street coach house (partially visible at left) is presently used for parking. The new Casey House building will occupy this entire area.

March 1 2011: Pedestrians will access the new building from Isabella Street

April 30 2011: The east side of The Grey Lady mansion

April 30 2011: Looking towards The Grey Lady mansion from the east side of the parking lot near the coach house that will be demolished

April 30 2011: Besides the huge Rogers Communication headquarters, several townhouses and a 110-year-old building (far right) sit on the north side of Isabella Street, directly opposite the Casey House development site.

February 28 2011: The west side of the 119 Isabella Street coach house

April 30 2011: Another view of the west side of the coach house

February 28 2011: The courtyard entrance to the coach house, off Isabella Street

March 1 2011: A view of the coach house from the northeast corner of Huntley & Isabella Streets

March 1 2011: The Samuel R Wickett House sits at 122 & 124 Isabella Street, directly across the street from the coach house. It was constructed in 1901.

March 1 2011: The present Casey House hospice building at the southeast corner of Huntley and Isabella Streets. No decision has yet been made as to what will be done with this property once the new Casey House facility has been built.

April 2 2011: The north side of Casey House hospice, facing Isabella Street

April 2 2011: The west side of Casey House Hospice at 9 Huntley Street

April 2 2011: A Huntley Street view of the coach house that will be demolished when the new Casey House building is constructed. This will be the location of the entrance to the underground parking garage.

Condo tower in the works for 2 Gloucester Street?

3 Replies

June 22 2011: Constructed in 1888, the Gloucester Mews building at 2 Gloucester St. / 601 Yonge St. was originally a Masonic Hall. A rezoning application for the property has been filed with the City.

How big? How tall?: Originally constructed as a Masonic Hall, and currently housing loft condos, retail shops and restaurants, the elegant red brick Gloucester Mews building that has graced the northeast corner of Yonge & Gloucester Streets for the past 123 years could soon become part of a condo tower development project.

According to a development projects entry on the City’s website, an official plan amendment and rezoning application for 2 Gloucester Street was filed earlier this month. However, the website provides no further details about the June 10 application, such as the size or height of whatever building a developer may be planning for the site.

It’s no secret that the heritage building and its next-door neighbours to the east — the Fire on the East Side restaurant and bar at 6 Gloucester Street, along with Olympic 76 Pizza and Fly Nightclub at 8 Gloucester Street — have been in property developers’ sightlines for quite some time. Architects and urban planning consultants identified the properties as a suitable condo tower site several years ago, and city planners told public meetings I attended this past spring that highrise condo development on the corner site was inevitable. Also this spring, word circulated amongst area residents that the Fire on the East Side building had been sold to a developer. What hasn’t been certain, though, is just how big and how tall a developer will seek to build there. I expect those details will be released soon. And until that information is available, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the Gloucester Mews — one of my favourite downtown buildings — will be retained as part of whatever development occurs, rather than being reduced to a mere facade. I’m sure many Toronto heritage enthusiasts will be hoping and praying that it’s left alone, too, but I won’t be surprised if it isn’t.

According to architectural journalist Patricia McHugh’s Toronto Architecture: A City Guide (Mercury Books 1985), the Gloucester Mews/Masonic Hall was for “many years the tallest building on Yonge Street north of Dundas.” She noted that the Masons met in a fourth floor hall “for 33 years until 1921 when a new Masonic building was constructed at Davenport and Yonge.” In 1972, the firm Adamson Associates renovated the Masonic Hall, joining it to the “Bay-n-Gable” house at 8 Gloucester with a two-storey glass link. “Though still called Gloucester Mews, the shops-around-a-courtyard mews plan was early abandoned to allow Fenton’s Restaurant to fill the glass-covered interior space as well as the old house,” McHugh wrote.

Below are some photos I snapped this afternoon of Gloucester Mews and its neighbours.

June 22 2011: Lower south side of Gloucester Mews building

June 22 2011: Upper floors of the 5-storey Gloucester Mews building

June 22 2011: The gated entrance to 2 Gloucester Street is next door to the Fire on the East Side restaurant and bar at 6 Gloucester Street (right)

June 22 2011: Fire on the East Side restaurant & bar at 6 Gloucester

June 22 2011: Olympic 76 Pizza and Fly nightclub at 8 Gloucester Street

June 22 2011: 2, 6 and 8 Gloucester viewed from Gloucester Lane

June 22 2011: Looking south on Gloucester Lane outside the “back” (east side) of 8 Gloucester Street. The Norman Jewison Parkette extends from Isabella to Gloucester Streets on the other side of the parking strip.

Pre-Thanksgiving opening in sight for Loblaws store under construction inside Maple Leaf Gardens

7 Replies

June 14 2011: Carlton Street view of Maple Leaf Gardens, looking northwest

Talking turkey: If all goes according to plan for the Maple Leaf Gardens revitalization project, downtown residents will flock to the historic hockey shrine to shop for Thanksgiving turkeys this fall. Construction of a 70,000 square foot Loblaws grocery store inside the Gardens fell behind schedule this year (it was supposed to be open by now), but I’ve been told that Loblaws anticipates work will finish within the next three months. The goal is to open the store by summer’s end so Loblaws can cash in as shoppers rush to fill their kitchen cupboards for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. On the other hand, a completion date remains far from certain for the Ryerson University Sports and Recreation Centre, which is being built on two levels directly above the Loblaws store, since substantial construction work remains to be done there. When I got a peek inside the ground level of the Gardens a few days ago, I didn’t think the Thanksgiving target would be achievable. When I asked one of the site supervisors if work would be finished by October, he chuckled and said: “As we say in construction, ‘it will be finished when it’s finished.'” But another man in a white hard hat told me that once the “shell” of the grocery store is finished, which he said should happen soon, the grocery store interior will take shape rapidly.

Meanwhile, there’s a lot happening outside the Gardens, too. Scaffolding that has shrouded much of the building’s south wall along Carlton Street is gradually being dismantled as crews complete window installation and work on the brick facade. From street level, the most noticeable change has been the removal of the long blue and silver Maple Leaf Gardens marquee above the main entrance; it will be replaced. Just around the corner, southbound traffic on Church Street is disrupted frequently when portable cranes pull up to hoist steel bars and other building materials for the Ryerson sports complex onto the Gardens roof (a supervisor said that’s how most construction supplies must be loaded into the Ryerson section of the Gardens now that the grocery store has filled out most of the ground level). The dome atop the Gardens roof is being refurbished, too, and once that is done, a new maple leaf logo will be painted on the broad white surface and Canadian flags will be raised to flutter from the empty rooftop flagpoles. Below are photos I have shot since late April of construction activity outside and on top of Maple Leaf Gardens. To view photos of earlier stages of construction, check out my posts from April 14 2011, March 29 2011, and February 2 2011.

April 29 2011: Roof work underway on the north side of the Gardens’ dome

April 29 2011: Another view of revitalization work on the roof of the Gardens

April 30 2011: Scaffolding covers the middle third of the Maple Leaf Gardens south wall along Carlton Street. The Canadian flags and the blue and silver marquee above the main entrance will be removed as work proceeds on the building.

April 30 2011: Scaffolding rises from the marquee above the main entrance all the way to the top of the building’s south wall.

April 30 2011: A view of the main entrance before the marquee is removed

April 30 2011: Window replacement and brickwork is underway behind the shrouds

April 30 2011: The sidewalk and one westbound lane on Carlton Street have been closed so crews can finish exterior work on the Gardens

May 13 2011: Construction workers on the roof of Maple Leaf Gardens

May 13 2011: Workers atop the dome’s northeast corner above Church Street

May 13 2011: A truck pumps concrete through the Maple Leaf Gardens roof and into the Ryerson University sports complex being built on the upper two levels

May 13 2011: Concrete pumper above the southeast corner of Maple Leaf Gardens

May 13 2011: Pumpcrete vehicle delivering concrete for the sports complex

May 13 2011: The long boom of the Pumpcrete truck rises to the roof

May 13 2011: A closer view of the Pumpcrete machine

May 13 2011: A concrete truck outside the Gardens’ Carlton Street main entrance

June 1 2011: A crane hoists a load of steel bars to the roof of the Gardens

June 1 2011: A worker guides the load to the rooftop

June 3 2011: With the roof recovered, brickwork proceeds on the north wall

June 3 2011: Workers replace a window on the Wood Street wall of the Gardens

June 14 2011: A crane hoists building materials to the roof of Maple Leaf Gardens

June 14 2011: Another load of construction material rises to the rooftop

June 14 2011: Two construction workers watch as the crane hoists its load

June 14 2011: Workers watch and wait while the crane hoists supplies to the roof

June 14 2011: Scaffolding rises up the south side of Maple Leaf Gardens

June 14 2011: The scaffolding is gradually being removed as brickwork is finished

June 14 2011: A metal frame (bottom) is all that remains of the long blue and silver marquee that used to hang above the Gardens’ Carlton Street entrance

June 14 2011: Another view of scaffolding above the Carlton Street entrance

Going …

1 Reply

May 31 2011: Demolition is underway at the FIVE Condos site on St Joseph Street…

… where this unsightly rear addition to a late 1880s-era Yonge Street heritage building is being destroyed…

… as part of the extensive FIVE Condos block redevelopment and condo tower building project at Yonge & St Joseph Streets, depicted in this illustration provided courtesy of Hariri Pontarini Architects in Toronto

Falling for FIVE: Wrecking crews have been busy on St Joseph Street, where this week they began knocking down parts of buildings that presently occupy a site where the 45-storey FIVE condo tower will ultimately rise. The structures being demolished sit to the rear of several 1880s-era historical buildings at the southwest corner of Yonge and St Joseph Streets, which will be preserved and restored as part of the FIVE Condos at 5 St Joseph redevelopment project.

First to go was a tacky two-storey rear addition to the charming building right at the corner of Yonge & St Joseph; a sports bar once occupied the upper level, while the ground floor was part of a Timothy’s coffee shop during the late 1990s and early 2000s and, most recently, a shawarma shop. Just to the immediate south, a boxy three-storey brick structure is also being pulled down. The good news is that six old brick buildings with storefronts along Yonge Street will be restored and incorporated into the FIVE Condos development, as will be the case with the facade of the former Rawlinson Cartage warehouse building on the corner of St Joseph and St Nicholas Streets. A senior city planner, Michael Hynes, has publicly described the FIVE Condos development as “the largest heritage building protection project in the country.”

FIVE is a team project by MOD Developments Inc., Graywood Developments Ltd., Tricon and Diamondcorp, along with Hariri Pontarini Architects, Cecconi Simone Inc. interior design, and Janet Rosenberg & Associates landscape architects. FIVE was a bigger winner at the 2011 BILD Awards, presented in late April by the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD). It won four major awards, including High-Rise Project of the Year, Best High-Rise Building Design, Best High-Rise Sales Office, and Best Model Suite.

Below are several photos showing demolition activity at the FIVE Condos project site this week. Additional information, photos and architectural renderings of the project are provided in my April 28 2011 post, while there are a few more pics of demolition equipment at the site in my May 12 2011 post.

May 31 2011: Hoarding extends along Yonge Street outside the old buildings that will be incorporated into the FIVE Condos development

May 31 2011: Construction and demolition equipment outside the former Rawlinson Cartage warehouse building on St Joseph Street

May 31 2011: Demolition activity at the FIVE Condos site on St Joseph Street

May 31 2011: The structures being demolished sit at the rear of the historic buildings being preserved on the Yonge Street flank of the FIVE Condos site

May 31 2011: This former warehouse is quickly being reduced to rubble

City Scene: Streak of sunshine on 2 King East

Leave a reply

A streak sunshine illuminates a vertical row of windows on the office building at 2 King Street East. The tower was constructed in 1915.

Tracking Downtown Toronto's Amazing
Building Boom.

www.TheTorontoBlog.com

Tracking Downtown Toronto's Amazing Building Boom.

Category Archives: Heritage & Historic buildings

November opening still uncertain for Loblaws store in Maple Leaf Gardens; Ryerson anticipates winter finish for athletics centre on building’s upper levels

Hollywood film director slams ‘bizarre’ condo tower proposal for Yonge & Gloucester

Public gets to give feedback at city meeting tonight for 29-storey Gloucester Street condo proposal

Condo highrise expected for Church-Wellesley site sold by cancer patient support centre for $4.5M

Plug pulled on proposal to build 25-storey condo tower on heritage sites at Church & Gloucester

Condo tower in the works for site of heritage office building on Dundonald St. near Yonge & Wellesley

Sales starting soon for 9-storey, 38-suite luxury condo development at Davenport & Hazelton

Burano climbs into the 40 floors+ condo tower club

Ripe for redevelopment: Will offices or condos rise from the demolition dust at 90 Harbour Street?

Glass cladding installation adds shape & sheen to new Bridgepoint Hospital being built in Riverdale

New Casey House HIV/AIDS health care building will restore 1875 heritage mansion at Jarvis & Isabella

Condo tower in the works for 2 Gloucester Street?

Pre-Thanksgiving opening in sight for Loblaws store under construction inside Maple Leaf Gardens

Going …

City Scene: Streak of sunshine on 2 King East

Tracking Downtown Toronto's AmazingBuilding Boom.

Tracking Downtown Toronto's Amazing
Building Boom.