Above is a link to my January 2013 Flickr album of building and construction photos I shot during walks in the downtown area. Click once on the image to view a small-format slideshow of the pictures, or click twice to access the album directly on Flickr and see full-size photos and captions.
August 15 2012: Bathurst Street view of Garrison at Fort York condos, which is nearing completion on a wedge-shaped site on the north side of the elevated Gardiner Expressway
Occupancy soon: Within just a few months, people will start moving into the Garrison at Fork York condos, a midrise building which is nearing the end of construction on a triangular piece of property wedged between the Gardiner Expressway, Bathurst Street and Fort York Boulevard.
A large banner on the north side of the 12-storey building advertises “Move in this fall with 10% down,” while the project website says units are still available from $207,900 “with only 5% down” — also with fall move-in dates.
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March 14 2012: Construction has reached 7 floors on the Garrison at the Yards condo building, seen looking east along Fort York Boulevard
March 14 2012: Windows and cladding have been installed along the first level of residential units. This is the building’s northwest side.
March 14 2012: Garrison at the Yards construction progress viewed from the northeast at the intersection of Bathurst Street and Fort York Boulevard
March 14 2012: The southeast side of the building is practically spitting distance from the Gardiner Expressway
March 14 2012: Looking toward Garrison at the Yards from Bathurst Street, on the south side of the Gardiner Expressway
Close quarters: Even though my condo is set back about 100 feet from a busy 4-lane downtown street, the traffic noise is sometimes almost deafening, while often very distracting and disrupting. If we keep the windows and balcony door open, we can’t hear the television or the stereo, and it’s often difficult to carry on a conversation or speak on the phone. So I can’t even begin to imagine what the noise levels must be like in condos overlooking the Gardiner Expressway from only a few meters away. I certainly couldn’t live in one.
But proximity to a busy expressway isn’t discouraging people from buying units in the steadily growing number of new buildings being constructed just spitting distance from the Gardiner, like Garrison at the Yards.
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