January 7 2012: A midafternoon view of the Toronto Financial District skyline from Cherry Street, just outside the sprawling construction site for what will become the athletes’ village for the 2015 Pan Am Games.
September 29 2011: The spire on the Trump Tower Toronto soars skyward between neighbours Scotia Plaza, left, and First Canadian Place, right
September 28 2011: With its spire, the Trump Toronto is supposed to stand 276.9 meters — that’s 2 meters taller than next-door neighbour Scotia Plaza, left
September 28 2011: First Canadian Place, right, retains its crown as Toronto’s tallest building at 298 meters (not including its antennae).
Soaring spire: Construction of the Trump International Hotel & Tower Toronto is drawing closer to completion — a point punctuated this week when work crews added the top section of the skyscraper’s signature spire and began disassembling the rooftop construction crane.
Soaring skyward between Scotia Plaza and First Canadian Place, the spire cements Trump Toronto’s status as a new architectural landmark on the Financial District skyline. According to the Toronto Skyscraper Diagram on skyscraperpage.com, the spire gives Trump Toronto a total height of 276.9 meters. Technically speaking, that means Trump Toronto takes honours as the city’s second-tallest tower, after 298-meter First Canadian Place. However, the slender spire rises only 2 meters higher than Scotia Plaza next door which will nevertheless continue to look like it’s still the second-tallest skyscraper.
With cladding remaining to be installed on only the three top floors, the building appears to be on schedule for the 261-room Trump Toronto Hotel to open its doors in January. (The hotel is currently accepting reservations through its website from January 10 2012 onwards).
Below are photos showing recent construction progress on the tower’s top floors and spire.
August 30 2011: An HtO Park view of Trump Tower Toronto rising behind First Canadian Place, left and the towers of the TD Centre
August 30 2011: Toronto Islands view of Trump Tower Toronto rising on the Financial District skyline
September 3 2011: Trump Tower Toronto viewed from Adelaide Street West near University Avenue
September 3 2011: Spire construction viewed from the west on Adelaide Street
September 3 2011: Spire construction viewed from the west on Adelaide Street
September 3 2011: The “quarter onion”-shaped base for the spire
September 3 2011: Trump Tower Toronto and Scotia Plaza, right, seen from the intersection of King & Bay Streets
September 3 2011: Upper floor construction on the south side of the tower
September 3 2011: Trump Tower Toronto viewed from King & Bay Streets
September 3 2011: The spire rises from the tower’s northwest corner
September 3 2011: Looking up at the construction form for the spire, left
September 11 2011: Trump Toronto’s ascent on the downtown skyline as seen from Tommy Thompson Park (aka Leslie Street Spit)
September 12 2011: Sunset view of Trump Toronto spire construction
September 13 2011: Riverdale Park view of the Trump Toronto rising on the Financial District skyline
September 13 2011: Trump Tower Toronto rises among the office towers
September 28 2011: Spire base viewed from the northeast
September 28 2011: Only three more floors await cladding installation
September 28 2011: The yellow crane is disassembling the main crane that soared above the Trump Toronto throughout its construction
September 28 2011: Another northeast view of Trump Tower Toronto spire
September 13 2011: Construction crews arrange forms for first-floor walls at the northeast corner of The Residences of Pier 27 condo project site on Queen’s Quay East, just a stone’s throw from the Redpath Sugar Refinery
August 30 2011: A Toronto Islands view of four cranes towering above the Pier 27 condo building site and sales centre (white structure at bottom middle of photo). This view of the waterfront will look markedly different by this time next year …
... once substantial progress has been made on construction of the East Bayfront condo complex’s distinctive design, seen in this artistic illustration …
«»
… and in this video screen capture, both from the Pier 27 website
«»
Redpath’s neighbour ready to rise: Toronto’s eastern waterfront is about to get an exciting new look now that Phase 1 construction of The Residences of Pier 27 has reached grade along Queen’s Quay Boulevard East. The first condominium complex to be built on Toronto’s East Bayfront, Pier 27 will transform a prime piece of property at the foot of Yonge Street from a large dusty parking lot into a gleaming glass and steel midrise residential community with publicly-accessible waterfront green space and parkland. I’ll be thrilled to watch these condo buildings rise; their sleek modern architecture should vastly improve the appearance of what I consider to be one of downtown’s most dismal streets — a gritty stretch of landscape presently dominated by the huge, hulking Redpath Sugar Refinery.
Construction has made the most progress at the northeast corner of the Pier 27 property, right next to the refinery, where pedestrians and passing motorists can now see crews working at street level, just a few meters from the security fence running along the south side of Queen’s Quay Boulevard. In late July, you couldn’t see the workers unless you walked right up to the fence to peer into the giant excavation; at that time, the crews were still well below grade, gradually filling in the underground parking levels for the Phase 1 construction on the easterly half of the site. The Phase 2 construction zone to the west isn’t visible from the street at all, but work has been steadily progressing on the foundation there, and a fourth construction crane was erected on the site last month. According to a July 25 2011 post on the Cityzen Urban Lifestyle blog, crews had been pouring 3,000 cubic meters of concrete per month just for Phase 1 construction — that’s equivalent to the load carried by 333 concrete trucks. Once Phase 2 construction gets going full steam, the pour is expected to increase to 5,000 cubic meters (555 truckloads) per month, the Cityzen blog says.
A project of Cityzen Developments and Fernbrook Homes, The Residences of Pier 27 was designed by Peter Clewes of Toronto’s architectsAlliance.
Below are some of my photos of Pier 27’s recent construction progress. Photos of earlier building activity can be viewed in my posts on July 21 2011, April 22 2011, February 18 2011, and January 4 2011.
July 17 2011: Underground level construction on the east side (Phase 1) of the Pier 27 site, seen through the security fence on Queen’s Quay Boulevard
August 17 2011: A construction crew works at street level at the northeast corner of the Pier 27 site, mere steps from the Queen’s Quay Boulevard sidewalk
August 17 2011: Pier 27’s midrise towers, each topped by a distinctive multi-level “SkyBridge,” are depicted on this promotional billboard outside the project sales centre on Queen’s Quay Boulevard
August 17 2011: Billboard illustration of the SkyBridge spanning the top of Pier 27’s Phase 1 towers on the east side of the project site
August 30 3011: A Toronto Islands view toward the Pier 27 site
August 30 3011: Toronto Islands view of cranes above the Pier 27 building site
August 30 3011: Ward’s Island ferry view of cranes at the Pier 27 site adjacent to the Redpath Sugar Refinery (right)
September 12 2011: Construction moves above street level as seen in this view of the Phase 1 site from the sidewalk on Queen’s Quay Boulevard
September 12 2011: Building forms along the eastern perimeter of the Pier 27 site, next to the Redpath Sugar Refinery
September 12 2011: Building forms begin to rise above street level next to the construction crane near the northeast corner of the Pier 27 site
September 12 2011: Three construction cranes are visible in this view of wall forms rising toward the center of the Pier 27 building site
September 12 2011: Looking up at the four cranes working the Pier 27 project
June 21 2011: A Broadview Avenue view of four new glass and steel towers that rise high in the Bloor-Yorkville area. At far left is Casa Condominium; in center are X Condos and James Cooper Mansion Condos; at far right with the construction crane is the Toronto Four Seasons Hotel & Residences.
The Toronto skyline as seen from Broadview Avenue this morning, looking west from the hillside above Riverdale Park
November 2 2010: CN Tower view of the west half of Concord CityPlace and towers along Fleet Street near Old Fort York
By request: I’ve received several messages from people who have seen photos shot from the CN Tower in some of my building profile posts. They have asked if I have an online album containing all of the photos I took from the tower last November. I do, and I’ve posted a link to it below. I’ll be updating the photos following another visit to the top of the tower sometime this spring or early summer.
Editor’s Note: The album referred to above had been posted on Webshots.com. On December 1, 2012, the company that owns Webshots shut down the site, so my photos are no longer available.
Tall, sleek & slender: It’s the tallest tower in Yorkville, yet the Four Seasons Hotel & Residences hasn’t even topped off at its full 55 floors yet. But the sleek glass skyscraper and its 26-storey condo sibling have literally brightened up the east block of Bay Street between Scollard Street and Yorkville Avenue. When sunshine glints off the curtain glass walls of the East and West Residence towers on a clear day, it’s almost blinding. And even though the two-tower construction site is still surrounded by hoarding and scaffolding, and covered in dust and grime, it feels like it has significantly classed-up the corner at Bay & Yorkville already. I’m loving the look of these shiny towers, from all angles, and think the complex will be a stunning addition to the streetscape once construction is complete.
The five-star Four Seasons Hotel & Residences was designed by Peter Clewes of Toronto’s architectsAlliance, and is being built by Menkes Construction Ltd. The West Residence is a mixed-use tower featuring a 253-room Four Seasons Hotel on the first 20 floors, and 101 private condominium residences on the upper 35 storeys. The East Residence will have 103 condominiums, and is linked to the west tower by an elevated pedestrian walkway about eight floors above the ground.
I previously published photos of the Four Seasons construction in a January 26 post; below is a series of photos from February, March and today which show how much progress has been made since then.
February 10 2011: Construction of the Four Seasons towers (and, to the right, the Florian condo tower) viewed from Yonge St. near Roxborough St. in Rosedale
February 23 2011: East view of the towers from Yorkville Avenue
February 23 2011: Southwest view of the East Residence condo tower
February 23 2011: Yorkville Avenue view of the two towers
February 23 2011: Looking way up the south side of the West Residence tower
February 23 2011: The southeast corner of the West Residence tower
February 23 2011: Construction elevator on the West Residence tower
March 16 2011: The Four Seasons Hotel & Residences complex viewed from the northwest corner of Bay and Scollard Streets
March 16 2011: A health club, spa, swimming pool, ballroom and conference centre will be situated in this eight-storey wing at the corner of Bay and Scollard Streets
March 16 2011: The Four Seasons complex shines in the late afternoon sunshine
March 16 2011: The West Residence tower viewed from Bay Street
March 16 2011: Looking up the West Residence tower from Bay Street
March 16 2011: The southwest corner of the West Residence tower
March 16 2011: The south side of the West Residence Tower
March 24 2011: The towers viewed from Hazelton Avenue at Scollard Street
March 24 2011: The towers viewed from Hazelton Avenue at Scollard Street
March 24 2011: From Avenue Road, a view of the “old” Four Seasons Hotel, right, and the new tower rising two blocks to the east on Yorkville Avenue.
March 24 2011: The West Residence tower rises on the Yorkville skyline in this view from the intersection of Yonge and Wellesley Streets
April 1 2011: Southwest view of the West Residence tower
April 1 2011: Bay Street view of the West Residence tower
April 1 2011: A construction elevator rises up the side of the West Residence
April 1 2011: The West Residence tower seen from Avenue Road near the Museum subway station entrance outside the Royal Ontario Museum
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.
March 14 2011: Adelaide Street West view of Toronto Trump Tower construction
March 7 2011: Toronto Trump Tower viewed from Bay & Adelaide Streets
March 7 2011: Southwest view from Bay below Adelaide Street
March 7 2011: Upper-level construction viewed from the southwest
March 7 2011: Nathan Phillips Square view of the Toronto Trump construction
March 7 2011: West view of Bay Adelaide Centre and Toronto Trump Tower
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.
March 7 2011: Trump Tower viewed from Bay Street outside First Canadian Place
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.
March 14 2011: Adelaide Street West view of Toronto Trump construction
March 14 2011: Toronto Trump Tower, Scotia Plaza and First Canadian Place
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.
March 14 2011: Toronto Trump Tower and Scotia Plaza
March 22 2011: Scotia Plaza, Toronto Trump Tower and Bay Adelaide Centre
March 22 2011: Northeast view of the Trump Toronto from King Street West
March 22 2011: Upper-level construction viewed from the northeast
March 22 2011: King Street view of the northeast corner of the Trump Toronto
March 22 2011: Toronto Trump Tower street level view from King Street
March 22 2011: Cement trucks at the tower’s King Street construction entrance
Canada’s tallest office tower, the 72-storey First Canadian Place, is seen in a photo shot on April 9 2004
Standing tall: First Canadian Place has always had a strong presence on the Toronto skyline, thanks to its height and its crisp white Carrara marble curtain wall exterior. But time and weather have taken their toll on the stately tower, and its owner is undertaking a $100 million project to replace the 45,000 discoloured and deteriorating marble tiles with fritted glass panels (see the post above for further details on that endeavour).
First Canadian Place still stands out on the skyline — it just doesn’t look as brilliant as it once did. But once work crews finish installing its full new glass facade, possibly by the end of this year, the 72-storey tower will gleam once again.
Below is a pic I took of First Canadian Place and the Financial District while visiting the CN Tower shortly after I moved to Toronto in 1983. I took the other photos below that at various times over the past 10 years.
Summer 1983: CN Tower view of First Canadian Place and the Financial District
September 30 2001: First Canadian Place has some new company on the skyline
July 21 2001: First Canadian Place and the CN Tower dominate the skyline
August 3 2002: First Canadian Place towers above the Financial District
August 5 2002: Humber Bay view of First Canadian Place
May 11 2004: First Canadian Place viewed from Nathan Phillips Square
July 4 2007: A Riverdale Park view of First Canadian Place and its neighbours
July 12 2007: First Canadian Place as a thunderstorm approaches
August 4 2007: First Canadian Place has lost its shine, and the discoloured marble wall panels are clearly noticeable on the skyline, even from the Toronto Islands.
August 27 2008: The Bay Adelaide Centre rises near First Canadian Place
March 11 2010: Bathurst Street Bridge view of the Financial District
April 24 2010: When viewed from this location in Riverdale, the bottom two-thirds of First Canadian Place appears to have a bluish grey cladding. That’s actually the Bay Adelaide Centre tower two blocks away.
July 3 2010: First Canadian Place at sunset
August 1 2010: The scaffolding on the top floors of First Canadian Place is obvious even from a distance; here, from Tommy Thompson Park on the Leslie Street Spit
August 1 2010: Another skyline view from the Leslie Street Spit
August 1 2010: Leslie Street Spit view of the skyline
November 2 2010: CN Tower view of the Financial District
January 14 2011: A winter skyline view from the Bathurst Street Bridge
February 12 2011: First Canadian Place viewed from Avenue Road at Bloor Street
February 18 2011: First Canadian Place viewed from the Metro Hall park next to Roy Thomson Hall (bottom right)
March 8 2011: Financial District in early evening
March 14 2011: First Canadian Place and nearby officer towers
Now you see it … the Uptown tower sports a rooftop crane on March 1
Now you don’t … The Uptown on March 8 after its crane was removed. The crane boom poking out from behind the Casa condo tower (right) is building the new Four Seasons Toronto hotel & condo in Yorkville.
Condo craniotomy: The YWCA Elm Centre wasn’t the only major downtown construction project to lose its crane this week.
In my “Yorkville awaits the Uptown girl’s grand entrance” write-up a week ago, I posted photos of The Uptown Residences, and described how construction of the 48-storey Yorkville condo tower is winding down. I also mentioned that a small construction crane still had to be removed from the condo tower rooftop.
Well, it’s gone now — it was disassembled and removed from the building yesterday. And even though I had been expecting the crane to disappear at any time, I wasn’t quite ready to see The Uptown Residences sporting a naked roof. I had an unsettling feeling while snapping photos of the crane-less tower shortly before sunset yesterday, and I kept thinking something about the Yorkville skyline just didn’t look right.
From my balcony, I have watched cranes working on The Uptown’s roof since the late fall of 2009, and during some of those 18 months The Uptown’s crane stood higher than any other structure in the Yonge & Bloor area. It became such a familiar sight on the skyline, I was bound to miss its presence.
But there are two other cranes I can see soaring above Yorkville from time to time — those atop the Four Seasons Toronto towers currently under construction at the corner of Bay Street and Yorkville Avenue. Unfortunately, they’re largely blocked from view by the 46-floor Casa Condominium tower, but I do get an occasional glimpse as their booms swing toward the office buildings at Yonge & Bloor.
Below is a series of pics showing the Uptown’s crane during various stages of the condo tower’s construction — since October 2009 when I was first able to see the crane from my balcony, until its last day on the job this week.
August 6 2008: The Uptown’s crane stands only two storeys above street level during construction of the luxury condo tower’s foundation.
October 25 2009: My first glimpse of The Uptown’s crane, as the tip of the boom pokes above a nearby apartment building. The crane at left is atop The Uptown’s next-door neighbour, the Crystal Blu condominium tower.
November 2 2009: The Uptown’s crane still has a ways to go to catch up to the height of Crystal Blu’s and ultimately reach above the nearby towers.
December 21 2009: The Casa condo tower crane has been removed, Crystal Blu condos is climbing higher, and The Uptown’s crane is more visible on the skyline.
January 21 2010: The cranes on Crystal Blu and The Uptown Residences appear synchronized, both pointing in the same direction at the same angle
February 1 2010: The Casa condo tower nears completion, but The Uptown Residences tower still hasn’t come into view.
March 15 2010: The crane cab’s tinted windows stand out against the cloudy sky
March 29 2010: Now that the Crystal Blu condos crane has been removed, the Uptown Residences crane is the tallest in the Yorkville area
March 31 2010: The white boom looks bright against the blue morning sky
April 4 2010: The crane’s boom glows orange in the sunrise at 6 a.m. Easter Sunday
April 6 2010: White crane against a deep blue sky shortly before 8 a.m.
April 8 2010: The crane’s striking silhouette during a gorgeous sunset
May 10 2010: Another sunset silhouette of the crane and Yorkville towers
June 20 2010: Uptown Residences construction crane at sunset
June 20 2010: With its crane, the Uptown is the tallest structure in Yorkville
June 20 2010: The crane and another spectacular sunset
July 1 2010: The crane and nearby towers during an awesome Canada Day sunset
July 9 2010: The Uptown and its crane get upstaged by a fiery sky at sunset
July 17 2010: The crane and yet another brilliant July sunset
July 20 2010: The crane points to clouds glowing in another wonderful sunset
August 17 2010: The Yorkville skyline and another dramatic Toronto sunset
September 8 2010: Thick, dark storm clouds approach the tower
September 10 2010: The crane points straight up on a partly cloudy summer day
October 29 2010: Stormclouds advancing toward Yorkville
October 29 2010: The tower’s top southeast corner cladding cannot be installed until the construction crane has been removed from the roof.
November 28 2010: A storm front pulls over Yorkville like a thick woolly blanket
December 7 2010: A small red temporary crane has been assembled on the roof of The Uptown Residences tower to begin removing the larger crane
December 8 2010: The two cranes tower above the Yorkville neighbourhood
December 11 2010: The red crane pulls the last segment of the big white crane through the top of the Uptown Residences roof
December 15 2010: The big white crane has been completely removed
December 15 2010: A gaping hole in the wall and roof marks the spot where the large white crane had been positioned
December 21 2010: South view of the temporary red crane atop the tower
January 2 2011: Patching up the gaps where the white crane used to sit
January 18 2011: The Uptown’s rooftop cladding is nearly all in place
February 23 2011: North side of Uptown Residences (right) viewed from the roof of a Yorkville Avenue parking garage
March 2 2011: The temporary crane just days before its removal from the roof
March 8 2011: Uptown Residences condo shortly after the crane was removed
CN Tower view of Toronto’s downtown Financial District in 1983 and, below, a similar view from the tower in November 2010.
Artistic rendering of the three Southcore Financial Centre towers…
…and a southeast view of the Centre as it appeared on February 18. The 26-storey PricewaterhouseCooper head office building at 18 York Street (right) is nearing completion, but excavation is still in early stages for the Delta Toronto hotel and Bremner office tower office still to be built.
Trackside towers: As downtown’s newest office tower approaches the end of construction, site excavation has only just begun for its two younger siblings, who will gradually grow into prominent hotel and office towers standing proudly right next door.
Work on the 26-storey PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) office building at 18 York Street is winding down, and occupancy for most of its floors is scheduled for the third quarter of this year. (Four and a half floors of the PwC tower, which is 86% leased, won’t be ready for occupancy until early in 2013.)
Meanwhile, crews are preparing to build downtown’s next new highrise hotel, the Delta Toronto, as well as the city’s next new office block, the Bremner Tower, on lands along Bremner Boulevard just west of PwC.
But this young family of buildings, formally known as the Southcore Financial Centre (SFC), is already having a major impact on the city. Along with some newer neighbours (Telus Tower and Maple Leaf Square) who recently took up residence nearby, SFC is changing the look of the skyline and railway lands while at the same time drawing the Financial District to the south side of the train tracks.
And with construction currently underway for the ÏCE and Infinity3 condo towers just one block to the south, and construction expected to start later this year on the Ripley Toronto Aquarium one block to the west, this formerly derelict railway lands district is being transformed into a bustling and vibrant urban neighbourhood.
Sometimes I still can’t believe this is happening. Before I even moved to Toronto in the early 1980s, politicians kept promising new office and residential developments would revitalize the ugly railway lands between Union Station and Lake Shore Boulevard. As is typical for Toronto, it took so long for things to get going, I never thought I’d see construction actually get underway. But it has been happening, and the pace of transformation from blight to bright has been phenomenal.
For years, there wasn’t much more than a few parking lots and dusty, vacant fields on the vast swath of land stretching from the CN Tower in the west to the old Canada Post building at the corner of Bay Street and Lake Shore Blvd., in the east. Then the Air Canada Centre opened in 1999, followed in late 2005/early 2006 by the 35- and 16-storey Infinity condominium buildings at the corner of Bremner and Simcoe. Last year, both the Telus office tower and the Maple Leaf Square condo/office/hotel/retail complex opened on the east side of York at Bremner. This year, condos, offices and a hotel are under construction, and a major tourist attraction will be joining them soon. Whew! Three years from now, I might not even recognize the neighbourhood!
But let’s get back to Southcore, the new kids on the block bounded by Lower Simcoe Street to the west, Bremner Blvd. to the south, York Street to the east, and the railway tracks to the north. The Delta Toronto will be a 45-storey, 566-room, four-star hotel standing at the corner of Bremner and Simcoe, conveniently just across the street from the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The 30-storey Bremner Tower will sit between the Delta and PwC, on Bremner Blvd.
When I walked around the area last week, a construction crew and pile driver were working along the north perimeter of the site, right next to the rail tracks. Below are some pics I snapped from street level and from the Convention Centre stairs, along with some hotel and office tower renderings from the Southcore Financial Centre website.
Website illustration of the south elevation of the three Southcore towers
Rendering of the Southcore Financial Centre towers viewed from the southeast
Website rendering of the 45-storey Delta Toronto hotel tower
Website rendering of the Delta Toronto hotel tower courtyard
January 3 2011: West view of the PricewaterhouseCoopers office tower, left, the Maple Leaf Square complex and the Infinity condos (right)
January 3 2011: The top floors of the west side of the PwC office tower
January 3 2011: Southwest view of the PwC tower and Telus Tower
January 3 2011: PwC office tower construction gate on Bremner Blvd.
January 3 2011: Northwest view of the Southcore Financial Centre location for the Delta hotel and Bremner Tower. Overlooking the site are the PwC tower and Telus Tower at left, Maple Leaf Square towers (center), and the Infinity condos.
January 3 2011: Trailers and dumpsters on the hotel and office tower building site
February 18 2011: Delta Hotel and Bremner Tower site viewed from the southwest corner of Bremner Blvd and Lower Simcoe Street. Once built, the two towers will completely block this view of the Financial District skyscrapers.
February 18 2011: Another view of the hotel and office tower building site
February 18 2011: Yellow pile driving machine (center) on the Southcore site
February 18 2011: Toronto Convention Centre view of the Southcore building site
February 18 2011: Another convention centre view of the building site
Within months, full-scale excavation of this site will be in progress
February 18 2011: Pile driver at the site’s railway perimeter
While the pile driving machine prepares the Southcore site for excavation, another huge construction project is underway nearby — the Union Station railway platform revitalization project (the covered area at the rear left side of the photo).
The structure behind the pile driving machine is the north side of the PwC tower
Construction workers guide the pile driver
A closer look at the foundation-building machine
February 18 2011: PwC tower viewed from corner of York St. and Bremner Blvd.
A closer look at the top southeast corner of the PwC tower
February 18 2011: Simcoe Street view of the cranes atop the PwC office tower
Closer view of the upper west side of the PwC office tower
February 18 2011: A Simcoe Street view of the CN Tower reflecting in the west windows of the new PricewaterhouseCoopers office building.
Skyscrapers keep rising at the massive CityPlace district west of the CN Tower
Tracking progress: Condo towers and construction cranes greet visitors arriving in downtown Toronto by GO Train or Via Rail. As the trains slow down for their arrival at Union Station, they pass the steadily expanding Concord CityPlace development on the south side of the tracks. This was the Bathurst Street Bridge view of CityPlace on the afternoon of January 14.
In several years, two Yorkville condo towers may be clearly visible in this College Street view of the Ontario Legislature building at Queen’s Park
Skyline scrap: The Ontario government will not take action to preserve views of the provincial Legislature building at Queen’s Park — a vista that heritage groups worry will be spoiled by construction of two condo skyscrapers planned for Yorkville.
Concerns about drastic changes to skyline views of Queen’s Park arose several years ago when a developer sought approval from the City to construct two condo towers on the Avenue Road site of the Four Seasons Hotel.
The Four Seasons is building a new flagship hotel and condo complex just two blocks away, at the corner of Bay Street and Yorkville Avenue. Once it begins operations there, the developer wants to demolish the old Four Seasons tower (31 storeys) and replace it with two condo highrises (48 and 44 floors respectively).
City planners rejected the proposal, so the developer appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). Heritage groups were outraged by the development plan, fearing that the skyscrapers would be visible poking up in the distance behind the gables of the Legislature building. The Speaker of the Legislature, Steve Peters, shared their concerns, and fought against the condo proposal on behalf of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario when the developer’s case went before the OMB.
The skyline scrap didn’t faze the OMB, which said the project could proceed because it was consistent with city and provincial planning policies. The Legislative Assembly sought leave to appeal its decision, but as I noted in a blog post last week, an Ontario Superior Court judge rejected the claim. With no further legal avenues left to challenge the developer, Mr. Peters called on the provincial government to take action to protect the Queen’s Park vista.
As reported in a Globe and Mail article on Saturday, however, the government won’t step into the fray.
“The courts have made a decision, and we respect the process that has been undertaken,” said a Cabinet minister’s spokesman. The Globe says that, with the province refusing to take action, “there is nothing blocking Menkes Developments, the real estate company behind the proposed condo towers, from going ahead with the project.”
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Menkes will ask its architects to develop a striking design for the proposed towers. If they’re going to be visible behind the Legislature, I’d rather they look a helluva lot more impressive than the existing Four Seasons and the 24-storey Renaissance Plaza condo tower, which already lurk in the distance behind Queen’s Park (see photo below).
This photo taken today shows towers in Yorkville, including the Four Seasons Hotel and the Renaissance Plaza condos (circled), just north of Queen’s Park.
Tall buildings. Lots and lots of tall, new buildings. That’s what experts foresee for Toronto in the year 2061 — and not just downtown. Four specific neighbourhoods — Bloor Street/Kipling Avenue in Etobicoke, Yonge Street/Highway 401 in North York, Yonge Street/Eglinton Avenue, and McCowan Rd./Highway 401 in Scarborough — will experience massive highrise building booms to accommodate hundreds of thousands of immigrants and new residents expected to move here, they say.
As part of a special project celebrating its 50th anniversary, CTV Toronto asked some leading Toronto urban planners, architects and designers to gaze into their crystal balls and predict how the city will look 50 years from now. The consensus: with as many as one million more residents, Toronto will have “only one way to grow — up.”
The skyline rendering at the top of this post, plus artistic conceptions of the future Toronto waterfront and the Yonge/Bloor neighbourhood (below), are from CTV’s website feature, “Toronto 2061: Toronto’s Evolving Skyline.”
Their full story, plus a videoclip with some intriguing skyline and building animations, can be viewed on the CTV Toronto website.
