Category Archives: In the news

Construction starts on $130M Ripley’s Aquarium

Artistic rendering of Ripley's Aquarium of Canada

This artistic illustration shows how the new Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada will appear when viewed from the east on Bremner Boulevard …

 

Ripley's Aquarium construction in Toronto

… while this photo from August 17 2011 shows hoarding around the aquarium site below the CN Tower, where construction has commenced

 

New tourist attraction: Construction of the new Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada officially kicked off yesterday when government and corporate officials gathered at the Bremner Boulevard building site beneath the CN Tower to announce details of the $130 million project.

Scheduled to open in 2013 with 135,000 square feet of space, a capacity of 1.5 million gallons, and 13,500 sea creatures, the facility — Toronto’s newest tourist attraction in years — will be one of the largest aquariums in North America.

Designed by Toronto’s B+ H Architects, the 3-storey facility will feature a 750,000-gallon shark lagoon which visitors will be able to observe through an acrylic tunnel with a 315-foot moving walkway.  The aquarium will also have a tropical reef, exhibits for Great Lakes, Atlantic and Pacific habitats, a Marine and Freshwater Education Centre with classroom space, a restaurant and a gift shop.

Construction actually commenced several weeks ago when crews began clearing the site, a large grass- and tree-covered knoll situated between the CN Tower to the west and the Metro Toronto Convention Centre‘s south building to the east.

The aquarium has been in planning and discussion stages for quite some time, but a summer construction start appeared imminent when city news media reported last winter that various levels of government were negotiating financial incentives in a bid to land the Ripley’s project for certain.  The City of Toronto is providing 12 years’ worth of property tax incentives (an estimated $8- to $12 million) under its Imagination, Manufacturing, Innovation and Technology (IMIT) program, while the Ontario government is kicking in more than $11 million towards the construction costs. Canada Lands Company, the federal Crown corporation that owns the land on which the aquarium is being built, is also a partner in the project.  According to its president & CEO Mark Laroche, Canada Lands will spend “more than $10 million to redevelop the John Street corridor with new signage and other improvements that will increase and improve the flow of pedestrian traffic from Front Street to the site,” improving the entryway to the aquarium, CN Tower and Rogers Centre.

Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada is a division of Ripley Entertainment Inc., which already operates two other aquariums — one in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and the other in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Ripley Entertainment is owned by the Jim Pattison Group, Canada’s third-largest privately-held company. Extensive information about the Toronto project is available on the Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada website.

Below are several artistic renderings and illustrations that the aquarium released to the media in connection with the official building launch ceremony, along with several photos I shot yesterday of construction activity at the site. Additional photos of the project site can be viewed in my February 23 2011 post, my first report on the Ripley’s Aquarium.

 

Ripley's Aquarium Shark Lagoon

 An artistic illustration of the 315-foot observation tunnel in the aquarium’s 750,000 gallon shark lagoon

 

Ripley's Aquarium main lobby

Artistic rendering of the Toronto aquarium’s main lobby

 

Ripley's Aquarium Tropical Reef

Artistic illustration of the aquarium’s tropical reef. In total, the facility will feature more than 13,500 marine creatures from 450 species

 

plaza view of Ripley's Aquarium

Artistic rendering of how the Ripley’s Aquarium will appear when viewed from the entrance plaza off Bremner Boulevard near the CN Tower …

 

Ripley's Aquarium construction in Toronto

… and a view from yesterday of construction trailers and hoarding on the site of what will become the entrance plaza depicted above

 

Ripley's Aquarium Toronto promotional hoarding

Promotional posters adorn the security fence around the construction site

 

Ripley's Aquarium Toronto construction site

Aquarium construction site viewed from the entrance plaza to the CN Tower

 

Drilling and excavating equipment on the aquarium site

Excavation machines and foundation building equipment in action on the site

 

Drilling machines on the aquarium construction site

Two red and black machines drilling near the Convention Centre south building

 

Ripley's Aquarium construction entrance

The construction entrance on Bremner Boulevard. The beige building to the immediate north of the work site is the Metro Toronto Convention Centre

 

Ripley's Aquarium of Canada artistic illustration

… and here’s an artistic illustration of Ripley’s Aquarium viewed from a similar perspective from Bremner Boulevard

 

Pedestrian hurt when glass falls on Bay Street from shattered balcony panel on Murano south tower

Murano condo wood balcony panel

August 15 2011: A wood panel indicates where glass broke and fell onto Bay Street from a balcony on the south Murano condo tower this morning

 

street closure sign at Bay & Grenville Streets

August 15 2011: Police closed the east traffic lane and sidewalk on Bay Street, as well as the intersection of Bay and Grenville Streets, after broken glass from a Murano condo balcony panel plunged to the ground and hit a passerby

 

traffic jam at Bay and Grenville Streets

August 15 2011: The driving restrictions cause traffic chaos on Bay Street below the Murano towers at 3 p.m. as police wait for crews to install scaffolding on the sidewalks. A pedestrian was injured by falling glass three hours earlier.

 

South tower’s turn: Local news media are reporting that a pedestrian suffered minor injuries this morning after she was struck by pieces of broken glass that fell from a balcony panel on the south Murano condo tower at the corner of Bay and Grenville Streets.

The woman was hurt shortly before noon when a glass panel shattered on an upper-floor balcony on the tower’s northwest corner, showering pieces of glass onto Bay Street. Although reports provide conflicting information about the nature of the woman’s injuries — with some stories saying she sustained injuries to her arm, and others describing a hand injury — all media accounts say the injury was minor and not life-threatening. Although it’s fortunate the woman wasn’t seriously hurt, the incident is bound to raise serious concerns about the safety of glass balcony panels not only because it marks the second time in three days that glass has shattered on a downtown condo tower, but because it’s at least the fourth tower to experience problems with panel breakage so far this summer.

On Saturday afternoon, a panel plunged off a 32nd-floor balcony at the recently-opened One Bedford condo tower in the Annex. According to an online Toronto Star report, police said “no-one was injured when the single, large pane of glass fell, bounced off the front-door overhang and smashed onto the ground” around 2.25 p.m. Police closed Bedford Road from Bloor Street to Prince Arthur Avenue for several hours while the incident was investigated. The broken panel was replaced with a temporary wood replacement (see photos below).

On August 2, a balcony panel on the Festival Tower condo highrise shattered and fell onto John Street. Nobody was hurt in that incident, but police closed John Street between King and Adelaide Streets as a precaution until Festival Tower’s developer, The Daniels Corporation, could get safety scaffolding installed on the sidewalk. Another panel had broken on Festival Tower only three weeks before that.

On August 1, two panels shattered and fell from the north Murano condo tower at the corner of Bay and Grosvenor Streets. Those incidents occurred mere days after City of Toronto building inspectors ordered Murano’s developer, Lanterra Developments, to remove and replace all of the balcony panels and railings from the north tower. That tower has been plagued with balcony breakage; in fact, the city ordered Lanterra to undertake the balcony remediation program after two panels broke and fell from the north tower on July 21. Panels had previously fallen from that tower on several separate occasions during the past year. Lanterra, incidentally, was One Bedford’s developer.

Online reports about today’s south Murano tower incident can be viewed on cp24.com, cbc.ca, and on the Toronto Star website, where there is a photo showing shattered glass in the balcony frame before it was cleared out and replaced with a piece of wood. [Additional updated coverage is provided in an August 16  2011 online story in the Globe and Mail.]

I have published extensive information and photos from previous balcony glass breakage incidents in earlier blog reports, including posts on August 4 2011, July 28 2011, July 21 2011, June 21 2011, February 2 2011, and January 18 2011. Below are photos I have taken in the past several days at Festival Tower and One Bedford, along with more pics I took this afternoon following the latest Murano panel break.

 

Festival Tower condo highrise Toronto

August 12 2011: Looking up the east side of Festival Tower, from which a balcony panel fell to the ground on John Street on August 2

 

Festival Tower condo highrise Toronto

August 12 2011: The circle indicates the Festival Tower balcony from which a glass panel plunged and smashed into pieces on John Street on August 2

 

Festival Tower balcony panels

August 12 2011: The broken panel has been replaced with a new one which appears to be a slightly different shade than the originals on the tower

 

One Bedford Condos Toronto

July 13 2011: Looking up the west side of the One Bedford condo tower. On Saturday, a glass panel fell from a 32nd floor balcony on this side of the building.

 

One Bedford Condos Toronto

August 14 2011: A piece of wood is temporarily replacing the glass panel that broke and fell from this One Bedford balcony on Saturday

 

One Bedford condo tower Toronto

August 14 2011: A closer view of the One Bedford condo balcony from which a glass panel fell on the weekend. Fortunately, no-one was hurt.

 

Murano north condo tower Toronto

August 12 2011: The north side of the north Murano condo tower, from which all balcony glass panels, dividers and railings have been removed on order by the City of Toronto. The removal and replacement project will cost the condo building’s developer, Lanterra Developments, millions of dollars.

 

Murano north and south condo towers Toronto

August 12 2011: The north Murano tower, sans balcony panels and railings, and the south tower rising behind it on Grenville Street

 

Murano north condo tower Toronto

August 12 2011: Scaffolding protects the sidewalk outside the north Murano condo tower. For more than a week after the late July incidents, north tower residents had to enter their building through the south tower.

Murano condo towers Toronto

August 12 2011: Panels have been removed from about two thirds of the balconies on the south side of the Murano north tower

 

Murano condo towers Toronto

August 12 2011: Another view of the south side of the Murano north tower

 

Murano condos Toronto

August 12 2011: A closer look at the balconies from which glass has been removed on the north tower’s south face

 

Murano condo towers Toronto

August 15 2011: The two Murano condo towers, viewed this afternoon from the the SW corner of Bay and Grenville Streets. For the past two weeks, crews have been removing glass panels and railings from balconies on the north tower (left). Today, a panel fell off the south tower (right) for the first time.

 

Murano condo tower Toronto

August 15 2011: Glass shattered and fell this morning from a balcony (circled) on the upper northwest corner of the Murano south condo tower

 

Murano south condo tower Toronto

August 15 2011: A replacement wooden panel has temporarily been installed on the balcony from which the glass fell this morning

 

Murano condo south tower Toronto

August 15 2011: Another view of the replacement wooden panel

 

Murano south condo tower Toronto

August 15 2011: A closer look at the balcony panel from which the broken glass fell

 

Police outside Murano north condo tower Toronto

August 15 2011: Police enforce sidewalk and street lane closures on Bay Street below the north Murano condo tower.

 

Toronto police car at Bay & Grenville Streets

August 15 2011: A Toronto police cruiser blocks vehicles from turning off Bay Street onto Grenville Street

 

police at Bay & Grenville Streets Toronto

August 15 2011: Police enforce traffic restrictions at the intersection of Bay & Grenville Streets below the Murano south condo tower

 

Bay Street sidewalk outside the Murano condos

August 15 2011: The Bay and Grenville Street sidewalks below the Murano condo towers have been closed to pedestrians

 

sidewalk closure sign on Bay Street

August 15 2011: The sidewalk closure sign at the corner of Bay & Grenville Streets

 

sidewalk closure at Bay and Grenville Streets

 August 15 2011: A Toronto police officer enforces the sidewalk closure at the southeast corner of Bay and Grenville Streets

 

sidewalk closure at Bay and Grenville Streets

August 15 2011: The east lane of Bay Street was closed to vehicles, as was the section of Grenville Street below the Murano south condo tower

 

sidewalk closure at Bay and Grenville Streets

August 15 2011: Police said the road and sidewalk closures could continue until scaffolding is  installed below the Murano south tower

 

street closure sign on Grenville Street

August 15 2011: Grenville Street is closed to vehicular traffic between St Vincent Lane and Bay Street, but the south sidewalk is open to pedestrians

 

Balcony glass removal from Murano north condo tower

August 15 2011: A crew continues to remove glass panels and railings from the south side of the north Murano tower

 

 

Police close sections of downtown streets after more glass panels break on condo tower balconies

Festival Tower condos Toronto

November 29 2010:  Glass balcony panels on the Festival Tower condo highrise in the Entertainment District. Two panels on the tower have broken this summer.

 

Danger zones: In the wake of media reports that more glass balcony panels have fallen from two different downtown condo towers this week, I’m beginning to wonder if I should start wearing a hard hat whenever I leave my building. Seriously. I’m not worried about walking below my own condo building — all of the balconies on our 30-year-old highrise have metal railings. But almost every day I do walk below new condo towers that have glass balconies, and I recently walked below two of the condo towers that made headlines with balcony glass breakage this week.

On July 19, I crossed a section of Grosvenor Street that, just two days later, was showered with pieces of glass that broke on two separate balconies at the Murano condo tower at 37 Grosvenor Street. This past Monday afternoon I nearly walked up Bay Street past the Murano, but changed my mind two blocks away and took a different route. It wasn’t until an hour or so later that I learned another Murano balcony panel had shattered that very afternoon, spilling glass onto Bay Street — and that yet another panel had broken on the building’s east side just 12 hours earlier. Police cordoned off one northbound lane of Bay Street as a precaution; they already had closed part of Grosvenor Street and nearby St Vincent Lane because of the July 21 incidents. Coincidentally, I had just been walking around the Entertainment District, where I stood below the Festival Tower condo building on John Street to take photos of daredevils doing the CN Tower’s EdgeWalk.  Around 7 p.m. on Tuesday, a panel on one of Festival Tower’s 27th floor balconies shattered, raining broken glass onto John Street. I had not been aware that another balcony panel on the same tower had broken just three weeks before.

Monday’s double-break at Murano occurred mere days after contractors had started removing panels from the tower after City of Toronto building inspectors ordered Murano’s developer, Lanterra Developments, to replace the balcony glass — a multimillion-dollar remediation project that could take several months to complete.

Why has the balcony glass been breaking? Speculation is running rampant in public online discussion forums, with commentators blaming faulty manufacturing, installation, or balcony design, and some others conjecturing that developers or builders may have been “cheaping out” on materials to cut construction costs.  Some blame the recent extreme heat, some say it’s caused by wind, but at this point experts can’t yet pinpoint the precise cause of the breakage at Murano and Festival Tower.

A story posted on the Toronto Star website Tuesday quotes Jim Laughlin, a senior City of Toronto building official, as saying the City ordered Lanterra to replace the Murano balcony glass following the building’s fifth consecutive breakage incident “because we don’t know why this is happening.” The story also quotes Lanterra president Barry Fenton as saying the company has engineers “performing an autopsy of the glass to figure out what happened.” According to Fenton, the glass and railings on the Grosvenor Street Murano condo tower were installed two years ago by a company that is no longer in business. A different company installed the balconies on the adjacent Murano south condo tower at 38 Grenville Street, where no panels have broken.

Meanwhile, the CBC reports that Festival Tower’s developer, The Daniels Corporation, will temporarily install scaffolding below the building as a precautionary measure to protect pedestrians in case any more glass breaks and falls. In the meantime, police have closed John Street to traffic between King and Adelaide Streets. The CBC quotes a Daniels executive as saying the company knows why a panel shattered three weeks ago — apparently a metal railing expanded during the hot temperatures, putting too much pressure on the glass — but doesn’t know what caused Tuesday’s incident.  It’s suspected that something may have struck the glass, the executive said. “The way the balcony has been designed, it’s in accordance with all the codes and practice with construction technique but for some reason we seem to have this problem with the tempered glass is letting go,” Daniels senior vice president Tom Dutton told the CBC.

However, a University of Toronto engineering professor says glass breakage “happens all the time.” “It is known as a delayed spontaneous fracture,” Prof. Doug Perovic told the Toronto Star in a story published on the newspaper’s website Wednesday night. It could be caused either by imperfections that occur in the glass during the manufacturing process, or it could be related to the installation process. In both instances, stressors such as wind and temperature can later increase pressure on the glass, eventually causing it to fracture. Prof. Perovic is one of two engineering experts who discuss the breakage phenomenon in “Shattered glass: what causes panes to fall off,” an in-depth report posted on the CBC website today. [Note: Wednesday’s story in the Star includes a “Falling Glass” summary listing dates on which glass apparently broke on Murano and Festival Tower. It mentions June 17 as the date for one Murano breakage, an event I reported in my June 21 2011 post. In addition, the Star says Dec. 1 2010 was when the “first known pane of glass explodes and falls from the north tower of 37 Grosvenor Street”; however, in a story published on Sept. 18 2010, the Star itself reported on two breakage incidents that occurred one week apart last September. I reported on the December occurrence in a January 18 2011 post.]

It now appears that at least one more panel has broken on Festival Tower so far this year. A story in today’s Star quotes a Festival Tower resident, Omar Jabri, describing how a pane fell off his 16th floor balcony back in May. Jabri actually happened to be standing at the corner of King & John Streets on Tuesday evening when the panel on the 27th floor shattered; he told the Star he saw the glass fall onto John Street. I haven’t been able to get down to the area to take photos, but was surprised when I saw pictures in the Star and other media showing a Festival Tower balcony with a missing panel. In February, I snapped a photo of a Festival Tower balcony missing a panel, also on the east (John Street) side of the building. The pane was missing from the exact same part of the balcony railing as the pane that fell from the tower this week (see photo, below). Could that be just a curious coincidence?

Today I walked past the Murano condos to see how the glass removal project is progressing. Most of the balcony panels on the north side of the Grosvenor Street building have been removed, with four and a half floors still to go as well as several vertical rows of panes, rising about two-thirds of the way up the tower, for balconies near the northeast corner. No glass has been removed from the south side of the tower yet.  Part of Grosvenor Street and St Vincent Lane are still closed to traffic, as is the right-hand northbound lane of Bay Street between Grenville Street and Grosvenor. The Bay Street sidewalk alongside the Murano complex is completely closed to pedestrians, and police officers are stationed at both ends of the sidewalk to ensure people detour around the site.

Here’s hoping that Lanterra’s glass “autopsy” and the Daniels investigations are able to quickly pinpoint the cause of the breakage — and determine an effective solution. I’d like to be able to walk our downtown streets without having to wear protective headgear, and I’m sure most Torontonians feel the same way.

Below are recent photos of the balcony removal work at the Murano condo on Grosvenor Street, along with some photos I’ve shot in the past showing the glass balcony panes on Festival Tower.

 

Murano Condos Toronto

 July 21 2011: The Murano north tower on Grosvenor Street, left, has suffered about eight incidents of balcony glass breakage this year.

 

Murano condos toronto

 July 24 2011: A crew on a swing stage inspects the Murano north condo tower as work begins to remove all balcony glass and railings from the building.

 

Murano condos toronto

 July 24 2011: Workers remove a glass partition from between two balconies on the north side of the Grosvenor Street Murano tower

 

Murano condos Toronto

 July 27 2011: Crews remove balcony glass from the Murano north condo tower. The dismantling of all of the building’s balconies is expected to finish next week.

 

Murano Condos north tower

August 4 2011: Balcony glass removal progress on the tower’s north side

 

Murano condos north tower

August 4 2011: Panels still must be removed from four and a half full floors, along with a vertical row of balconies near the northeast corner of the building

 

Murano condos north tower

August 4 2011: A work crew removes balcony panels and railings on the north tower. The yellow signs posted on the balcony doors advise residents that they cannot use their balconies during the city-ordered remediation project.

 

Murano condo north tower

August 4 2011: A contractor removes a balcony support pillar

 

Northbound Bay Street between Grenville and Grosvenor Streets

August 4 2011: The right-hand northbound lane of Bay Street is closed between Grenville and Grosvenor Streets, as is the sidewalk. I counted seven Toronto police officers enforcing the street and sidewalk closures at lunch time today.

 

Murano Condos Toronto south tower

 July 21 2011: The Murano south condo tower at 38 Grenville Street has not experienced any balcony panel breakage

 

Festival Tower condos Toronto

 March 8 2010: Balcony panel installation underway during construction of the Festival Tower condo highrise on John Street

 

Festival Tower condos Toronto

February 3 2011: A Festival Tower balcony was missing one of its glass panels last winter. There had been no reports of glass breakage at the time.

 

Festival Tower condos Toronto

November 2 2010:  CN Tower observation deck view of the 42-storey Festival Tower that opened at King & John Streets last year. The podium is the TIFF Bell Lightbox, home to the Toronto International Film Festival

 

 

CN Tower puts thrill seekers on edge…1,168 feet up

CN Tower EdgeWalk

August 1 2011: Thrillseekers on the CN Tower observation deck roof

 

CN Tower EdgeWalk

Eight daredevils walking along the north side of the deck’s roof

 

CN Tower EdgeWalk

An EdgeWalker takes a hands-free backward lean over downtown Toronto

 

On edge: The CN Tower literally put people on edge today, the first day its new EdgeWalk attraction was open to members of the public eager to pay $175 for the privilege of walking on a ledge 1,168 feet above downtown Toronto.

I was at John & Adelaide Streets around 3 o’clock this afternoon when I looked up and saw one group of eight daredevils walking along the edge of the tower’s observation deck rooftop, securely tethered to the tower by safety harnesses attached to their red jumpsuits. The walkers paused a few times so some of the participants could take turns doing “Look ma, no hands!” backward leans off the EdgeWalk platform.

Below are several more photos and one brief videoclip of this particular group of EdgeWalkers. Further details about the CN Tower’s spine-tingling new feature are available in my May 12 2011 post as well as in this Toronto Star story by reporter Katie Daubs.

 

CN Tower EdgeWalk thrillseekers

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Crews removing Murano condo balcony panels after city inspectors demand glass be replaced

Murano condo north tower

July 27 2011: Sections of Grosvenor Street and St Vincent Lane below the Murano north condo tower remain closed to vehicles and pedestrians …

 

Murano condos north tower

… as crews remove hundreds of glass panels from the building’s balconies. On orders from City inspectors, the developer is replacing all of the panels.

 

Balcony blues: Residents of the Murano north condo tower at 37 Grosvenor Street won’t be able to watch summer sunsets from the comfort of their balconies for the rest of the summer … and might not even be able to walk out onto them until sometime this fall. After two glass panels fell off balconies and smashed onto Grosvenor Street last Thursday, city building inspectors ordered Murano management to keep residents off their balconies until all glass panels have been removed and replaced, the Toronto Star reported. Murano’s builder, Lanterra Developments, began the remediation work immediately, and will foot what is bound to be a substantial bill for the project.

Last week’s incident marked the third time this year that glass panels have fallen from the highrise onto the street. In the latest mishap, panels plunged from north-facing balconies on the 18th and 35th floors. The panels fell around 2 p.m. on one of the hottest and most humid afternoons of the summer. Environment Canada data show that the temperature at Pearson International Airport at the time was 37.1 Celsius, while the Humidex reading was 48. Winds were around 35 km/h.

Fortunately, no-one was injured. Nevertheless, as I reported in my July 21 2011 post about the incident, Toronto police closed part of the street and lane below the Murano tower to all pedestrian and vehicle traffic as a safety precaution. They also required north tower residents and visitors to access and exit the building through the south condo tower at 38 Grenville Street, even though scaffolding had already been installed over the Bay and Grosvenor Street sidewalks adjacent to the north tower after a balcony panel fell from the tower’s upper south side in late June.

After inspecting the north tower, staff from the City’s building division issued an order requiring that all glass balcony panels in that particular building be replaced. According to the Star, the order demanded that building management “remove the glass balcony panels from the building, remove all contents from all balconies and secure all points of access to all balconies until the remediation is complete.”

As of yesterday afternoon, work crews had removed most of the glass panels on the lower seven rows of balconies, and the sections of Grosvenor Street and St Vincent Lane alongside the building still remained off-limits to pedestrians and vehicles.

Below are photos showing balcony panel replacement activity yesterday and on Sunday.

 

Murano and Burano condo towers

July 24 2011: Plywood panels are visible on two of the upper floor balconies of the north Murano condo tower in this view from Wellesley Street West. A swing stage carrying a work crew also can be seen on the lower left side of the building.

 

Murano north condo tower

July 24 2011: A work crew inspects balcony panels from a swing stage near the northeast corner of the 37-storey tower

 

Murano north condo tower

July 24 2011: Two contractors look down from one balcony while another crew works on the balcony below them

 

Murano north condo tower balcony inspection

July 24 2011: The workers appear to be checking a glass balcony divider

 

Murano condo north tower balcony panel removal

July 27 2011: A crew ascends the building exterior where dozens of glass panels have already been removed from the balcony railings

 

 

Mid-August construction restart expected for 20-storey MaRS building at College & University

MaRS Discovery District Phase 2 building rendering

From the MaRS Discovery District website, this rendering by B + H Architects suggests how the 20-storey Phase 2 building will appear to pedestrians at the southeast corner of College Street and University Avenue …

 

MaRS Phase 2 building location

… while this photo from July 27 2011 shows how the building location currently looks when viewed from the northwest corner of the intersection

 

MaRS relaunch coming: In a sure sign that Toronto is putting the global economic meltdown firmly in the past, construction work will resume next month on the MaRS Discovery District‘s long-awaited Phase 2 building at the southeast corner of College Street and University Avenue. With 770,000 square feet of rentable building space, the tower will more than double the size of the downtown innovation facility to 1.5 million square feet, “creating Canada’s largest science, technology and research centre,” the MaRS Centre Phase 2 webpage states.

The 20-storey tower designed by B + H Architects “will be a visual and architectural marvel,” the webpage adds, noting that the building will feature “avant-garde glass design” with “thermally broken high-performance unitized aluminum and double-glazed curtain wall with laminated glass accent fins.” Inside those glass walls will be “state-of-the-art laboratory and office space” boasting “advanced communications and information technology capabilities.” About 60% of the space will be laboratories, with offices occupying the rest.

The Centre will offer a direct connection to Toronto General Hospital next door, as well as to the TTC’s Queen’s Park subway station. An atrium with a 62-foot-high glazed skylight, stone flooring, and metal mesh and terracotta walls will link it to the adjacent MaRS heritage building and towers while, below ground, the Centre will have a two-level parking garage with dedicated parking spots and showers for cyclists.

The project will cost approximately $344.5 million, create 4,000 construction jobs, and more than double the number of people working at the MaRS Centre — from 2,300 now to 5,000. Construction is expected to commence in mid-August, with completion anticipated for September 2013. The provincial Crown corporation Infrastructure Ontario is giving MaRS a $230 million fully repayable loan to build its new facility, while the balance of the project cost is being borne by MaRS and its strategic partner Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc., “the world’s leading life science developer and owner.” Leases have been signed with two key tenants: the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, which already has space in the South MaRS tower, and Public Health Ontario, which will move its central lab into the premises.

The return of construction cranes and workers to the site next month will cheer architecture and building buffs who’ve been anxious to see work resume on the Phase 2 tower. Construction had reached ground level when the global economic crisis struck in 2008, bringing work on the tower to a complete halt by November of that year. Many building enthusiasts were worried that completion of the partly-built structure could be delayed indefinitely, like the former Bay Adelaide Centre “stump” that sat as an eyesore in Toronto’s Financial District for 15 years. Things appeared hopeful in January when an online news story suggested that an announcement about a construction restart might be made sometime during the winter (for more details about that revelation, see my February 17 2011 post).  Although the announcement took several months longer than expected, architecture afficionados will be thrilled to watch once again when work continues on a new landmark building at the College & University corner.

Below are two more renderings by B + H Architects, along with several photos I shot yesterday of the Phase 2 building site. Extensive information about MaRS is available at this page on the Centre’s website.

 

MaRS Discovery District Phase 2 building rendering

This rendering by B + H Architects appears on the MaRS Discovery District website. It suggests how the Phase 2 building could look at night when viewed from the University of Toronto campus to the northwest …

 

MaRS Phase 2 building location

… while this photo shows how the Phase 2 building location looked yesterday when viewed from the U of T campus

 

MaRS Phase 2 building location

 July 27 2011: A view of the building site, looking southeast from U of T

 

MaRS Discovery District Phase 2 building rendering

Another B + H Architects rendering from the Mars Discovery District website. It depicts the Phase 2 building viewed from the south on University Avenue …

 

MaRS Phase 2 building location on University Avenue

 … while this photo from yesterday afternoon shows the Toronto General Hospital’s Clinical Services Building before construction resumes on its new neighbour

 

MaRS Phase 2 building location

July 27 2011:  Hoarding around the Phase 2 building site is visible from the sidewalk outside Toronto General Hospital’s 585 University Avenue entrance


MaRS Phase 2 building unfinished ground level construction

July 27 2011: This “stump” shows how far construction had progressed by the time work on the Phase 2 project was halted in 2008

 

Partially completed MaRS Phase 2 building

July 27 2011: College Street view of the partially completed MaRS Phase 2 building

 

Partially completed MaRS Phase 2 building

July 27 2011: Another view of the “stump,” this time from College Street

 

MaRS Phase 2 building site

July 27 2011: Previous construction progress viewed from the northeast

 

 

Police close street, lane and sidewalks after more glass rains onto road from Murano condo tower

Police tape on Grosvenor Street Toronto

July 21 2011: Police tape blocks access to Grosvenor Street outside the Murano North condo tower at Bay & Grosvenor Streets this evening

 

Murano North condo tower Toronto

July 21 2011: Plywood sheets indicate where glass balcony panels have broken on the north side of the Murano North condo tower. The lower piece of plywood has been in place for at least a week. The upper panel shattered this afternoon.

 

Shattered glass on Grosvenor Street Toronto

July 21 2011: Tiny pieces of shattered balcony glass litter the asphalt on Grosvenor Street outside the Murano North condo tower

 

Police car on Grosvenor Street Toronto

 July 21 2011: A Toronto police cruiser and yellow police tape block traffic outside the Murano North condo tower at 37 Grosvenor Street …


Police car in lane next door to Murano condos

… while another cruiser and more tape block access to the laneway that runs between Grenville and Grosvenor Streets on the east side of the Murano  towers

 

Murano glass rains again: Toronto police closed part of Grosvenor Street as a safety precaution today after at least one glass balcony panel on the North Murano condo tower shattered, raining thousands of pieces of tempered glass onto the road and sidewalk below. Police and building security guards also barred residents and visitors from entering and exiting the North tower’s front doors on Grosvenor, requiring them to use the South Murano tower entrance at 38 Grenville Street instead.

Today’s incident marks at least the fifth time that a balcony panel has broken and sprayed pieces of glass onto the streets and sidewalks below the two-tower complex on the east side of Bay Street, between Grosvenor and Grenville Streets. Exactly one month ago, I reported that the Bay Street sidewalk outside the Murano towers had been taped off after glass fell from a balcony on the upper south side of the North building. See my June 21 2011 post for full details and photos of that incident, along with links to other photos, posts and local news coverage reporting on previous incidents of balcony glass falling from the tower.

Early this evening I received word from Matt, a reader of TheTorontoBlog.com, that glass had fallen from the skyscraper yet again. “Another 2 panels fell out today, one in the alley way next to the condos and the other right on Grovesnor St from level 37,” he told me. (The Murano North tower is 37 storeys tall; the South tower has 45 floors.)

I grabbed my camera and walked over to take a look. Just as Matt had advised, police had completely blocked vehicular and pedestrian traffic on Grosvenor Street, from the west side of the YMCA building over to Bay Street, as well as along St Vincent Lane — an alley which runs between Grosvenor and Grenville Streets on the east side of the Murano complex. Tiny pieces of broken tempered glass littered the concrete sidewalks and asphalt road surface throughout the closed-off area. I saw people standing on several North Tower balconies, leaning against the railings while watching the police and pedestrians on the street below them.

Over at the northeast corner of Bay and Grosvenor, two security guards were busy looking up and warning people to get off their balconies and go back inside their condos. “Get inside! Get off the balcony! Get away from the balcony!” one of the guards screamed at a woman leaning over a balcony about 15 floors high.

When I approached a policeman and one of the security guards and asked if anyone had been hurt by the falling glass, the officer just shrugged and said he didn’t know. The security guard, pointing to scaffolding that covers the Grosvenor Street sidewalk outside the condo building, said he didn’t think there had been any injuries. (A work crew had been installing additional scaffolding over the sidewalk when I walked past Murano on Tuesday morning.)

I also asked if more than one balcony panel had broken, since I couldn’t see any signs of a broken panel on the east side of the condo complex above St. Vincent Lane. However, neither the security guard nor the police officer knew if more than one panel had shattered. (A story in tonight’s online edition of the Toronto Star says that glass from two separate balconies fell to the ground.) As well, neither man knew if the condo management or developer would be taking steps to inspect and/or replace every balcony panel on the building. They also didn’t know how long the street and sidewalks were expected to stay closed; however, the Star story says the road will be closed until Monday.

As a result of today’s incident, I’m willing to bet that scaffolding will remain on the sidewalks around the Murano buildings for the rest of the summer, if not longer, while the cause of the glass breakage is investigated.

Murano isn’t the only downtown highrise building that has experienced problems with breaking balcony panels. As I reported in a February 2 2011 post, at least one panel has broken on the 46-storey Casa condominium tower on Charles Street East. And just a couple of weeks ago I spotted a piece of plywood on a balcony at one of the new apartment buildings in Regent Park; photos of that appear below. Also below are additional photos of the Murano condo from this evening and recent weeks.

 

Murano Condos North tower

June 26 2011: A piece of plywood replaces a balcony panel on the upper south side of the Murano North condo tower

 

Missing balcony panel on Murano Condos North Tower

June 26 2011 : A closer view of the missing balcony panel on the north tower

 

Scaffolding on Bay Street outside the Murano condos

June 26 2011: Scaffolding on Bay Street outside the Murano condos

 

Scaffolding outside the Murano condos North Tower

 June 26 2011: Scaffolding on Grosvenor Street outside the Murano north tower

 

Murano condos North Tower

 July 15 2011: Plywood replaces a balcony panel on the Murano north tower

 

Murano Condos North Tower

 July 15 2011: Another view of the panel missing on the north tower’s north side

 

Murano North condo tower

July 21 2011:  Bay Street view of two missing panels on Murano’s north tower

 

Grosvenor Street Toronto

  July 21 2011: The closed section of Grosvenor Street outside the Murano tower

 

Murano North Tower residents

 July 21 2011: Curious Murano north tower residents looking off their balcony 

 

Shattered glass on Grosvenor Street

  July 21 2011: Shattered glass on Grosvenor Street

 

Shattered glass on Grosvenor Street

July 21 2011: More shattered glass on Grosvenor Street

 

Police tape on Grosvenor Street Toronto

July 21 2011:  Police tape blocks access to Grosvenor Street from Bay Street

 

Scaffolding above Bay Street sidewalk outside Murano

July 21 2011: Scaffolding and barricades along the Bay Street sidewalk outside the Murano condo towers

 

Toronto police officer at Bay and Grosvenor Streets

July 21 2011: A police officer and tape at the corner of Bay and Grosvenor

 

Murano condo towers

July 21 2011: Looking up at the Murano condo towers from Grosvenor Street

 

Regent Park apartment building

July 13 2011: Plywood replaces a glass balcony panel on the 252 Sackville Street apartment building in Regent Park

 

Regent Park apartment balcony

July 13 2011: A closer view of the missing panel on the Regent Park  balcony

 

 

At last! Great Gulf breaking ground today for its 70-storey One Bloor condo tower at Yonge & Bloor

One Bloor Toronto condo tower construction site

July 13 2011:  Construction equipment rises above the One Bloor condo tower construction site, viewed here from the west side of Yonge Street

 

Shovels ready: It only felt like it was taking forever, but it’s finally going to happen: According to a July 14 2011 article posted on the Toronto Star website, Great Gulf Homes will break ground tomorrow to officially launch construction of its 70-storey One Bloor condo tower at the southeast corner of at Yonge and Bloor Streets.

Frankly, it’s about time. Seven months ago — in a January 10 2011 post, to be exact — I publicly wondered when Great Gulf was going to get shovels in the ground and start building the One Bloor tower on what is often referred to as the “premier” piece of real estate in Canada. During the months that followed, heavy machines rolled on and off of the One Bloor site, hinting that a construction start was imminent. But they didn’t stay for long, and nothing appeared to change on the property. But after foundation building equipment arrived on the site in June, it seemed clear that preliminary construction work for the tower was set to start.

Initially, One Bloor was slated to be a 65-storey condo building with two floors of retail space fronting on the prestigious Yonge & Bloor intersection. However, thanks to strong buyer demand (the Star says 85% of the units in the 732-suite tower have been sold), One Bloor will now soar five storeys taller — topping off at 70 floors. Construction is expected to cost $450 million and last until the end of 2014.

Below are several One Bloor website renderings that suggest how the skyscraper, designed by Toronto’s Hariri Pontarini Architects, will look, along with photos I’ve taken of the project site in recent months.

 

One Bloor Toronto condo tower

Condo tower rendering from the One Bloor project website

 

One Bloor Toronto condo tower podium rendering

Condo tower podium rendering from the One Bloor project website   

 

One Bloor Toronto condo tower

Another tower rendering seen in this screen capture from the One Bloor website


One Bloor condo tower Toronto

May 1 2011: Trailers on the otherwise vacant south side of the One Bloor condo tower construction site, viewed from the west side of the Xerox Tower

 

One Bloor condo tower Toronto

May 1 2011: Looking west across the vacant One Bloor site

 

One Bloor Toronto condo tower site

May 1 2011: Looking northwest toward the corner of Yonge & Bloor

 

One Bloor Toronto condo tower construction site

June 22 2011: A shoring rig on the northern half of the One Bloor site

 

One Bloor Toronto condo tower site

June 22 2011: Yonge Street view of the shoring rig on the One Bloor property

 

One Bloor Toronto condo tower construction site

June 22 2011: Bloor Street view of the shoring rig

One Bloor Toronto condo tower construction site

July 6 2011: Two shoring rigs ready for action on the building site

 

One Bloor Toronto condo tower construction site

July 6 2011: A closer look at the two rigs sitting idle on the site

 

One Bloor Toronto condo tower construction site

July 13 2011: More construction equipment and a tent have been brought in for the groundbreaking ceremony

 

Skyscrapers at Yonge & Bloor Streets in Toronto

July 14 2011: My balcony view at sunset of skyscrapers near Yonge & Bloor Streets. The 45-storey Casa condominium tower (center) currently dominates the skyline; however, in three or four years’ time, One Bloor — which will rise just to the right rear of Casa — will be the tallest building in the area

 

 

Ontario gov’t to provide $56.4 million for new Health Sciences Building at Ryerson University

Ryerson University Student Learning Centre site

June 20 2011: Crews clear demolition debris from the site where the Ryerson University Student Learning Centre will be built. The Ontario government will provide funds for Ryerson to construct a new Health Sciences Building, too.

 

Ryerson growing bigger: It has been just over three months since Ryerson University unveiled the stunning design for the new Student Learning Centre it will begin building later this year at the northeast corner of Yonge and Gould Streets downtown. Now, the rapidly-growing university needs to find a site for a new Health Sciences Building — and select an architect to design it.

Today, the Ontario government announced it will provide Ryerson with $56.4 million to construct a new Health Sciences Building that will feature “state-of-the-art labs and classrooms to house a number of health-related programs, including the Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing.” The popular downtown university, which already has 28,000 students, will be able to increase its enrolment by 1,800, thanks to the province’s financial “investment” in the new building.

The university hasn’t yet selected a site for the facility, and also has not yet chosen an architectural firm to design it, said Janet Mowat, Ryerson’s Director, Public Affairs / Marketing and Communications, when I inquired if any renderings are available.

I’m keen to find out if the Health Sciences Building will be constructed somewhere on the Ryerson campus or at another location in the immediate vicinity. (Hmm … I wonder if Ryerson has attempted to acquire the 335 Yonge Street site that has sat empty since the ruins of a heritage building destroyed in a suspicious January fire were cleared away during the winter. That property is directly across Gould Street from the Student Learning Centre site — but might not be big enough for a new campus building.)

I’m also anxious to see if the university will ask architects to come up with another eye-popping design, like the spectacular building that Toronto’s Zeidler Partnership Architects and Snøhetta of Oslo and New York City conceived for the Student Learning Centre. (Full details of that construction project, along with architectural renderings of the Centre’s design, are provided in my April 8 2011 post.)

Ryerson’s  popularity with students has been surging in recent years. According to the university, Ryerson “has the highest ratio in Ontario of first choice applications from secondary-school students to number of places available.” The university has been experiencing a building boom, too, to accommodate its increasing enrolment. Already more than halfway through construction is the Ryerson Gallery and Research Centre at the corner of Gould and Bond Streets, which I profiled in a January 12 2011 post and in an April 2011 follow-up post. Next up will be the Student Learning Centre where site preparation work is underway and, after that, the Health Sciences Building. And since early spring, the university has been undertaking major sidewalk and streetscape improvements to the new Gould Street-Victoria Street pedestrian zone on its campus.

Below are recent photos of the Student Learning Centre site, as well as the streetscape improvements on Gould and Victoria Streets.

 

Ryerson University Student Learning Centre site

April 30 2011: Ryerson University Student Learning Centre site viewed from the corner of Gould Street and O’Keefe Lane, looking to the northwest

 

Ryerson University Student Learning Centre site

April 30 2011: Student Learning Centre site looking southwest from O’Keefe Lane

 

335 Yonge Street

April 30 2011: The empty lot at 335 Yonge Street, where an 1880s-era heritage building was destroyed by fire in early January of this year. This property is situated directly across Gould Street from the Student Learning Centre location.

 

Gould Street on the Ryerson University campus

April 30 2011: Streetscape improvements underway on Gould Street near the Ryerson Gallery and Research Centre construction site (rear)

 

Victoria Street on Ryerson University campus

April 30 2011: Ryerson streetscape improvements along Victoria Street

 

Ryerson University Student Learning Centre site

May 13 2011: Development proposal sign at the Student Learning Centre site

 

Ryerson University Student Learning Centre site

May 13 2011: Looking north from Gould Street at the Student Learning Centre site. This was the location of the former Sam the Record Man flagship store.

 

 

Toronto finally gets a “wow factor” attraction with CN Tower’s EdgeWalk for extreme thrillseekers

EdgeWalk at the CN Tower

CN Tower’s new EdgeWalk thrill attraction opens August 1

 

EdgeWalk at the CN Tower

Harnessed to overhead safety rails, thrill seekers will be able to lean over the edge of the CN Tower roof for the ultimate bird’s eye view of Toronto — from 116 stories (1,168 feet) above the ground

 

EdgeWalk at the CN Tower

May 8 2011: EdgeWalk safety structure being installed on CN Tower

 

On the edge: I knew something big was in the works when I saw something I had never noticed before on the roof the main CN Tower observation deck pod last weekend. I was walking along Wellington Street West when a glint of sunshine off dozens of white metal posts protruding from the pod roof caught my eye. My camera’s zoom lens confirmed that something was being constructed on the roof, but what was it? A new window cleaning platform? Probably not. A new addition to the tower’s night-time exterior light show? I doubted that, too. Roof repairs? Perhaps — I could see what appeared to be blue tarps hanging over the edge of the pod. When I got back home, I double-checked other CN Tower photos I had taken recently to see how long the posts had been up there. They didn’t appear in any of my pics from late March, so I figured that construction had started during April so whatever was being done could be finished before Toronto’s summer tourist season gets into full swing. The CN Tower website didn’t mention anything new, so on Monday morning I emailed the tower one of my pics to ask what was going on. I got my answer when I returned home a few hours later and logged into facebook, where my news feed was filled with links friends had provided to an online Toronto Star report about the CN Tower’s new EdgeWalk extreme thrill attraction.

Opening August 1, EdgeWalk at the CN Tower will offer Toronto adventure seekers the ultimate adrenaline rush. Securely harnessed to an overhead safety rail, groups of six to eight daredevils will get to spend nearly half an hour taking a “hands-free” walk along a 5-foot-wide, 492-foot-long ledge circling the roof of the tower’s revolving restaurant, the 360.The harness system will let them lean perilously over the roof edge to see how far they can push their personal thrill boundaries while testing the limits of their anxious loved ones (It puts a whole new spin on the expression, “Look ma, no hands!”).

Though I noticed the EdgeWalk support structure only this past weekend, the project has been in the works for nearly 10 months. Design took four months, while fabrication took another three. Installation is expected to take around two months.  Comprised of 36,000 pounds of steelwork, the EdgeWalk structure includes 112 pieces of 5-by-4-foot galvanized steel grated floor and 36 support arms. These arms are linked to two side-by-side 450-foot rails plus two 50-foot rails leading outside; one will be used for the tour group leader, while the other is for each group of EdgeWalkers.

The walks will last 20 to 30 minutes, but with pre-walk safety briefing, the whole EdgeWalk experience will take about 1.5 hours. The tower will offer two to three walks per hour, with up to 30 walks per day. The attraction will operate roughly from May or Otober, and the number of actual walks conducted will vary depending upon weather and sunrise/sunset times. Tickets will cost $175 and will go on sale beginning June 1.

Though this is an adventure I don’t have the guts to try myself, I think it’s a great new feature for the 35-year-old CN Tower — and a long-overdue new tourist attraction for Toronto.  For years, I’ve seen newspaper and international travel magazine articles raving about Sydney, Australia’s famous Harbour Bridge Climb, and last year I saw a television program that profiled the SkyWalk and SkyJump at the Sky Tower in Aukland, New Zealand. Toronto didn’t have anything even remotely comparable, and I thought the city needed a new drawing-card with a tremendous “wow factor” to put itself on the map. The best “wows” the city had to offer were already at the CN Tower — the Glass Floor, which was installed in 1994, and the world’s highest glass floor-panelled elevator, which opened in 2008. I checked out the TripAdvisor.com Toronto forums to see what local residents were recommending to visiting tourists, and thought the list was pretty sad. It included the Eaton Centre and the St. Lawrence Market, both of which might wow shopping enthusiasts and foodies, along with Casa Loma, Harbourfront and the Toronto Islands. The only attractions I’ve seen mentioned favourably in international travel publications have been the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) and the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). Though the ROM’s Michael Lee-Chin Crystal was named as one of “The new seven wonders of the world” in the April 2008 issue of Condé Nast Traveler magazine, I thought the city still needed something more — something really big and exciting — to catch international attention. EdgeWalk ought to do it.

Below is a CN Tower ad for EdgeWalk, along with some of my recent pics of the tower.

CN Tower EdgeWalk ad

From the CN Tower website, an advertisement for EdgeWalk at the CN Tower

 

CN Tower

March 29 2011: Installation of the EdgeWalk structure hasn’t yet started, as this photo of the CN Tower — shot from Concord CityPlace to its west — indicates

 

CN Tower and the Ritz-Carlton Toronto

March 29 2011: No signs of any EdgeWalk structure on the northeast side of the CN Tower, either, seen here peeking from behind The Ritz-Carlton Toronto

 

CN Tower

May 8 2011: EdgeWalk’s newly-installed steel support arms caught my attention

 

EdgeWalk steel support arms on the CN Tower pod roof

May 8 2011: A closer look at the EdgeWalk steel support arms

 

CN Tower viewed from corner of King & Bay Streets

May 8 2011: CN Tower viewed from the corner of King & Bay Streets


Ryerson U’s sensational new Student Learning Centre will bring sparkle to the Yonge Street strip

Ryerson University Student Learning Centre

This rendering suggests how the Ryerson University Student Learning Centre will appear when viewed looking north on Yonge Street near Gould Street

 

Campus showpiece: I envy the students who will get to study and relax in the marvellous Student Learning Centre that Ryerson University unveiled this week and will begin constructing later this year. I spent six years of my life studying in university libraries and classroom buildings that were bleak, bunker-like structures with few windows allowing natural light inside. They were drab, dreary places to learn, and I often dreaded going inside. Even lounge and food service areas tended to be dim, dull and depressing — taking a break for a coffee or chat with friends just meant moving from one boring, bland building to another equally cheerless space. Ryerson’s Student Learning Centre promises to be the polar opposite.  Designed by Toronto’s Zeidler Partnership Architects and Snøhetta of Oslo and New York City, the building will be breathtaking on the outside, its flashy glass facade adding architectural excitement and sparkle to the busy Yonge Street strip between Dundas and Gerrard Streets. With a dramatic stepped plaza entrance and transparent glass walls bearing dazzling designs, the Student Learning Centre will bring tremendous visual interest to a streetcorner previously made famous by the long-gone Sam the Record Man store’s iconic neon signs. I wouldn’t be surprised if the building’s startling shape and skin slows or even stops traffic on Yonge — stunning contemporary architecture isn’t something Torontonians expect to encounter on a commercial strip characterized by boxy, unattractive buildings plastered with brilliant electronic billboards and enormous advertising posters.

The Student Learning Centre’s interior will be just as sensational. Inside, a cavernous light-filled lobby with an impressive, wide staircase will wow visitors, while upper levels of the eight-storey structure will offer huge bright spaces for study and socializing. “The Student Learning Centre will provide bright, open, technologically rich, barrier-free spaces for individual and collaborative study that will accommodate our students’ different learning styles and our faculties’ different teaching practices,” Ryerson’s Provost and Vice President Academic, Alan Shepard, said in a press release announcing the building design. The Centre will be linked by a bridge to the university’s existing library next door, will have learning and study spaces in a variety of different sizes and designs on its upper floors, and will have retail space both along Yonge and on one floor below street level. Each floor will have a unique personality — “some will be open and interpretive with flexible furniture and terraces, while others will be densely filled with enclosed study rooms for groups of four to eight people. Space will be available for independent, quiet study and contemplation. With full digital support and accessible academic services, the Student Learning Centre will foster learning success and help promote a culture of collaboration and creativity among Ryerson students,” the news release explains.

Besides becoming the architectural showpiece of the university campus, the Centre is bound to have a significant impact on the city, too. Ryerson president Sheldon Levy says the Centre will be ” a transformative, bold development and an important step forward in city building.” And there’s no doubt it will give the university’s campus, much of which is largely hidden from view between Yonge and Church Streets, an unprecedented presence and highly influential profile on the city’s main street. Zeidler Architects senior partner Tarek El-Khatib anticipates that the Student Learning Centre “will contribute to the retail and pedestrian life in the area and set the tone for ongoing revitalization in this historic commercial neighbourhood. A generous and inviting, entry plaza will gently draw both students and the general public up and into this new vertical community setting the standard for future development in the area.”

That’s something I’m personally looking forward to. I don’t particularly enjoy walking along Yonge between Dundas and College Streets; I find the sidewalks too narrow and crowded, while the retail shops and restaurants are geared to a much younger demographic — there’s practically nothing there to catch my interest and make me want to linger. I either hurry past, or avoid the strip altogether by walking up Bay Street or cutting through the Ryerson campus. But the Student Learning Centre at Gould Street, along with the Aura condo and retail complex two blocks north at Gerrard, could well become catalysts for major improvements and enhancements to the area. In a few years’ time, I just might enjoy spending time on Yonge Street once again.

Construction of the Student Learning Centre is scheduled to begin by the end of this year, with completion anticipated for 2014. Full project details are available on the media page of the Ryerson University website. The Toronto Star’s architecture and urban issues specialist, Christopher Hume, discusses the design in his April 6 2011 column, while Globe & Mail writer Omair Quadri describes the project in an April 6 2011 article in that newspaper. Below are several artistic renderings depicting some of the Student Learning Centre’s signature interior and exterior design features.

 

Ryerson University Student Learning Centre

The Student Learning Centre will feature an impressive and dramatic stepped plaza entrance at the corner of Yonge & Gould Streets

Ryerson University Student Learning Centre

The Centre’s lobby will be cavernous, but streaming with natural light

 

Ryerson University Student Learning Centre

One of the “flexible” study spaces on an upper level of the Centre

 

Ryerson University Student Learning Centre

One of the Centre’s cheery and bright open study spaces

 

Ryerson University Student Learning Centre

This illustration outlines the interior layout of the 8-storey building

 

 

Yorkville traffic snarled for hours after cement spills onto Bay Street from top of Four Seasons tower

Bay Street closure between Yorkville Avenue and Scollard Street

Looking south on Bay Street, from Scollard Street, shortly past 2 p.m. this afternoon. The entire block was closed to vehicles and pedestrians

 

Television crews filming outside the Four Seasons Toronto construction site

With a television cameraman filming the action, two construction workers sweep debris from Bay Street while another crew inspects hoarding on the Bay Street sidewalk next to the Four Seasons hotel + condo construction site

 

Construction accident: It’s amazing nobody was hurt when a load of construction cement fell 53 storeys from the top of the Four Seasons hotel and condo tower and splattered onto Bay Street shortly after lunchtime today. The construction accident occurred around 1.20 p.m., but police and bystanders said no-one was injured and no vehicles or buildings damaged when cement showered onto the pavement between Yorkville Avenue and Scollard Streets. That section of Bay Street is typically busy with steady daytime traffic, including city buses, and dozens of pedestrians would have been walking along nearby sidewalks at the time. According to a story in the Toronto Star’s online edition, the mishap occurred when concrete was being poured into a mould on the 53rd floor of the tower, which will rise a total of 55 storeys once construction is completed. When the mould buckled, the concrete rained down onto the street. Police closed the entire block between Yorkville and Scollard so crews could clean the cement spill while staff from the provincial Ministry of Labour investigated the cause of the accident. A street cleaning machine was brought in to assist several construction workers using push brooms to sweep up the mess. Traffic throughout Yorkville was snarled as pedestrians and vehicles were forced to detour around the street closure. I arrived at the Bay/Yorkville intersection just as the crews finished sweeping the street, so there was little to see other than yellow “do not cross” tape and police vehicles barring access to the block, along with dozens of curious onlookers gazing upward at the tall glass tower and asking each other what had happened. Below are several photos I snapped at the scene.  Additional photos of the Four Seasons Hotel & Residences can be viewed in my April 1 2011 post about progress on the construction project.

Bay Street between Yorkville Avenue and Scollard Street

A view of Bay Street from the northwest corner of Bay and Yorkville Avenue, outside The Regency condominium building

 

Police and media cameraman conferring on Bay Street

A media photographer chats with police at the northeast corner of Bay & Yorkville

 

Television cameramen filming outside the Four Seasons construction site

Television cameramen filming from the northwest corner of Bay & Yorkville

 

Cameraman filming at corner of Bay and Yorkville across from Four Seasons construction site

A TV cameraman films police standing a block away at Scollard Street

 

Cameraman filming footage of the Four Seasons West Residence Tower

A TV cameraman shoots footage of the Four Seasons while pedestrians look up at the hotel/condo tower and traffic detours past the site

 

Police block traffic from moving south on Bay Street

The police roadblock at Scollard Street, outside the Four Seasons West Residence

 

Four Seasons Toronto towers viewed from Bay at Scollard Street

The Four Seasons’ East and West Residence towers viewed from the northwest

 

Two construction workers atop the East Tower at the Four Seasons Toronto

Two construction workers atop the Four Seasons’ 26-storey East Residence Tower

 

Cranes atop the West Tower of the Four Seasons Toronto construction project April 7 2011 IMG_4781

Cranes atop the West Residence tower, now 53 storeys tall on its way to 55

 

Trump l’oeil: Eyes on Toronto’s Trump Tower

Bay Adelaide Centre Trump Tower and 302 Bay Street

Reaching skyward: In this view from the depths of the Bay Street skyscraper canyon, the 13-storey office building at 302 Bay Street (top) appears to rise almost as tall as the still-under-construction Toronto Trump Tower, which is around 50 floors high so far and climbing steadily on its way to 60 storeys.  Originally the Trust and Guarantee Building, 302 Bay was built in 1917 but received a rooftop addition in 1929. The building now bears the Bank of Montreal name above its front entrance.  On the left is the 51-storey Bay Adelaide Centre, Trump Toronto’s neighbour on the north side of Adelaide Street, built in 2009. Part of the 68-storey Scotia Plaza tower built in 1988 is visible at right and in reflection on the south side of Bay Adelaide Centre.

The Trump Tower made the news today in a Toronto Star article that gives an “exclusive peak” inside the Trump Hotel section of the skyscraper, which received an occupancy permit from the City last Friday. The hotel is scheduled to open later this spring. The newspaper article also profiles the tower’s 42-year-old billionaire builder, Alex Shnaider, and hails his “noteworthy accomplishment” of having “built the tallest residential tower in Canada — and the second tallest building in Toronto, after the CN Tower.” Seems the Star is jumping the gun: the Trump isn’t even as tall as the Bay Adelaide Centre yet, and it’s far from “built.” Moreover, when complete, it still won’t rise as high as 72-storey First Canadian Place, so Trump will have to settle for third-highest place on the Toronto skyline. Below are some pics I’ve taken of the Toronto Trump Tower this month.

Toronto Trump Tower

March 14 2011: Adelaide Street West view of Toronto Trump Tower construction

 

Toronto Trump Tower

March 7 2011: Toronto Trump Tower viewed from Bay & Adelaide Streets

 

Toronto Trump Tower

March 7 2011: Southwest view from Bay below Adelaide Street

 

Toronto Trump Tower

March 7 2011: Upper-level construction viewed from the southwest

 

Toronto Trump Tower

March 7 2011: Nathan Phillips Square view of the Toronto Trump construction

 

Bay Adelaide Centre and Toronto Trump Tower

March 7 2011: West view of Bay Adelaide Centre and Toronto Trump Tower

 

Toronto Trump Tower and Scotia Plaza

March 7 2011: From left are the Bay Adelaide Centre, Toronto Trump Tower, Scotia Plaza and the Bank of Nova Scotia building at 44 King Street West.

 

Toronto Trump Tower

March 7 2011: Trump Tower viewed from Bay Street outside First Canadian Place

 

Toronto Trump Tower and the Bank of Nova Scotia building at 44 King Street West

March 7 2011: Toronto Trump Tower and the Bank of Nova Scotia building at 44 King Street West. The 27-storey bank building at the northeast corner of King & Bay Streets was constructed in 1951.

 

Toronto Trump Tower

March 14 2011: Adelaide Street West view of Toronto Trump construction

 

Toronto Trump Tower

March 14 2011: Toronto Trump Tower, Scotia Plaza and First Canadian Place

 

Toronto Trump Tower

March 14 2011: When completed, the Toronto Trump Tower will stand taller than Scotia Plaza — when measured to the top of its spire. But Scotia Plaza’s roof will still be higher, as a diagram on skyscraperpage.com demonstrates.

 

Toronto Trump Tower

March 14 2011: Toronto Trump Tower and Scotia Plaza

 

Scotia Plaza Toronto Trump Tower and Bay Adelaide Centre

March 22 2011: Scotia Plaza, Toronto Trump Tower and Bay Adelaide Centre

 

 Toronto Trump Tower

March 22 2011: Northeast view of the Trump Toronto from King Street West

 

Toronto Trump Tower

March 22 2011: Upper-level construction viewed from the northeast

 

Toronto Trump Tower

March 22 2011: King Street view of the northeast corner of the Trump Toronto

 

Toronto Trump Tower

March 22 2011: Toronto Trump Tower street level view from King Street

 

Toronto Trump Tower

March 22 2011: Cement trucks at the tower’s King Street construction entrance

 

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

415 King Street West at Spadina

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


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

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

 

Councillor advocates block-by-block development

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

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

 

Is developer “aiming too high?”

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

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

 

Neighbourhood already has condo towers

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

 

Residential plus office and retail space

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

 

LCBO 415 King Street West

Development proposal sign on the LCBO store at King & Spadina


LCBO store 415 King Street West

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


401 - 409 King Street West heritage building

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


401 - 409 King Street West heritage building

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


401 409 King St West heritage building

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



LCBO store 415 King Street West

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


Spadina Avenue looking south from above King Street

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


Spadina Avenue view south to King Street West

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


Spadina Avenue looking south from Adelaide Street West

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


LCBO store 415 King Street West

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


Spadina Avenue looking northwest to King Street

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


East side of Spadina Avenue below King Street West

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


Townhouses on Clarence Square

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

 

Is Toronto ready to accept another Alsop design?

Steeles West subway station

Artistic rendering of Will Alsop’s proposed design for the main entrance to the new Steeles West subway station to be built on the Spadina line


Steeles West subway station

Rendering of Will Alsop’s proposed design for city and regional transit bus bays at the new Steeles West subway station on the extended Spadina line


Icon or monstrosity?: When local media this week published illustrations of the bold, dramatic designs that prominent international architect Will Alsop has proposed for a new suburban subway station, the reaction from Toronto residents was swift — and scathing.

The renderings unleashed a torrent of derision in comments posted on media websites, with the majority of writers aggressively slamming the design, the architect, the projected cost of the station, and the city’s decision to extend the subway line to York Region in the first place. In posts on the Toronto Star and CBC news websites, for instance, fewer than a third said they liked the design, with some praising it as “fabulous,” “iconic,” “interesting,” “impressive,” “creative,” and “amazing.” A few  seemed indifferent, but about two-thirds of commentators considered it risible or highly objectionable in some way.

The station’s steep construction cost — an estimated $159 million — sparked considerable outrage, as did the political decision to extend the subway line north of the city instead of expanding much-needed service within its borders. “What a disgusting joke!” one person commented on the decision to spend millions building a subway stop to serve fewer than 3,800 commuters during the peak of morning rush hour — in 2031.

But most writers disparaged the design and ridiculed the architect. While one fan said the design “rocks,” many more picked up that theme and ran with it in the exact opposite direction, suggesting the structure looks like something from “The Flintstones” cartoon series. Others compared it to a castle or a children’s toy, while some said it reminded them of the ruins of bombed buildings in Sarajevo or Afghanistan or “the remnants of a building that you see in pictures of cities after nuclear war has destroyed civilization.” Words like “hideous,” “ugly,” “embarrassing,” “eyesore,” “cartoonish,” “junky” and “monstrous” peppered the comments.

Alsop came under considerable fire, too, with several writers suggesting he must have been high on drugs when he conceived the design, while another asked: “who the heck is the architect…obviously someone with no imagination.” Some said they think his subway design is just as bad, if not even worse, than his acclaimed Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) building on stilts next to the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Many believe the subway station design is impractical for Canadian winters, and predict the sweeping roof over the bus depot will either get blown away by strong winds, or collapse under heavy snow. Others said the TTC should save money by re-using the tried and true designs of existing subway stations, which they believe look better than Alsop’s.

Frankly, I think “ugly,” “hideous” and “eyesore” aptly describe most of our current stations, particularly those in the downtown core and along the Bloor-Danforth line. The majority of downtown stations are buried under streets and office buildings, accessed by nondescript entrances. The few that actually have an above-ground station presence are either completely unremarkable, just okay, or downright ugly in my humble opinion. Especially the Rosedale and Castle Frank stations, where a striking design like Alsop’s would have established a wonderful landmark on the urban landscape.

If city residents beyond the downtown core truly don’t want the design for the Steeles West station, I suggest the TTC use it to redevelop a downtown station instead, where it would probably be better appreciated. And since Alsop’s work has been compared to a castle, what better place for it than Castle Frank?

Below are several more artistic renderings of the Steeles West station that were published on the CBC news website, along with some of my photos of the exteriors of the Summerhill, Rosedale and Castle Frank subway stations, plus pics of Alsop’s iconic OCAD building.

 

Steeles West subway station

Illustration of the interior of the main entrance to the new subway station


Steeles West subway station

Illustration of the interior of the bus depot proposed for the Steeles West station


Steeles West subway station

Artistic rendering of the subway platform for the new Steeles West station


Summerhill subway station

The Summerhill subway station on the Yonge subway line


Rosedale subway station

The Rosedale subway station on the Yonge subway line


Rosedale subway station

The entrance to the Rosedale subway station on the Yonge subway line


Castle Frank subway station

The Castle Frank subway station on the Bloor-Danforth line


Castle Frank subway station

The entrance to the Castle Frank subway station


Castle Frank subway station

Bloor street view of the Castle Frank subway station exterior


Castle Frank subway station

The bus bays along Bloor Street at the Castle Frank subway station


Castle Frank subway station

Multi-million-dollar mansions a stone’s throw north of the Castle Frank station


OCAD building

The famous Will Alsop-designed OCAD building on McCaul Street


Will Alsop OCAD University

The OCAD University building viewed from Grange Park on November 7 2008


OCAD building

A view of Alsop’s OCAD building from inside the adjacent Art Gallery of Ontario