Category Archives: Cinema Tower

Former Alice Fazooli restaurant razed to make way for construction of The Bond condo tower

October 4 2012: Hoarding protects the sidewalk alongside the former Entertainment District location of an Alice Fazooli’s restaurant at 294 Adelaide Street West …

… seen here on February 17 2011 before part of the restaurant building was converted into a presentation centre for The Bond Condominiums tower, which will be built on the site

October 1 2012: Demolition of the one-time restaurant building as seen from a parking lot next to the northwest side of the site …

… and through one of the building`s front windows, before the installation of protective hoarding blocked views of demolition work from the street

This building illustration appears on The Bond Condominiums website. Click on the image to view the rendering in a larger format.

This illustration, also from the project website, depicts a street-level view of The Bond’s podium. The building was designed by Toronto’s Core Architects Inc. Click on the illustration to view a larger-size image.

Adieu, Alice: I still recall fun times with family and friends at the former Alice Fazooli’s restaurant in the Entertainment District nearly a decade ago, so I wasn`t surprised to feel a tad nostalgic when I saw the building being smashed to smithereens this week, clearing the space for construction of a yet another condominium tower.

The once-popular restaurant site at 294 Adelaide Street West is being razed as preliminary construction work kicks off for The Bond Condominiums, a 40-storey condo tower that will take its place. Designed by Toronto’s Core Architects, The Bond is a project of Lifetime Developments. It will have 369 condos in studio plus 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom configurations, along with a collection of penthouse suites, an outdoor private terrace, and extensive indoor amenity spaces.

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Cinema Tower adds angles, curves & colour to city skyline as condo construction climbs higher

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July 27 2012: Looking up the SW corner of Cinema Tower from Widmer Street

July 27 2012: Cinema Tower viewed from he northwest on Adelaide Street

Curves & colour: The last time I walked around the Cinema Tower construction site in late March, the highrise condominium component of the 43-storey tower had climbed about 5 floors above its sizable 6-storey podium. Although the striking curves and angles of the condo floors were already obvious at that point, I still wasn’t sure what to make of the tower’s design, since the building was basically just a massive concrete frame.

It was a completely different story when I finally got back down to take a fresh look on Friday. The tower has since climbed three-quarters of the way to its ultimate height, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how the building’s interesting angles, curves and colours make Cinema Tower stand out on the Entertainment District skyline. It’s turning out to be a much better-looking building than I had expected, based on the artistic illustrations I had seen on the Cinema Tower website and on hoarding around the construction site.

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City Scene: Cinema Tower on the rise

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March 16 2012: Construction progress on Cinema Tower as seen from Peter Street to the northwest, looking through a construction entrance to the Peter Street condominiums location at the northeast corner of Peter and Adelaide Streets. I published photo updates of Cinema Tower in a March 9 2012 post, and reported on demolition activity at Peter Street Condominiums on February 21 2012.

It’s showtime as Cinema Tower starts to climb

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March 7 2012: Cinema Tower construction viewed from the NW corner of Widmer and Adelaide Streets. The tower has started to rise above its 5-floor podium, which will hold four levels of above-ground parking.

March 7 2012: A closer view, from the northwest, of the tower segment of the condo project. Festival Tower stands to the rear left.

March 7 2012: Cinema Tower’s gently curved floorplates contrast sharply with the rectangular podium, viewed from Widmer Street

March 7 2012: Looking up the south side of the building from the laneway behind Festival Tower and the TIFF Bell Lightbox. The entrance ramp for the above-ground parking is situated at the bottom right corner of the podium.

Higher drama: Cinema Tower has started to display its elegant curves as the residential component of the 43-storey condo complex continues to climb above its base at the southeast corner of Widmer and Adelaide Streets.

For nearly six months since last summer, when the building began to rise above grade, construction of the podium took center stage. A large, rectangular concrete structure, the podium features four levels of indoor parking above street-level retail space and a ground-floor lobby and concierge area for the condo tower. (Below ground are four additional levels of parking. About 200 vehicle spaces there will be operated as a commercial parking facility, while the other 200 spots in the building will be private parking for residents.)

The construction action got a little more interesting in late January when the first of 38 condo floors began to take shape atop the podium. With four levels of condos now constructed, the tower is already developing a dramatic presence in the area, and will continue to bask in the limelight as it gradually grows taller on the Entertainment District skyline.

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Laying foundations: Building progress at Pier 27, 300 Front West, Fly, and Cinema Tower Condos

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July 17 2011: A view of the Cinema Tower construction site, looking south from Adelaide Street West. Cinema Tower is a project of The Daniels Corporation.

From the Cinema Tower project website, an artistic rendering of the 43-storey condo designed by Toronto’s Kirkor Architects & Planners

July 17 2011: Looking across the east side of the Cinema Tower site at the corner of Widmer & Adelaide Streets. Construction is fast approaching grade.

July 17 2011: Cinema Tower is rising behind the TIFF Bell Lightbox (left) and the Hyatt Regency Toronto (right). Earlier construction photos can be seen in my February 17 2011 post about the project.

July 17 2011: Construction progress at the southwest corner of the site

July 17 2011: Along the east side of the property, the foundation has climbed close to little more than 1 meter below street level

July 17 2011: A white and orange crane rises from the excavation for the Three Hundred Front West condo tower. For earlier construction photos and information about this Tridel project, see my April 16 2011 post.

From the Tridel website, an artistic rendering depicting a night view of the 49-storey Three Hundred Front West condo tower designed by Rudy Wallman of Toronto’s Wallman Architects

July 17 2011: Foundation work observed from above the site’s southwest corner

July 17 2011: Looking to the northeast toward John Street

July 17 2011: A view of underground levels taking shape between the two construction cranes working the site

July 17 2011: Foundation progress on the east side of Fly Condos, a project by Empire Communities. Earlier construction photos appeared in my March 30 2011 post and my January 23 2011 post.

A rendering of the 24-storey tower appeared on this Front Street billboard. Fly Condos was designed by Toronto’s Graziani + Corazza Architects Inc.

July 17 2011: Overlooking the southeast corner of the construction site

July 17 2011: Looking toward the crane near the center of the site

July 17 2011: The bottom underground level is starting to take shape in the northeast corner of the excavation

July 17 2011: Looking toward the northwest corner of the property

July 17 2011: Machinery in the northwest corner of the excavation

July 17 2011: Wall forms on the south side of the site next to the crane

July 17 2011: Looking toward the northeast corner of the excavation from the west construction entrance on Front Street

July 17 2011: Excavation continues on the west side of the site

July 17 2011: Forms for supporting walls near the construction crane base

June 21 2011: Looking south from Queen’s Quay Boulevard across The Residences of Pier 27 waterside construction site, a project of Cityzen Developments and Fernbrook Homes

From the project website, a rendering of one of the buildings being constructed at The Residences of Pier 27 complex on the waterfront. The condos were designed by Peter Clewes of Toronto’s architectsAlliance.

June 21 2011: Construction progress in the Pier 27 site’s southeast corner. Photos of earlier stages of construction can be viewed in my April 22 2011 post, my February 18 2011 post, and my January 4 2011 post.

June 21 2011: Construction progress on the east side of the massive building site

July 17 2011: Looking south from Queen’s Quay Boulevard as the foundation continues filling in the east side of the Pier 27 site

July 17 2011: Underground levels are fast taking shape on the east side of the site, but excavation work still continues on the west end of the Pier 27 property.

July 17 2011: The supporting wall in the foreground rises close to street level

Construction crane going up at Cinema Tower site

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Partially assembled crane viewed from Adelaide Street on Feb. 17 2011

Lights, camera, crane!: A work crew was busy assembling a crane in the Cinema Tower excavation when I walked past the condo construction site at the southeast corner of Widmer and Adelaide Streets this afternoon.

A project of The Daniels Corporation and a design of Toronto’s Kirkor Architects & Planners, Cinema Tower will rise 43 storeys on a site formerly occupied by a parking lot. It will be a new next-door neighbour for another Daniels condominium project, Festival Tower, and the adjacent TIFF Bell Lightbox on King Street West. And in just a few more years, it will have yet another condo tower neighbour when the 43-storey Pinnacle on Adelaide gets built on the parking lot right next door.

With three tall condo buildings crowded together on just one city block, will Cinema Tower be able to distinguish itself and stand out, or will it just blend into the skyline with its neighbours?

“The challenge for each of the neighbouring buildings,” the Kirkor architects explain on their website, “is their response to the TIFF building, especially the height, massing and scale as the City of Toronto defines the Festival Tower as the anchor to the site. The response was to create a tower that provided a facade centred towards Adelaide Street with sheer curved curtain glass resting on a podium that evokes a modern interpretation of the warehouse streetscape of the existing neighborhood.”

I’m anxious to watch Cinema Tower go up; though I’ve seen only one architectural rendering of the tower so far, I think it brings substantially more class, style and interest to the area than the boring, boxy Festival Tower.

Below are some photos of workers preparing to assemble a crane segment today, along with other pics I’ve taken at the Cinema Tower site in the past three years. There also are two excavation photos from the condo project’s website.

Cinema Tower rendering on a billboard next to the construction site

September 22 2008: CN Tower view of the TIFF Bell Lightbox and Festival Tower under construction on King Street West. The Cinema Tower site is the parking lot in the upper left corner (the two buildings have since been demolished); the Pinnacle on Adelaide will rise on the separate parking lot to the right.

September 3 2008: The parking lot that used to occupy the Cinema Tower site

Cinema Tower development proposal sign

October 20 2010: Early stages of excavation at the Cinema Tower site

October 20 2010: Widmer Street view of the Cinema Tower site. When finished, the condo building will block most of this view of the Financial District.

Cinema Tower website photo of excavation activity on the condo property

Another Cinema Tower website photo of excavation progress. The building in the bottom left corner is the Champs Food Supplies store. The parking lot on the right is the Pinnacle on Adelaide condo tower site.