November 6 2011: My balcony view of the Burano condo tower, under construction on Bay Street between Grosvenor and Grenville Streets, at sunset today …
… and during another striking sunset on Wednesday November 2.
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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.
August 14 2011: A piece of wood is temporarily replacing the glass panel that broke and fell from this One Bedford balcony on Saturday
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.
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.
August 12 2011: The north Murano tower, sans balcony panels and railings, and the south tower rising behind it on Grenville Street
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.
August 12 2011: Panels have been removed from about two thirds of the balconies on the south side of the Murano north tower
August 12 2011: Another view of the south side of the Murano north tower
August 12 2011: A closer look at the balconies from which glass has been removed on the north tower’s south face
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.
August 15 2011: Glass shattered and fell this morning from a balcony (circled) on the upper northwest corner of the Murano south condo tower
August 15 2011: A replacement wooden panel has temporarily been installed on the balcony from which the glass fell this morning
August 15 2011: Another view of the replacement wooden panel
August 15 2011: A closer look at the balcony panel from which the broken glass fell
August 15 2011: Police enforce sidewalk and street lane closures on Bay Street below the north Murano condo tower.
August 15 2011: A Toronto police cruiser blocks vehicles from turning off Bay Street onto Grenville Street
August 15 2011: Police enforce traffic restrictions at the intersection of Bay & Grenville Streets below the Murano south condo tower
August 15 2011: The Bay and Grenville Street sidewalks below the Murano condo towers have been closed to pedestrians
August 15 2011: The sidewalk closure sign at the corner of Bay & Grenville Streets
August 15 2011: A Toronto police officer enforces the sidewalk closure at the southeast corner of 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
August 15 2011: Police said the road and sidewalk closures could continue until scaffolding is installed below the Murano south tower
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
August 15 2011: A crew continues to remove glass panels and railings from the south side of the north Murano tower
August 12 2011: Burano Condos, seen from the SE corner of Bay and College. The tower has climbed to 40 floors atop its 2-storey heritage building base.
Bay Street beauty: The Burano condo tower has become the newest member of Toronto’s steadily growing club of buildings taller than 40 storeys. On Friday, I counted 40 full floors of concrete, glass and steel rising from Burano’s two-storey base, a reconstructed heritage building that once was home to the Addison on Bay auto dealership. That means construction crews have only 10 more floors to build before Burano tops off: eight additional condominium levels, plus a two-storey mechanical penthouse.
Burano has looked impressive for months as the trapezoid-shaped tower has gradually climbed higher on the downtown skyline. With its angled south wall accenting Bay Street’s bend to the west at Grenville Street, and the striking, sharp points at its northeast and southwest corners, the Burano tower attracts attention from all directions. Its base will make an equally dramatic architectural statement once its three-storey glass lobby is installed on Grosvenor Street.
A project by Lanterra Developments, Burano Condos was designed by Peter Clewes of Toronto’s architectsAlliance.
Below are several photos showing Burano’s construction progress during the summer. Additional photos can be viewed in my four previous blog posts on the project: June 11 2011, March 29 2011, February 21 2011, and January 7 2011.
June 14 2011: This view from Grenville Street shows Burano, left, and the two Murano condo towers built by the same developer and architectural team.
June 14 2011: Grenville Street view of Burano’s southwest corner
June 14 2011: The tower’s south wall is comprised entirely of windows. There are balconies only on the east and west sides of the building.
June 14 2011: One of the Murano condo towers reflects in Burano’s south windows while a construction elevator climbs the west wall
June 14 2011: A view from the south of the Burano Condos tower rising above the upper level of its two-storey restored heritage building base
June 21 2011: The former Addison on Bay auto dealership building has been completely rebuilt on the Burano site
June 21 2011: Another view of the reconstructed Addison building
June 21 2011: This billboard on the Bay Street sidewalk hoarding illustrates the dramatic glass lobby planned for Grosvenor Street
June 28 2011: A concrete pumping machine at work atop the Burano condo tower
July 1 2011: Burano condo tower viewed from SE corner of Bay & College Streets
July 13 2011: The upper south side of the Burano condo tower
July 15 2011: Condos on the tower’s north side
July 15 2011: Looking up the tower’s south and east sides
July 15 2011: The upper south side of the tower
July 15 2011: North side windows and west wall balconies
July 15 2011: Wall and floor forms on the tower’s south side
July 15 2011: Grosvenor Street view of the Murano condo towers, left, and the north side of the Burano tower
July 15 2011: Looking up the tower’s east and north sides
July 15 2011: The tower makes a strong point at its northeast corner
July 15 2011: Balconies near the tower’s northeast corner
July 15 2011: A peek inside some of the condos on the north side
July 15 2011: Windows on the north wall
July 17 2011: Burano viewed from College Street just west of University Avenue
July 22 2011: A view from my balcony of workers atop the Burano tower
July 24 2011: Looking up the south side of the tower
July 24 2011: Balconies on the west wall and windows on the south
July 24 2011: The south side of the tower is a tall wall of windows
July 24 2011: Wellesley Street view of the Murano condos, left, and Burano
July 31 2011: My balcony view of the crane atop Burano at sunset
July 27 2011: Upper floors of the tower viewed from the west
August 2 2011: My balcony view of a concrete pumper at work atop Burano
August 12 2011: Windows on the tower’s south side
August 12 2011: The Burano tower, left, its heritage building base, center, and the south Murano condo tower on the east side of Bay Street, right
August 12 2011: Looking up the tower’s west and south sides
August 12 2011: Looking up the tower’s west side
August 12 2011: Looking up the tower’s east side
August 13 2011: Newly-installed glass curtain wall cladding on the 77 Charles West luxury condo building, seen (above and below) from St Thomas Street
77 Charles West condos reaches 12 floors; cladding installation begins
Going green: Construction on the 77 Charles West luxury condo midrise could be topping off later this month, now that 12 of the building’s 13 floors have been built. Meanwhile, down at street level, the facade is beginning to reflect some of its nearby condo neighbours as its striking green-hued curtain wall cladding gradually gets installed.
I was surprised when I saw some of the first panels being put in place five days ago because the glass is turquoise green rather than blue, as renderings on the project website suggested it would be. Nevertheless, I like how it looks — and think it makes 77’s neighbours look good, too. Depending upon where I stood while looking at the new windows this morning, I saw sharp reflections of the One St Thomas Residences condo tower across the street, the Residences of the Windsor Arms at 22 St Thomas Street one block north, and other buildings in the Bloor-Yorkville area.
So far, the cladding encloses just three storeys around what will be the Charles Street entrance to the condominium homes (the 13 floors of luxury condos rise above Kintore College and Cultural Centre, a three-storey residence and educational facility for female Catholic students attending University of Toronto). I’m anxious to see how the cladding will look on the rest of the floors, especially on the curved south side of the building.
77 Charles West is a project of Aspen Ridge Homes, and was designed by Yann Weymouth of HOK.
Below are more photos of the new cladding and recent construction progress. Previous construction updates can be found in blog posts on July 5 2011, April 7 2011, and February 15 2011 — my first report on the 77 Charles West project.
August 6 2011: 77 Charles West condo construction viewed from St Thomas Street
August 6 2011: New promotional signage on the building’s north side
August 6 2011: Floors on the northwest corner of the building
August 6 2011: St Mary Street view of the building’s curved southwest corner
August 8 2011: Crews install the first 3-storey section of glass cladding
August 8 2011: Workers put the green-hued glass curtain wall panels in place
August 8 2011: A closer look at the cladding over the second and third storeys
August 13 2011: New cladding viewed from Charles Street, looking west
August 13 2011: Cladding above the entrance that faces north up St Thomas Street
August 13 2011: The cladding reflects several nearby buildings including the Residences at the Windsor Arms, the One St Thomas Residences, 155 Cumberland Street condos, and The Colonnade apartment building on Bloor Street
August 13 2011: Street-level view of the cladding’s neighbourhood reflection
August 16 2011: Reflection of the nearby Residences of the Windsor Arms
August 13 2011: One of the construction entrances on Charles Street
August 13 2011: A closer look at a corner section of the glass curtain wall
August 13 2011: New cladding viewed from the west end of the building
August 13 2011: Cladding reflects the One St Thomas Residences across the street
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Enormous excavation for U Condominiums keeps getting deeper & wider
August 6 2011: Excavation progress along the Bay Street side of the U Condos site, where the 50-storey east tower will rise
Digging down: Whenever I checked out excavation activity at the U Condominiums site back in the spring, it always seemed like the earth was moving at a snail’s pace. I thought it might take until the end of the year before the digging would reach anywhere near the 15-metre depth required for construction of the foundation for the project’s two condo towers, which will rise 45 and 50 storeys tall. Excavation work appeared to be moving well along the east, south and west perimeters of the property, but a vast amount of earth remained in the center and along the north perimeter. Since June, however, the excavation has progressed at an amazing pace, and the big hole in the ground at Bay and St Mary Streets is now more than two levels deep across most of the property.
U Condos is a project by The Pemberton Group. Its two condo towers, along with 3-storey townhouses that will flank the north, east and south sides of the development, were designed by Peter Clewes of Toronto’s architectsAlliance.
Below are photos showing summer excavation progress at the U Condos location. Earlier construction photos can be viewed in my blog posts on May 7 2011, April 2 2011, March 18 2011, and February 4 2011 — my first report on the U Condos project.
June 21 2011: Looking southeast toward Bay Street from the U Condos construction entrance off St Mary Street
June 21 2011: Looking towards the eastern side of the site along Bay Street
June 21 2011: A construction supervisor watches excavation activity about 20 feet below. Bay Street is on the other side of the hoarding behind him.
June 21 2011: The southeastern corner where the 50-storey condo tower will rise
June 21 2011: Excavation on the south side of the site next to St Basil’s Church
July 3 2011: Excavation progress at the location for the east condo tower
July 3 2011: Excavation equipment and machines near the ramp off Bay Street
July 3 2011: An excavator on the south side of the site near St Basil’s Church. A row of 3-storey townhouses will be built along that edge of the U Condos property.
July 3 2011: The southwest corner of the U Condos property near Brennan Hall on the University of Toronto campus
July 24 2011: A substantially wider and deeper area has been excavated at the southwest corner in the past three weeks
July 24 2011: An excavator sits roughly where the east tower will be constructed
July 24 2011: Another view of the excavator from the St Mary Street entrance
July 24 2011: Looking toward the southeast corner of the property from a security fence along St Mary Street
August 6 2011: Significant excavation progress on the eastern third of the site
August 6 2011: Looking toward St Basil’s Church across the center of the site
August 6 2011: The 45-storey west tower will be built at this location
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Foundation work begins on north section of the One Bloor site
August 6 2011: Foundation drilling equipment on the One Bloor condo tower site
Drilling starts: One of Toronto’s biggest construction events took place in the middle of July when the groundbreaking ceremony was held for the much-awaited One Bloor condo tower at the southeast corner of the city’s premier Yonge & Bloor intersection. Drilling equipment had arrived on the site weeks earlier, but it wasn’t until July 15 that executive shovels turned soil to officially kick off construction of the 70-storey tower.
A project of Great Gulf Homes, One Bloor was designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects of Toronto. My previous coverage of this condo project includes posts on July 15 2011, May 4 2011, and January 10 2011 — my first report on One Bloor.
Below are several recent photos of construction equipment on the One Bloor property. Numerous tower renderings and a full architectural description of the building can be viewed at this page on the Hariri Pontarini website.
July 13 2011: Pedestrians walk on Yonge Street south of Bloor Street, passing foundation drilling machines on the One Bloor site
July 13 2011: Yonge Street view of the One Bloor site, looking east toward the Xerox Tower at 33 Bloor Street East
July 13 2011: A man walks along the temporary subway station access path next to the north side of the One Bloor condo tower location
August 6 2011: Foundation building equipment on the One Bloor site
August 6 2011: A ground level view of the north half of the tower site
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.
July 21 2011: The Murano north tower on Grosvenor Street, left, has suffered about eight incidents of balcony glass breakage this year.
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.
July 24 2011: Workers remove a glass partition from between two balconies on the north side of the Grosvenor Street Murano tower
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.
August 4 2011: Balcony glass removal progress on the tower’s north side
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
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.
August 4 2011: A contractor removes a balcony support pillar
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.
July 21 2011: The Murano south condo tower at 38 Grenville Street has not experienced any balcony panel breakage
March 8 2010: Balcony panel installation underway during construction of the Festival Tower condo highrise on John Street
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.
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
July 27 2011: Sections of Grosvenor Street and St Vincent Lane below the Murano north condo tower remain closed to vehicles and pedestrians …
… 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.
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.
July 24 2011: A work crew inspects balcony panels from a swing stage near the northeast corner of the 37-storey tower
July 24 2011: Two contractors look down from one balcony while another crew works on the balcony below them
July 24 2011: The workers appear to be checking a glass balcony divider
July 27 2011: A crew ascends the building exterior where dozens of glass panels have already been removed from the balcony railings
July 21 2011: Police tape blocks access to Grosvenor Street outside the Murano North condo tower at Bay & Grosvenor Streets this evening
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.
July 21 2011: Tiny pieces of shattered balcony glass litter the asphalt on Grosvenor Street outside the Murano North condo tower
July 21 2011: A Toronto police cruiser and yellow police tape block traffic outside the Murano North condo tower at 37 Grosvenor Street …
… 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.
June 26 2011: A piece of plywood replaces a balcony panel on the upper south side of the Murano North condo tower
June 26 2011 : A closer view of the missing balcony panel on the north tower
June 26 2011: Scaffolding on Bay Street outside the Murano condos
June 26 2011: Scaffolding on Grosvenor Street outside the Murano north tower
July 15 2011: Plywood replaces a balcony panel on the Murano north tower
July 15 2011: Another view of the panel missing on the north tower’s north side
July 21 2011: Bay Street view of two missing panels on Murano’s north tower
July 21 2011: The closed section of Grosvenor Street outside the Murano tower
July 21 2011: Curious Murano north tower residents looking off their balcony
July 21 2011: Shattered glass on Grosvenor Street
July 21 2011: More shattered glass on Grosvenor Street
July 21 2011: Police tape blocks access to Grosvenor Street from Bay Street
July 21 2011: Scaffolding and barricades along the Bay Street sidewalk outside the Murano condo towers
July 21 2011: A police officer and tape at the corner of Bay and Grosvenor
July 21 2011: Looking up at the Murano condo towers from Grosvenor Street
July 13 2011: Plywood replaces a glass balcony panel on the 252 Sackville Street apartment building in Regent Park
July 13 2011: A closer view of the missing panel on the Regent Park balcony
3:15 p.m.: “Caution” tape blocks the east sidewalk on Bay Street, seen here looking south from Grosvenor toward Grenville Street. A security guard told me the sidewalk was closed as a safety precaution after glass fell from one of the Murano condo towers sometime today.
Overhead dangers: The sky isn’t falling this week, but you can forgive many Toronto motorists and pedestrians for thinking that it is. Yesterday, a 10-pound chunk of concrete fell from the Gardiner Expressway onto Lake Shore Boulevard near Bathurst Street, forcing the temporary closure of two lanes of traffic while crews cleaned the road and inspected the elevated expressway for additional loose pieces. (Further information about that is available in a Toronto Star article published today as well as a story that appeared in yesterday’s Globe and Mail.) Then, sometime today, glass apparently fell from one of the Murano condo towers on Bay Street, forcing building management to tape off pedestrian access to most of the sidewalk on the east side of Bay between Grosvenor and Grenville Streets as a safety measure.
Today’s broken glass/sidewalk closure incident is the latest in a series that have occurred at the popular downtown condominium complex for more than a year. A project of Lanterra Developments, Murano is a pair of attractive glass and steel condo towers that soar 45 and 37 storeys above the east side of Bay Street, between Grosvenor to the north and Grenville to the south. As I reported in a January 18 2011 post, there were three occasions last year on which glass balcony panels either shattered or loosened and fell from the towers. In April 2010, a balcony panel apparently plunged from one of the towers, smashing and cracking several panes of a glass canopy that extends along the condo building exterior above the Bay Street sidewalk. When two more balcony panels broke last September the local media took note, with the Toronto Star publishing a September 18 2010 report headlined “Shattered glass rains down from condo tower.” Just before Christmas, I noticed that a balcony panel on the south side of the North Tower had been replaced with a piece of wood, while in late January I saw a board on yet another balcony on the other side of the same tower (see my February 2 2011 post for photos of that, as well as pics of a temporary wood panel on a balcony at the 46-storey Casa Condominium on Charles Street East). There were no reports of injuries in any of the incidents. For most of 2010 and much of this past winter, however, scaffolding was kept in place to protect pedestrians using the sidewalks outside the Murano towers. Meanwhile, replacements for the broken and cracked panels on the canopy above the sidewalk were not installed until sometime in April of this year.
Early in May, I noticed that most of the scaffolding had been removed from the sidewalks, while just a week or two back I saw that the sidewalks were completely clear for the first time in many months. When I was heading north on Bay Street in midafternoon today, however, I encountered yellow and red “caution” tape that had been strung across the trees in front of the Murano complex, blocking most of the sidewalk from pedestrian use. Only a narrow section, with barely enough room for two pedestrians to pass each other, remained open alongside the curb. A disabled man in a motorized wheelchair came along and noticed, to his chagrin, that the section of sidewalk still open for passage was not wide enough for his chair. He proceeded to drive under the “caution” tape, which snagged on his headrest and ripped away from the trees as he rode up the middle of the sidewalk. A security guard wearing a white hardhat came racing toward him, gesturing for the man to drive his wheelchair along the edge of the sidewalk next to the road. “You can’t go up here! It’s dangerous!” he warned.
When I asked why the sidewalk was taped off, the security guard said it was because “glass fell from the tower.” He did not know whether the glass had fallen from a broken window or a balcony panel. All he could tell me was that glass had fallen to the street and the sidewalk had been cordoned off as a safety precaution. “It’s very dangerous for you here,” he told me, before scurrying down the street to replace the tape that had been torn loose by the wheelchair (several pedestrians had started walking up the middle of the sidewalk since the tape was no longer in place to indicate it was off-limits.) I didn’t see broken glass anywhere on the sidewalks; if there had been any, it had already been swept up. A police car was parked on Grosvenor outside the entrance to the Murano North Tower but, apart from the “caution” tape, there was nothing to suggest anything “dangerous” had happened. Nevertheless, I wonder if I’ll once again see scaffolding above the sidewalk next time I walk past the Muranos?
Below are two more pics showing the taped-off sidewalk today, along with photos I took during the winter of the missing and cracked canopy panels and their replacements.
June 21 2011: Red caution tape blocks the Bay Street sidewalk beside the Murano Condo towers, seen here looking north from Grenville Street.
June 21 2011: Red and yellow tape tied to trees blocks the Bay Street sidewalk next to the Murano condos, seen here looking south from Grosvenor Street.
March 29 2011: One glass panel is cracked and others are missing from the canopy that extends above the sidewalk from the west side of the Murano towers
March 29 2011: Looking up at the 45-storey Murano Condos South Tower through the space where a panel is missing from the canopy above the Bay Street sidewalk
March 29 2011: Looking up at the Murano’s North Tower, left, and South Tower
April 30 2011: New panels have recently been installed in the canopy
April 30 2011: The glass podium of the Murano towers reflects the Burano condo tower — another Lanterra Developments project — currently under construction on the west side of Bay Street
Windows in the Burano condo tower under construction on Bay Street reflect a deep golden glow at sunset on June 6 2011
Golden glow: For the past few months, I have been able to see a slim section of the new Burano condo tower’s east side from my own condo windows and balcony. Most of my view of Burano’s construction on Bay Street has been blocked by the 21-storey Ontario Coroner’s Courts building (the George Drew building) that sits a half a block to the east at 25 Grosvenor Street. I’ll be able to see much more of Burano once it rises a few floors higher in the next several weeks and overtakes not only the coroner’s building, but also the Murano North condo tower at the corner of Bay and Grosvenor, and climbs closer to its final full height of 50 floors. But Burano already makes a striking impact on my views of the city skyline to the west — especially at sunset on clear days. On those occasions, Burano’s east windows reflect a deep golden glow as neighbouring buildings bounce the sunset against them. And during some brilliant sunsets, the reflections become so intense that Burano’s windows radiate a fiery, molten-lava-like glow that can be painful to watch without sunglasses. The sight reminds me of how Royal Bank Plaza looks when it reflects sunshine from certain angles. Below are several more recent pics of Burano’s golden glow.
June 6 2011: Burano condo tower windows viewed from the east
June 1 2011: The Burano windows have an ember-like glow as the sunset fades
June 3 2011: A fiery reflection off the Burano windows at sunset
June 3 2011: At left is the Murano South condo tower; at right, the top floors of Murano North rise above the Ontario Coroner’s Courts building on Grosvenor Street (officially known as the George Drew Building, it has no windows on its east and west sides). Burano will be the tallest building of the bunch once completed.
June 3 2011: It’s not until sunset that the Burano windows begin to glow boldly, as this photo taken earlier in the evening shows
May 5 2011: The 46-storey Casa condo on Charles Street West, viewed from a driveway between the Bloor Street Neighbourhood condo (left) and the St Charles Court apartment building (right)
May 5 2011: looking up at the L-shaped Bloor Street Neighbourhood condo tower
May 5 2011: Balconies on the west side of Bloor Street Neighbourhood
May 5 2011: South view toward the Casa condo tower from a driveway linking Hayden Street and Charles Street between the Bloor Street Neighbourhood condo tower and Charles Court apartments
May 5 2011: Pedestrians take a short-cut north to Hayden Street along the driveway between the Charles Court apartments (left) and the Bloor Street Neighbourhood condo tower
May 6 2011: A driveway just two vehicles wide is all that separates The Uptown Residences (left) and Crystal Blu Condos, new condo towers on Balmuto Street
May 6 2011: Construction on the exterior of The Uptown Residences is complete — except for the condo tower’s main entrance on Balmuto Street
May 6 2011: Construction of the Four Seasons Toronto Hotel + Residences, viewed from outside The Uptown Residences
May 6 2011: Four Seasons Toronto Hotel + Residences viewed from Balmuto Street
April 30 2011: Four Seasons Toronto Hotel + Residences tower viewed from the northwest corner of Bloor and St Thomas Streets
May 5 2011: Four Seasons Hotel + Residences Toronto construction viewed from Church Street near Park Road
April 23 2011: Looking south at the excavation progress for the Milan condo tower under construction at Yonge & Church
April 23 2011: View toward the southeast corner of the Milan condo tower excavation site, from the Canadian Tire store parking lot next door
April 23 2011: Deep excavation in the site’s southeast corner on Church Street
April 23 2011: Excavation activity near the Yonge subway line at the north side of the Milan condo tower construction site
April 23 2011: The Milan condo tower excavation entrance ramp off Church Street
May 5 2011: A view of the Milan excavation from the site’s southeast corner on Church Street, as a subway train passes the east side of the construction area.
May 5 2011: Church Street view through security fencing toward the northeast corner of the Milan condo tower construction site
May 5 2011: Looking north from Church Street toward the Canadian Tire store next to the Milan condo construction zone
May 5 2011: view toward the east side of the Milan site from the Church Street construction entrance ramp
May 5 2011: Church Street view of the Milan site, looking northeast
April 30 2011: Construction progress at the Seventy Seven Charles West condos viewed from Charles Street
April 30 2011: Seventy Seven Charles West condos viewed from the corner of St Thomas and Charles Streets
April 30 2011: Looking south on St Thomas Street at the Seventy Seven Charles West condos
April 22 2011: A window washer descends the south side of the 29-storey One St Thomas condo tower, which sits directly across Charles Street from the Seventy Seven Charles west condo construction site
April 22 2011: The cleaner works his way down the limestone-clad wall
April 22 2011: His job perk is a view inside some of the city’s most exclusive luxury condos
April 22 2011: The tower, which evokes highrise buildings from 1920s and 1930s-era New York City, was designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects
May 6 2011: Hoarding is installed along St Nicholas Street and heavy machinery positioned on St Mary Street as crews prepare to demolish buildings where the Nicholas Residences condo tower will be constructed
May 6 2011: This building was formerly home to Regis College, the Jesuit Graduate Faculty of Theology at the University of Toronto. The interior has been gutted, and demolition of the brick exterior is imminent
May 6 2011: Nicholas will rise 35 storeys next to the Church of Scientology Toronto building, left, at the corner of Yonge & St Mary Streets
April 30 2011: Bay Street view of excavation progress at the U Condos construction site, looking northwest toward hoarding along St Mary Street. The construction crane for the Seventy Seven Charles West condo building rises behind Loretto College, the 6-storey brick building toward the upper left of the photo.
April 30 2011: Looking from Bay Street toward excavation machinery at the northwest corner of the U Condos construction site
April 30 2011: A shoring machine on the U Condos construction site
April 30 2011 A steel I-beam sunk into the ground to help shore up the huge U Condos site for excavation and foundation construction
April 30 2011: Southward view from St Mary Street of excavation progress on the U Condos construction site
April 30 2011 St Mary Street view toward the southeast corner of the U Condos construction site
April 30 2011 St Mary Street view toward the southwest corner of the U Condos construction site
April 30 2011 St Mary Street view toward the southwest corner of the U Condos construction site
April 30 2011: A shoring machine in the SW corner of the U Condos site
March 29 2011: Excavation at the NE corner of the Fashion House site
March 22 2011: Motion on Bay apartment tower excavation at Bay & Dundas Streets
April 1 2011: U Condos condo tower excavation at Bay and St Mary Streets
Digging deeper: Excavations for three new highrise residential buildings are moving steadily along in three different downtown areas.
The digs at Fashion House Condos on King Street West, Motion Apartments on Bay at Dundas, and U Condos on Bay near Yorkville, all are more than one underground level deep at parts of their respective construction sites. But while excavation activity is underway on almost the entire Motion on Bay site, digging is limited to certain perimeter points at Fashion House and U Condos. Pile driving and shoring activity continues at both of those sites, where roughly three-quarters of the ground on each property has yet to be broken.
Below is a series of recent photos showing excavation progress at each building site. To view building renderings and pictures I’ve published previously, see my January 24 post on Fashion House, my January 29 post for Motion on Bay, and my February 4 and March 18 posts on U Condos.
March 29 2011: View from King Street of the Fashion House site
March 29 2011: Activity at the northwest corner of the Fashion House site
March 29 2011: Activity at the northwest corner of the Fashion House site
March 29 2011: Excavation at the north side of the Fashion House site
March 29 2011: Activity at the NE corner of the Fashion House site
February 15 2011: Northwest view of Motion on Bay excavation
February 15 2011: The north half of the Motion on Bay construction site
March 22 2011: Excavation activity at the SW corner of the Motion site
March 22 2011: Shoring and excavation equipment at the Motion site
April 1 2011: Digging away at the southwest corner of the U Condos site
April 1 2011: Excavator digging at the NW corner of the U Condos site
April 1 2011: The dig is more than one level deep at U Condos’ western perimeter
April 1 2011: A closer view of the depth of the excavation at the northwest corner
April 1 2011: Excavation depth along the property’s western perimeter
April 1 2011: St Mary Street view of activity at the east end of the site
April 1 2011: Preparing the Bay Street side of the site for excavation
Catching up to its cousins: The Burano condo tower, left, is slowly but surely closing in on the height of the two Murano condo towers on the opposite side of Bay Street. When topped off at 48 floors, Burano will be the tallest of the bunch — Murano North is 35 storeys, while Murano South is 45. All three condo towers, seen here on March 25 2011, are projects of Lanterra Developments.
Snow day: The calendar says it’s spring, but Toronto is getting another blast of winter with 5 cm. of snow falling throughout the day today. This photo, looking north from Queen Street on another snowy day earlier this winter, shows three major building sites on Bay Street. The orange construction crane is building the Sick Kids Research & Learning Tower at Elm Street; the crane in the middle of the photo is atop the Burano condo tower between Grenville and Grosvenor Streets; and the crane at the rear of the picture, on the east side of Bay, is atop the Four Seasons Toronto hotel and condo tower.
Snow motion: This photo was taken on the same day as the one above, a few blocks further north up Bay Street. It shows the Motion on Bay highrise apartment building construction site at left, along with the Sick Kids and Burano towers to the north.
Ice view: This was a view this afternoon of the Sick Kids Research and Learning Tower construction site from an ice-covered webcam high above the building.
Snowy Aura: Although it’s not on Bay Street itself, Aura condos is part of the College Park complex that occupies the entire eastern block of Bay between Gerrard and College Streets. This is a webcam view of the Aura condos construction site earlier this afternoon.
An idle lift machine and stacks of aluminum panel trim seen on the west side of Lumiere Condos along Laplante Avenue on Sunday March 20 2011
Aluminum panel installation on the west side of the Lumiere condo tower
Final touches? Major construction concluded a few months ago, residents have been moving into the building ever since, and now it appears that Lumiere Condominiums on Bay Street is finally getting finishing touches to its exterior. Or is it? In my first post about Lumiere on January 5, I noted that aluminum panels were missing from large, long sections of the building podium. About two weeks later, as I reported in a January 21 update post, I saw crews working on some of the unfinished areas. But they didn’t do much, and the podium’s exterior remained incomplete throughout the winter. However, aluminum panel installation has resumed, so it’s possible the podium cladding project could literally wrap up this spring. Crews are concentrating on the west side of Lumiere, along Laplante Avenue, but still have some small areas to attend to on the south side as well. Below are some pics I snapped Sunday afternoon of the podium work underway at Lumiere.
South side of Lumiere condo podium. The underground garage entrance is at left, while the moving & delivery bay is behind the women walking in the driveway.
East view toward College Park from the driveway between Lumiere condos (left) and The Penrose condo building at 750 Bay Street (right)
View toward The Residences at College Park North Tower on the east side of Bay Street from the driveway between Lumiere condos and The Penrose condos
Unfinished podium exterior outside the Lumiere parking garage entrance
Looking up the southwest corner of the Lumiere condo tower
Aluminum panels to be installed on the podium are stacked outside the rear of the tower along Laplante Avenue.
Curved aluminum panels to be installed on Lumiere’s round podium support pillars
Aluminum panels to be installed on the Lumiere condos exterior
Curved aluminum panels to be installed on Lumiere condos exterior
Unfinished areas on the northwest corner of the Lumiere condo tower
Support pillars remaining to be clad with the curved aluminum panels
Looking up the southwest corner of the Lumiere condo tower
March 16 2011: Huge mounds of earth at the U Condos construction site block parts of St. Basil’s Church from view along St. Mary Street. Construction crews are in the early stages of excavation work for the two-tower condo project.
Prepping the perimeter: Piles of earth keep growing bigger on the U Condos construction site, as crews continue to prepare the property’s perimeter for site excavation and foundation building. Below are photos I’ve taken during the past month of the vast condo construction site at the corner of Bay and St. Mary Streets near Yorkville. Additional photos and a description of the project are provided in my February 4 post about U Condos.
February 12 2011: The U Condos site after a light dusting of snow
February 15 2011: Pile drivers preparing the U Condos Bay Street perimeter
February 15 2011: St. Mary Street view of U Condos site
February 15 2011: Activity at the northeastern corner of the U Condos site
February 15 2011: Activity at the northeastern corner of the U Condos site
March 13 2011: Foundation building machines on the U Condos site
March 13 2011: Enormous mounds of earth in the middle of the property
March 13 2011: Foundation construction machines on the U Condos building site
March 13 2011: Machinery and equipment on the east side of the property
March 13 2011: Machinery and equipment on the east side of the property
March 13 2011: Mounds of earth keep piling up near St. Basil’s Church
March 13 2011: Pile driving equipment at the south end of the property
March 16 2011: Equipment, machines and steel beams on the east side of the site
March 16 2011: The beams will strengthen the retaining walls for the excavation
March 16 2011: One of the excavating machines on the U Condos site. The tower at the rear right of the photo is the One Bedford condominium on Bloor Street.