2nd crane installed at WC Hospital building site

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March 27 2011: With the installation of this crane at the north end of the Women’s College Hospital construction site on Saturday, there are now two cranes building a new medical facility on the east side of the hospital property

The two construction cranes at the Women’s College Hospital building site, seen in a photo shot from Grenville Street this afternoon. The crane in the center of the picture was installed earlier this month; the other, on Saturday.

Two cranes in the crater: A second crane was installed yesterday at the excavation site where a new Women’s College Hospital building is under construction. It joins another crane that went up on the site earlier this month, as I reported in a March 14 post. Meanwhile, site excavation continues. Below are some photos taken Friday, showing work crews preparing the pit for the installation of the second crane. There’s also several photos of the new crane being assembled on Saturday, along with some pics from today of the crane and the excavation site.

March 25 2011: Grenville Street view of the Womens College Hospital excavation

March 25 2011: Grenville Street view of excavation activity at the Women’s College Hospital construction site

March 25 2011: Excavation activity at the northeast corner of the site

March 25 2011: Pink shed in the southwest corner of the excavation

March 25 2011: Digging deeper at the north end of the site, to prepare for installation of a second construction crane the next day

March 25 2011: The new hospital building is scheduled for completion in 2015

March 25 2011: Grosvenor Street view of excavation progress

March 25 2011: Grosvenor Street view of the excavation, looking south

March 25 2011: A giant mound of earth still must be removed from the site

March 25 2011: Grosvenor Street view of the east side of the construction site

March 26 2011: It took the entire day on Saturday for these two portable cranes on Grosvenor Street to install a second construction crane on the Women’s College Hospital building site.

March 26 2011: This crane, erected earlier this month, stands at the south end of the site, near Grenville Street. A second crane was installed at the north end of the site on Saturday

March 26 2011: Part of the main platform for the second crane is hoisted into position. The new hospital facility will rise between the Burando condo tower at left and the old Women’s College building at right.

March 26 2011: The crane installation started before sunrise on Saturday and continued non-stop all day until after sunset.

March 27 2011: The platform is lowered into position

March 26 2011: Crane segments are assembled on Grosvenor Street

March 26 2011: Workers maneuver a crane segment on Grosvenor Street

March 26 2011: The operator of the portable crane that lifts segments of the new construction crane into place above the hospital building site.

March 26 2011: A worker waits on the partially assembled crane platform while the next piece of the construction crane is hoisted up from Grosvenor Street.

March 26 2011: Waiting patiently for the next piece of crane to arrive

March 26 2011: Another piece of the crane on its way up

March 26 2011: A Grosvenor Street view of the two portable cranes, the partially assembled crane, and the first crane installed earlier this month.

March 26 2011: Two workers position a crane segment

March 26 2011: The big hook used to hoist the heavy crane segments into place

March 26 2011: One of the cranes on Grosvenor Street unloads crane segments from transport trucks and moves them into position so workers can bolt them together. Another crane later lifts the assembled boom into place.

March 26 2011: The partially assembled crane casts its shadow on Burano

March 26 2011: One crane up, the other nearly there

March 27 2011: The Burano Condos construction crane, left, and the crane on the south side of the Women’s College Hospital redevelopment site, right.

March 27 2011: The crane at the south end of the hospital construction site

March 27 2011: The counterweight on the south crane

March 27 2011: The newly-installed construction crane in late afternoon sunshine

March 27 2011: The two cranes at the Women’s College Hospital site

General sales starting soon for boutique condos on site of historic St Basil’s School in Yorkville

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The 83-year-old St Basil’s Catholic School building, site for the 36 Hazelton luxury boutique condo project, seen on March 24 2011…

…and on March 25, after a huge black banner was removed from the facade. The building sits on the west side of Hazelton Avenue just north of Scollard Street

This rendering, from the 36 Hazelton website, suggests how the luxury boutique condo complex will look once it is built on the St Basil’s schoolhouse site.

School’s out, condo’s coming: Exclusive VIP sales previews started last year, but a general sales presentation centre should be opening soon for 36 Hazelton, an exclusive seven-storey, 19-suite boutique condo building to be constructed on the site of the historic St Basil’s Catholic School in Yorkville. A project of Alterra Group and Zinc Developments, the 36 Hazelton development sparked considerable controversy in the Yorkville community when the proposal to redevelop the school property, a designated heritage site, was filed with the city several years ago. Area residents were alarmed by the developers’ plan to demolish most of the 83-year-old schoolhouse while retaining only its neo-Gothic facade on Hazelton Avenue. Residents worried that the height and density for the proposed 8-storey condo complex would look out of place on a street noted for its charming two- and three-storey Victorian houses. They also feared that City approval of the project would set a precedent that could endanger the Yorkville heritage district and put other historic buildings at risk of demolition and redevelopment.

In a March 2 2009 report to the Toronto and East York Community Council (TEYCC) and the Toronto Preservation Board, city planners recommended that the developer’s application to alter the St Basil’s School building be rejected. And in a March 30 2009 report to the TEYCC, planners described the development plan as “inappropriate and out of context,” and recommended that it be refused. When the developers presented a revised proposal, the TEYCC deferred consideration of the refusal report at its meeting in April 2009, and asked city planners to review the new plan. In a June 12 2009 final report to the TEYCC, planners recommended that the revised building application be approved. The TEYCC was supposed to consider that report at its June 2009 meeting; however, that meeting was cancelled after municipal employees went on strike. In July 2009, the developer filed an appeal with the Ontario Municipal Board, but the dispute got resolved when the TEYCC, and then city council, approved the revised 7-storey project in the fall of 2009.

With a project sales centre set to open soon, a construction start is possible later this year or early in 2012. As 36 Hazelton goes up, it should quickly become apparent if area residents were correct in claiming that the project wouldn’t be an appropriate redevelopment for the location — and, of course, if it will be too big, and look too out of place, on the leafy, quiet street. I’ve walked around the area numerous times recently, trying to get a sense of how 36 Hazelton might change the neighbourhood. Hazelton Avenue is one of my favourite downtown streets, and I’d be sorry to see its character destroyed by development. But since most of the new condo building will be set back from the street, occupying what is currently a parking lot, it’s quite possible it could fit in rather nicely, especially since it’s situated at the north end of the tony Hazelton Avenue retail strip (rather than being plunked farther down the block between semidetached two-storey brick houses). However, even if 36 Hazelton does wind up being a suitable and attractive addition to the streetscape, I really would hate to see further development of low- or midrise condos elsewhere on the avenue. Below are photos I’ve taken of the St Basil’s School and other buildings and homes in its immediate vicinity, along with condo illustrations that have appeared on the 36 Hazelton website and an illustration, from a city planning report, showing the new building’s east elevation.

Website illustration of the 36 Hazelton boutique condo building

36 Hazelton website illustration of the St Basil’s schoolhouse facade, which will be incorporated into the new luxury condominium complex

An illustration showing 36 Hazelton’s east elevation

January 9 2011: The St Basil’s Schoolhouse dates from 1928. Access to a large parking lot behind the building is through a laneway on the left side of the school.

January 9 2011: The condo site is literally only a stone’s throw away from Yorkville’s chic Hazelton Lanes shopping centre

January 9 2011: Condo marketing signs and banners on the St Basil’s School site

January 9 2011: Passersby examine the illustrations on the 36 Hazelton billboards

January 9 2011: A large banner blocks most of the schoolhouse facade from view

March 24 2011: The north half of St Basil’s School

March 25 2011: The banner has been removed and the full facade is visible

March 25 2011: A closer view of the St Basil’s School facade on Hazelton Avenue

March 25 2011: St. Basil’s School viewed from the rear parking area. The Four Seasons Toronto hotel and condo tower, visible in the background, is under construction on Bay Street, just one block to the east.

March 25 2011: Another view of the schoolhouse from the rear of the property

March 25 2011: The Hazelton Lanes complex sits to the immediate west of the parking lot behind the St Basil’s School building

March 25 2011: Northwest view from the parking lot behind the schoolhouse

March 25 2011: Looking north from the parking area behind the school

March 25 2011: Parking lot view of the back of buildings next door to 36 Hazelton

March 25 2011: Parking lot view to the south. A walkway on the opposite side of the brick building leads from Hazelton Avenue into Hazelton Lanes

March 25 2011: Apartments at 40 Hazelton Avenue

March 25 2011: St Basil’s School and 40 Hazelton Avenue

March 25 2011: The four-storey 40 Hazelton Avenue building next door to St Basil’s School. The 36 Hazelton condos will stand three storeys higher.

March 25 2011: The brick houses at 44, 46 and 48 Hazelton Avenue

March 25 2011: The west side of Hazelton Avenue, looking north from outside #56

March 25 2011: Looking south on Hazelton Avenue from outside #52

March 25 2011: The west side of Hazelton Avenue below Scollard St.

March 25 2011: Homes on the east side of Hazelton Avenue near 36 Hazelton

March 25 2011: Brick houses at 59, 57, 55 and 53 Hazelton Avenue

March 25 2011: Looking southeast toward 55, 53, 51 and 49 Hazelton Avenue

March 25 2011: 51 and 49 Hazelton Avenue

March 25 2011: The new Four Seasons Toronto tower looms behind the houses at numbers 53, 51 and 49 Hazelton Avenue

March 25 2011: Numbers 45, 43 and 41 Hazelton Avenue

March 25 2011: Yorkville’s upscale shopping district extends north to the buildings at 4, 43 and 41 Hazelton Avenue

March 25 2011: The Toronto Heliconian Club at 35 Hazelton Avenue

March 25 2011: The Four Seasons tower looming behind the Heliconian Club

March 25 2011: Toronto Heliconian Club and 33 Hazelton Avenue

March 25 2011: 33 Hazelton Avenue at the northeast corner of Scollard Street

March 25 2011: The upper levels of 33 Hazelton Avenue

March 25 2011: The northeast corner of Scollard Street and Hazelton Avenue

March 25 2011: Another view of 33 Hazelton Avenue

March 25 2011: Hazelton Avenue view to the northeast at Scollard Street

March 24 2011: Scollard Street, looking east from Hazelton Avenue towards the two Four Seasons Toronto hotel and condo towers under construction on Bay Street between Scollard Street and Yorkville Avenue.

Museum House on Bloor tower topping off with construction of two-storey glass penthouse condo

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March 24 2011: Construction workers are now focussed on building the two-storey 6,770-square-foot penthouse condo at Museum House on Bloor.

Condo building rendering from the Museum House on Bloor project website suggests how the glass-walled penthouse will appear once construction is complete

Puttin’ up the penthouse: Museum House on Bloor is getting its crowning jewel — a sprawling two-storey, 5,618-square-foot penthouse with an 1,152-square-foot terrace. The posh pad, now under construction, will occupy the 18th and 19th floors of the slender midrise condo building that has been rising on the north side of Bloor Street just west of Avenue Road. While I was watching workers assemble forms to prepare for a concrete pour on the penthouse levels this afternoon (from the street, unfortunately; I doubt they’d allow me onto the construction site), a line from the “Green Acres” TV show theme song kept repeating in my mind. I know that Eva Gabor was referring to New York City when she sang, “I just adore a penthouse view,” but I’m sure she would have enjoyed the skyline and scenery from the top of Museum House almost as much. Its expansive — and highly expensive — penthouse suite will overlook The Royal Ontario Museum and the Royal Conservatory of Music on Bloor Street, as well as tree-shaded Philosopher’s Walk, the University of Toronto campus, Queen’s Park and the provincial Legislature buildings. Views extend to the Financial District and CN Tower in the south. But while its occupants will no doubt savour the panoramic sightlines from their glittering glass box in the sky, they might not get to enjoy it privately once the 32-storey Exhibit Residences condo tower is constructed next door. And I’m sure there will be plenty of curious people living at Exhibit who will enjoy their prime views into the Museum House penthouse just as much as the downtown skyline. Below are pics I snapped of Museum House this afternoon. Additional photos can be viewed on my January 9 2011 post about Museum House.

Museum House on Bloor condo construction viewed from the southwest corner of Avenue Road and Bloor Street on March 24 2011. At left is the Daniel Libeskind-designed Michael Lee-Chin Crystal of the Royal Ontario Museum

The Michael Lee-Chin Crystal of the Royal Ontario Museum, left, the One Bedford condominium tower at Bloor Street and Bedford Road, center, and Museum House

Southwest view of Museum House from the Bloor Street sidewalk outside the Royal Conservatory of Music. When the Exhibit Residences condo tower is built, it will soar 32 storeys on the east (right) side of Museum House

Southwest view of Museum House from Bloor Street. I haven’t seen any renderings that show how the solid concrete west wall will be clad

The palatial two-storey penthouse is now being constructed atop the tower

Direct view of the Museum House building from the south side of Bloor Street

Upper levels of Museum House; all suites have spacious south-view terraces

Southeast view of the upper floors of Museum House

Upper east side luxury condos

Safety nets along the east side of the penthouse levels

A construction worker in a perilous position high above Bloor Street

Getting forms in place to prepare for more concrete pouring

Westerly view of Museum House from the sidewalk in front of the Royal Ontario Museum. The Exhibit Residences tower ultimately will rise where on the site of the two-storey commercial buildings next to Museum House.

Reference library’s new entrance taking shape

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The frame for the Toronto Reference Library’s new entrance cube takes shape at the corner of Yonge St. and Asquith Ave. on March 24 2011

Steel frame installation for the library’s dramatic new glass cube entrance

Architectural rendering by Toronto’s Moriyama and Teshima shows how the new glass cube entrance and improvements to the building’sYonge Street facade will enhance the library’s look and streetscape presence.

Cube construction: External work on the Toronto Reference Library’s $34 million revitalization program has become a lot more noticeable now that the building’s new entrance is taking shape. Most of the renovation work has been hidden by hoarding for months, and progress on the library’s dramatic glass entrance cube at the corner of Yonge Street and Asquith Avenue seemed to be moving at a snail’s pace during the winter. But this week crews have been busy building the steel frame for the cube; today, Asquith was closed to vehicular traffic while a crane hoisted steel beams into place. More details about the renovations can be found in my January 17 post about the library’s renewal and expansion project. Below are photos from February and from this afternoon showing the ongoing renovation work on the Yonge Street side of the library building.

February 23 2011: No sign of progress yet on construction of the new entrance

February 23 2011: A three-storey glass cube entrance at this corner will be the star attraction of the library’s five-year renewal and expansion project

February 23 2011: Hoarding blocks views of street-level renovations to the facade, but work on the3rd-floor roof above Yonge Street is more apparent.

February 23 2011: Renovation activity is taking place along the full length of the narrow third-floor roof on the Reference Library’s Yonge Street facade

February 23 2011: Yorkville Avenue view of the Toronto Reference Library.

March 24 2011: A crane lifts long steel bars being used to construct the frame for the three-storey entrance cube

March 24 2011: The new glass entrance and windows along the Yonge Street facade will improve the building’s appearance as well as its relation to the streetscape

March 24 2011: Sections of the entrance cube’s frame are hoisted into place

March 24 2011: The steel frames are lowered behind a rendering of the entrance

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

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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

City Scenes: Snowy Bay Street building sites

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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.

Great Gulf Homes plans 46-storey condo tower for corner in sketchy Dundas-Jarvis neighbourhood

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Developer Great Gulf Homes has acquired this property at the southwest corner of Dundas and Jarvis Streets for its proposed 46-storey Pace Condos tower

On-site promotional billboard for the Pace Condos tower

Seedy site: I had been wondering when a developer was going to announce plans to build a condo tower at the seedy southwest corner of Dundas and Jarvis Streets. It’s not a nice neighbourhood by any stretch of the imagination, but real estate is all about location and that’s one of the few redeeming features for this prime piece of downtown property just a short walk from the Toronto Eaton Centre and the Yonge subway line. Late last year I noticed that the three businesses in the small commercial plaza on the corner had been closed and their windows papered over. I kept waiting to hear word about a development proposal for the property, but didn’t see any signs on the site in either January or February. But when I passed by the corner just over a week ago, and saw that chainlink fencing had been erected around the plaza, I knew an announcement was imminent. On March 14, it happened: prominent Toronto condo developer GreatGulf Homes filed a rezoning application with the City, proposing to build a 46-storey condo tower with 417 suites, five levels of underground parking and a 10-storey podium with street-level retail space. A billboard promoting Pace Condos — “downtown tower suites from the low $200s” — promptly went up on the corner where it’s certain to catch the attention of motorists driving along busy Jarvis Street on their way to and from the Financial District.

When I told some friends earlier this winter that I suspected a condo would be built on the site, they looked incredulous and said: “No way! Who the hell would want to live there?” Obviously, Great Gulf is confident they can find 417 potential buyers, and I’m sure they’ve done their research. After all, they know their stuff: they’re the company behind several of downtown Toronto’s hottest condo developments. Their X Condominium tower only eight blocks north of the Pace Condos site was a huge hit with buyers, and two other condo towers Great Gulf is currently constructing — X2 Condos at Jarvis & Charles, and Charlie condos on King Street West in the Entertainment District — were enormously successful, too. One Bloor Condos is destined to achieve similar stellar sales; construction of that tower is expected to commence later this year at Yonge and Bloor Streets.

Still, it’s fair to say that the area around the Pace Condos site is a helluva lot less desirable than the locations of GreatGulf’s other projects. Dundas & Jarvis sits on the periphery of one of the poorest residential areas in all of Canada, a vast downtown district with one of the country’s largest concentrations of homeless people and residents earning poverty-level incomes or collecting social assistance — people who have no hope of ever being able to live at Pace Condos or in a condo anywhere, for that matter. Meanwhile, if Pace Condos does get built, anyone who buys an east-facing unit will have views overlooking dozens of rooming houses, homeless shelters, government-subsidized apartments and social service agencies — all just a short stroll from their front door. And as the Toronto Star pointed out in a photo gallery on March 18, the epicentre of the city’s worst area for overall crime is the intersection of Dundas and Sherbourne Streets, just two blocks east. While I was taking photos on Dundas Street this afternoon, a young black man approached me. “Make sure you take pictures showing this place like it really is — me standing here drinking from a bottle of booze in a paper bag in broad daylight, those guys over on that corner dealing crack cocaine, all those homeless people over there and the guys doing drugs down there,” he told me, pointing at each corner of the Dundas-Jarvis intersection before taking a long drink from his bottle. He, along with all the street people who kept staring at me or asking for spare change, made me wonder why anyone would want to pay $200,000+ to buy a condo there. Until he added: “And make sure you take pictures of how everything looks like now so you can remember it because, in a few years, there’s probably gonna be lots of new buildings all around here. This is gonna be a good place to live. It’s not always gonna look like this.”

Maybe he’s right — maybe things are finally starting to look up for this down-on-hard-times district. There’s already several condo buildings close by, including the popular and pricey Merchandise Lofts, as well as two hotels — with a third hotel and more condos in the works. Right across the street, the Ontario government is retrofitting and modernizing the massive building at 222 Jarvis Street into a new workplace for the Ontario Public Service. And the rapidly-growing Ryerson University campus is just a block away. Could the arrival of Pace Condos herald a turn-around for this sketchy streetcorner? We’ll have to wait a few years to see. In the meantime, here’s some photos showing the Pace Condos site and its immediate neighbours as they look now.

January 3 2011: Looking west at the small plaza at Dundas & Jarvis Streets

January 3 2011: The office towers of the Financial District are only blocks away

February 18 2011: The Eaton Centre is just a 10-minute walk west

March 22 2011: Looking south on Jarvis Street toward the Pace Condos site. If built, Pace would obstruct this view of the 45-storey Spire condo tower on Lombard Street, visible in the center of the photograph.

March 22 2011: Pace Condos site seen from northeast corner of Dundas & Jarvis

Commercial tenants of this plaza — including a convenience store, two restaurants and a coin-operated laundry facility– closed up shop months ago. The parking lot was fenced off just within the past 10 days.

The buildings to the west and southwest include luxury condos, rental apartments, co-op apartments and government-subsidized rental accommodation

South view of the Pace Condos site from the opposite side of Dundas St. The brown brick building is 192 Jarvis, a 14-storey condominium built in 1985.

A billboard advertises Pace Condos to passersby on Dundas and Jarvis Streets

The 192 Jarvis condo rises above the fenced-off plaza on Dundas Street

A view of the exterior of two of the plaza’s former commercial tenants

These now-vacant properties — ICITS computer training at 155 Dundas East, New Moon Bar at 157 Dundas East, and Palmers West Indian Restaurant at 159 Dundas East — are all part of the site for the proposed Pace Condos tower

The Grand Hotel on Jarvis Street and the 192 Jarvis condominium building sit to the south and southeast of the site of the proposed Pace Condos tower

If approved by City Hall, Pace Condos would stand three times taller than these two buildings; it would be the highest tower in the neighbourhood

The Ho-Lee-Chow takeout restaurant on the southeast corner of Dundas & Jarvis; the Grand Hotel is situated a few doors south at 225 Jarvis Street

The Hilton Garden Inn on the northeast corner of Dundas & Jarvis. Years ago, before it was converted into a hotel, this building housed offices of the federal unemployment insurance department

222 Jarvis sits across the street from the Pace Condos site, directly to the north. At one time the headquarters for Sears Canada, the building is being retrofitted and modernized as offices for the Ontario Public Service

Mutual Street Deli on the north side of Dundas St. across from Pace Condos

New Lumiere highrise condo building on Bay Street finally getting its exterior finishing touches

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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

Keeping tabs on … Clear Spirit condo construction

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Above is a Cherry Street view of Clear Spirit condo tower construction progress at the Distillery District on March 17 2011. Below is a screenshot of a recent aerial view of the building site, captured by the condo project’s website webcam.

Prominent podium: With four floors of its large rectangular podium poured, and work underway on its 40-storey tower, the Clear Spirit condo building now has a noteworthy presence on the southeast side of the Distillery District. In several months’ time, as the tower climbs taller, Clear Spirit will start standing out on the city skyline, too. It will be joined in just a few short years by a sister tower, the Gooderham condominiums, a 35-storey condo building that will be constructed right next door at the corner of Cherry and Mill Streets. (Pre-excavation pile driving and other site preparation work have been in progress at the Gooderham location all winter.) Together, the two shimmering glass towers will demarcate the eastern perimeter of the historic 13-acre neighbourhood, adding a contemporary flare to the Distillery District’s mix of 19th Century brick and limestone buildings. Both buildings were designed by Toronto’s architectsAlliance. Below are renderings of the Clear Spirit and Gooderham towers (my apologies…in my February 16 post about the Clear Spirit, I incorrectly identified an illustration of the Gooderham building), along with recent photos of Clear Spirit’s construction progress.

Rendering of the Clear Spirit condo tower, from the project’s website

architectsAlliance website rendering of the Gooderham condominium tower

November 2 2010: CN Tower view of the Distillery District. The crane for the Clear Spirit construction site is visible near the middle of the photo. The glass tower toward the left is the 32-storey Pure Spirit tower, built several years ago.

March 17 2011: Clear Spirit condo podium progress viewed from the construction entrance at the southeast end of the Distillery District parking lot

March 17 2011: The south end of the Clear Spirit condo podium

March 17 2011: East view toward Cherry Street

March 17 2011: Southwest corner of the podium base

March 17 2011: Upper three floors of the podium’s southwest corner

March 17 2011: Clear Spirit podium construction progress

March 17 2011: A view of the south end of the Clear Spirit building site

March 17 2011: I have absolutely no idea what this concrete structure is!

March 17 2011: West view of the odd-looking concrete structure. If you know what it’s for, please let me know!

March 17 2011: West side of the podium viewed from Case Goods Lane

March 17 2011: Clear Spirit condo podium viewed from Case Goods Lane

March 17 2011: Construction progress on the west side of the podium

March 17 2011: Clear Spirit podium construction viewed from Tank House Lane

March 17 2011: The podium rises behind the Mill Street Brewpub

March 17 2011: Clear Spirit podium behind the Mill Street Brewpub

March 17 2011: Northwest corner of the Clear Spirit podium

March 17 2011: Cherry Street view of the podium’s east side

March 17 2011: Cherry Street view of the Clear Spirit tower construction

March 17 2011: The 32-storey Pure Spirit tower rises in the background

March 17 2011: The CN Tower is visible in the distance from the entrance to the Gooderham condo construction zone at the south end of Cherry Street

March 17 2011: Cherry Street view of the Clear Spirit condo podium

March 17 2011: I believe the tall round columns with the mustard-yellow sleeves will be supports for the 40-storey tower, which will rise at a slightly-skewed angle above the rectangular podium.

March 17 2011: The Clear Spirit podium and the construction entrance to the Gooderham condominium tower building site

March 17 2011: A construction crew builds a support pillar (left) while two more workers survey the construction site from a blue lift.

March 17 2011: Tall round support pillars on the east side of the podium

March 17 2011: The construction crane operator’s cab high above Clear Spirit

Developer proposes 32-storey apartment & condo addition to 40-year-old Isabella St. rental tower

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Two towers, two seasons: Photos taken November 1 2010 and January 29 2011 show the tree-shaded lawn where a developer has proposed building a 32-storey addition to the 26-storey apartment tower at 66 Isabella Street (left). At right is the 26-storey Town Inn Suites hotel at 620 Church St.

Big addition: A 26-storey rental apartment building at 66 Isabella Street could get a 32-floor addition to its east flank if the City approves an unusual mixed-use residential development proposal for the north end of the Church Wellesley Village area.

The site of the proposed new tower is a tree-shaded private lawn at the northwest corner of Church and Isabella Streets. The 66 Isabella apartments, built in 1970, stand at the west side of the lawn, while a “twin” tower built in 1972, the Town Inn Suites hotel, rises on the property’s north side. There are presently 200 apartment units in 66 Isabella. The proposed tower addition would contain 212 more units, which would include 196 rental apartments, four condominium townhouses at ground level on Isabella Street, 12 condominium suites on the top two floors, and 481 square meters of retail space at ground level along Church Street.

Addition would eliminate private greenspace

The development would eliminate one of the last open patches of green space in a neighbourhood that is already teeming with recently-completed condo towers; construction of two more highrises is either already underway nearby or expected to start soon, while at least two more tall condo buildings are in the proposal stage for the immediate area.

Construction of the addition to 66 Isabella also would require the removal of 11 trees, a prospect that alarms some area residents since trees have already become few and far between on Church Street.

The fate of those trees is just one many concerns that city planning staff raised in a November 15 2010 background report to the Toronto and East York Community Council (TEYCC). Other significant issues cited by planners include the project’s height and density, the building’s mass (particularly its length along Isabella Street), neighbourhood traffic and parking, impact on nearby buildings, and more.

In December, the TEYCC ordered city staff to hold a public consultation meeting to get feedback from area residents; that event took place at the beginning of February. There’s been no word since on any subsequent developments regarding this project. Below are some photos I’ve taken of the 66 Isabella site in recent months along with illustrations, from the planning department report, of the north and south elevations of the proposed tower.

Apartment and condo tower development proposal notice

Illustration showing the location for the proposed tower

November 1 2010: Church Street view of the site for the proposed tower addition

November 1 2010: Isabella Street view of the site on which the 32-storey addition would be built. Four condo townhouses would be constructed at street level here.

November 1 2010: Church Street view of the proposed development site, looking southwest toward 66 Isabella (right) as well as another rental apartment building that is situated on the south side of Isabella Street (left)

November 1 2010: View of the site from outside the Town Inn entrance. The white apartment building is the 14-storey Gramercy House at 59 Isabella Street.

January 24 2011: Church Street view of the site, looking west. The tall building at center rear is the 46-storey Casa condominium on Charles Street East.

January 29 2011: Southwest view of the 66 Isabella Street apartment building. The 26-storey tower was built in 1970 and has 200 rental units.

A semicircular driveway in front of the tower entrance would be eliminated and replaced with a pedestrian-only walkway and amenity space under the building redevelopment plan proposed to the city.

January 29 2011: The tall glass tower at right is X Condominium, situated at the northwest corner of Charles Street East and Ted Rogers Way (aka Jarvis Street). A taller sister tower, X2 Condos, is currently under construction on the south side of Charles Street just west of Jarvis Street.

January 29 2011: The proposed building addition would block this Isabella Street view toward the Town Inn Suites hotel (center) and the midrise concrete and glass condo building at 73 Charles Street East (right).

February 28 2011: Charles Street East view of the proposed development site. If built, the addition would block this view of the sky between the two towers.

Here’s the latest dirt on U Condos construction

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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

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: 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.

City Scene: Criss-crossed construction cranes

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Crossing paths: The boom of one construction crane appears to be resting atop another in this photo from February 18. The two cranes are building the new ICE Condos and Infinity3 condo towers in the former railway lands area south of the Financial District. The tower in the background is an old timer: it’s one of the Harbour Square condo buildings constructed in Harbourfront, at the foot of Bay Street, way back in the late 1970s.

Florian condo tower getting window treatments

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March 16 2011: Newly-installed windows are visible on the 5th floor

Glass going in: Window installation has commenced at The Florian highrise condo tower on Davenport Road in Yorkville. When I walked past the construction site the other day, I noticed a row of new windows on the south side of the fifth floor, along with frames for upcoming curtain wall installation on the tower’s southwest corner. Below are several pics I snapped of construction progress to date; there’s many more building photos in my February 12 post about The Florian.

March 16 2011: South-facing windows on The Florian’s fifth floor

Frames for the curtain wall to be installed on the tower’s southwest corner

The sharply pointed east corner of The Florian’s podium on Davenport Road

Lower levels of The Florian, viewed from the south side of Davenport Rd.

A long look up the south side of The Florian

The Modern condo reaches 11 floors

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Six floors to go: In a post on February 3, I reported that construction of The Modern on Richmond has reached seven floors. The photo above, taken yesterday, shows that the condo midrise is now two-thirds of the way to its final height of 17 storeys.

External repairs nearly finished at fire-damaged 200 Wellesley St. E. apartment highrise

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Brickwork back in place: Contractors have almost finished repairing the exterior of the St James Town apartment tower at 200 Wellesley Street East, which was severely damaged by a fire last September.

As I reported in a January 19 post, contractors had to remove part of the external walls and brickwork for at least three apartment units affected by the fire. (The photo below, from February 1, shows some of the extensive fire repair work that took place during much of the winter.)

The walls have since been rebuilt, and the brickwork replaced on the exterior. But the plastic sheeting on two balconies indicates that some other work is continuing on the units ravaged most severely by the seven-alarm blaze.

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Building Boom.

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Tracking Downtown Toronto's Amazing Building Boom.

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Keeping tabs on … Clear Spirit condo construction

Developer proposes 32-storey apartment & condo addition to 40-year-old Isabella St. rental tower

Here’s the latest dirt on U Condos construction

City Scene: Criss-crossed construction cranes

Florian condo tower getting window treatments

The Modern condo reaches 11 floors

External repairs nearly finished at fire-damaged 200 Wellesley St. E. apartment highrise

Tracking Downtown Toronto's AmazingBuilding Boom.

Tracking Downtown Toronto's Amazing
Building Boom.