Tag Archives: architects Alliance

Looking up at the new Four Seasons towers

Tall, sleek & slender: It’s the tallest tower in Yorkville, yet the Four Seasons Hotel & Residences hasn’t even topped off at its full 55 floors yet. But the sleek glass skyscraper and its 26-storey condo sibling have literally brightened up the east block of Bay Street between Scollard Street and Yorkville Avenue. When sunshine glints off the curtain glass walls of the East and West Residence towers on a clear day, it’s almost blinding. And even though the two-tower construction site is still surrounded by hoarding and scaffolding, and covered in dust and grime, it feels like it has significantly classed-up the corner at Bay & Yorkville already. I’m loving the look of these shiny towers, from all angles, and think the complex will be a stunning addition to the streetscape once construction is complete.

The five-star Four Seasons Hotel & Residences was designed by Peter Clewes of Toronto’s architectsAlliance, and is being built by Menkes Construction Ltd. The West Residence is a mixed-use tower featuring a 253-room Four Seasons Hotel on the first 20 floors, and 101 private condominium residences on the upper 35 storeys. The East Residence will have 103 condominiums, and is linked to the west tower by an elevated pedestrian walkway about eight floors above the ground.

I previously published photos of the Four Seasons construction in a January 26 post; below is a series of photos from February, March and today which show how much progress has been made since then.

February 10 2011: Construction of the Four Seasons towers (and, to the right, the Florian condo tower) viewed from Yonge St. near Roxborough St. in Rosedale

February 23 2011: East view of the towers from Yorkville Avenue

February 23 2011: Southwest view of the East Residence condo tower

February 23 2011: Yorkville Avenue view of the two towers

February 23 2011: Looking way up the south side of the West Residence tower

February 23 2011: The southeast corner of the West Residence tower

February 23 2011: Construction elevator on the West Residence tower

March 16 2011: The Four Seasons Hotel & Residences complex viewed from the northwest corner of Bay and Scollard Streets

March 16 2011: A health club, spa, swimming pool, ballroom and conference centre will be situated in this eight-storey wing at the corner of Bay and Scollard Streets

March 16 2011: The Four Seasons complex shines in the late afternoon sunshine

March 16 2011: The West Residence tower viewed from Bay Street

March 16 2011: Looking up the West Residence tower from Bay Street

March 16 2011: The southwest corner of the West Residence tower

March 16 2011: The south side of the West Residence Tower

March 24 2011: The towers viewed from Hazelton Avenue at Scollard Street

March 24 2011: From Avenue Road, a view of the “old” Four Seasons Hotel, right, and the new tower rising two blocks to the east on Yorkville Avenue.

March 24 2011: The West Residence tower rises on the Yorkville skyline in this view from the intersection of Yonge and Wellesley Streets

April 1 2011: Southwest view of the West Residence tower

April 1 2011: Bay Street view of the West Residence tower

April 1 2011: A construction elevator rises up the side of the West Residence

April 1 2011: The West Residence tower seen from Avenue Road near the Museum subway station entrance outside the Royal Ontario Museum

Keeping tabs on … Clear Spirit condo construction

2 Replies

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

Regent Park revitalization creates massive construction zone on Dundas Street East

Leave a reply

May 2 2010: A view from the northwest of apartment and condo buildings constructed during Phase 1 of the multi-year Regent Park revitalization project

February 15 2011: Parliament-Dundas street view of apartment and condo buildings completed during Phase 1 of the Regent Park revitalization

February 15 2011: Revitalization project activity next to the Paintbox Condos and Regent Park Arts and Cultural Centre construction site on Dundas Street East

A rendering of the Regent Park Arts and Cultural Centre and Paintbox condo tower currently under construction on Dundas Street East

Tearing down & building up: One of the biggest construction zones in the city is along Dundas Street, east of Parliament Street, where the 50-year-old Regent Park neighbourhood is undergoing a tremendous transformation from an outdated social housing project into a modern “mixed-income, mixed-use community.” Regent Park Revitalization is an ambitious project that will take between 10 and 15 years to complete in six separate construction phases. Multiple city blocks of old low- and mid-rise public housing buildings are being systematically razed and replaced with new social housing units, rental apartments, townhouses and condominiums, as well as cultural and recreational centres, and retail shops and services. At the same time, the “long-isolated” Regent Park neighbourhood is being re-connected to the surrounding community with new through-way streets that replace the former warren of lanes that dead-ended in apartment parking lots.

Phases 1 and 2 involve a 30-acre area bounded by Gerrard Street at the north, Shuter Street at the south, Parliament Street at the west, and Sumach Street at the east. Phase 1 got underway in 2005 when tenants were relocated and demolition of several old apartment buildings began. In 2006, construction commenced on three new rental buildings: the Dundas-Sackville apartments at 246 and 252 Sackville Street, designed by Toronto’s architectsAlliance, the midrise Oak-Parliament Apartments at One Oak Street, designed by Toronto’s Kearns Mancini Architects Inc., townhouses along Oak and Cole Streets, and the One Cole condominium complex — a 19-storey east tower with 201 suites, and a nine-storey west building with 92 units — designed by Diamond and Schmitt Architects in association with Graziani & Corazza Architects Inc. Last year construction got underway on another new condo building, One Park West, at the northwest corner of Sackville and Oak Streets, as well as on 40 Oaks, an 87-unit affordable housing project of the Toronto Christian Resource Centre.

When I rode my bike around Regent Park last spring, the new apartment buildings were finished construction and fully occupied, people were moving into their brand-new One Cole condominiums, RBC had just opened its new bank branch in the One Cole complex on Dundas, and construction workers were busy building townhouses on Oak and Cole Streets. When I returned for a repeat visit just over two weeks ago, I was astounded by the scope of construction activity that was both recently completed, and in progress. The One Cole condo complex is fully sold out and completely occupied; dozens of the townhouses are occupied while even more are nearly finished construction; the One Park West boutique condo building is in the final stages of construction; the steel frame for 40 Oaks has been built; and the new Freshco supermarket, Rogers Communications retail outlet and Tim Hortons coffee shop are all open for business at the corner of Dundas and Parliament.

Meanwhile, Phase 2 construction activity is going gangbusters on both the north and south sides of Dundas Street. Several blocks of buildings are being demolished; large swaths of land are being excavated for more new apartment buildings and an aquatics centre; and the Paintbox Condominium highrise and the new Regent Park Arts and Cultural Centre are both under construction. It’s an incredible amount of building activity happening all at once. A school crossing guard on Dundas Street told me she still can’t believe the pace of change; I could understand where she was coming from since I, too, felt stunned by the extent of construction since the last time I saw the area. Below are photos I took that morning.

One of the Regent Park apartment buildings, dating to the 1950s, which will eventually be demolished and replaced with new housing

New apartments, townhouses and condos along Oak Street in Regent Park

New townhouses along Oak Street

Toronto Christian Resource Centre sign on Oak Street

West view of the Toronto Christian Resource Centre building construction

Southwest view of the Toronto Christian Resource Centre construction

Northwest view of the Toronto Christian Resource Centre construction

Oak Street view of the Toronto Christian Resource Centre construction

New townhouses along the south side of Oak Street

Apartments and townhouses on Oak Street east of Parliament Street

A block of townhouses along the north side of Cole Street

Townhouses at the corner of Cole and Regent Streets

Townhouses on the north side of Cole Street

Cole street townhouses and the One Park West boutique condo building

The west side of the One Park West condo building under construction

Upper west floors of One Park West condo building

One Park West condo construction progress

One Park West condo building viewed from Sackville Street

Southeast view of One Park West condo building rom Sackville Street

Street-level view of One Park West condo from Sackville Street

Balconies on the east side of One Park West condos

252 Sackville Street apartments and One Park West condos

Northwest view of construction along Sumach Street; an aquatics centre and a new neighbourhood park are supposed to be built at this location

Southwest view towards downtown Toronto’s Financial District towers from the construction zone along Sumach Street

Another view of the construction site along Sumach Street

An apartment building being demolished on Dundas Street near Sumach Street

West view of the apartment building being demolished

Two apartment buildings being demolished near Dundas & Sumach Streets

The top floor has already been removed from this building

Regent Park Arts and Cultural Centre and Paintbox Condos construction

Regent Park Arts and Cultural Centre billboard on Dundas Street

Regent Park Arts and Cultural Centre and Paintbox Condos construction

Apartment blocks that will be demolished stand behind the construction site for the arts and cultural centre and Paintbox condo highrise

Paintbox Condominiums billboard on Dundas Street

The Paintbox Condominiums construction site on the south side of Dundas St.

Condos go up while the old apartment blocks come down

Old apartment building being demolished on the north side of Dundas Street

Excavation activity just west of the Paintbox Condos construction site

Demolition, construction and excavation activity along Dundas Street

Excavator working on the construction site adjacent to Paintbox Condos

Red and white construction cranes above the arts & culture centre site

Huge excavation site at the corner of Dundas East and Pashler Avenue

Regent Park Phase 1 development at Parliament and Dundas

New Freshco supermarket at Dundas and Parliament

New Freshco supermarket entrance

Infinity views and ÏCE foundations

Leave a reply

Three white cranes rise from the massive South Financial district (aka railway lands) excavation where the Infinity3 and ÏCE condo towers are being built.

From black asphalt to green courtyard canopy: What was once a vast asphalt-paved open-air parking area near the foot of York Street is gradually being transformed into an environmentally-conscious urban courtyard, covered by a 6,000-square-metre green canopy that will surround the base of two slender cylindrical skyscrapers — the 55- and 65-storey ÏCE Condominiums.

At the same time, what used to be a scruffy vacant lot right next door has become the building site for a new highrise condo complex, too — the 35-storey Infinity3 condos off Lower Simcoe Streets. The parking lot, which sat to the north of Lake Shore Blvd. and the Gardiner Expressway, used to be popular with people driving into the city to attend events at the nearby Air Canada Centre and Harbourfront. But it’s now one of downtown Toronto’s largest condo building excavations, where foundations for underground parking levels are in the early stages of construction.

Three construction cranes operate high above the enormous, L-shaped pit, while the construction entrance ramps off Grand Trunk Crescent and Lower Simcoe Street handle a steady stream of cement and dump truck traffic.

Below are photos I have taken from the CN Tower of the ÏCE and Infinity3 locations both before construction started, and during the early stages of site excavation. There’s also several pics I snapped at the side-by-side condo building site on a sunny day last week, along with some artistic renderings, from the ÏCE Condos website, of the two ÏCE towers and their courtyard canopy. Above left is a website rendering of the Infinity3 building under construction; it will be a new sibling to the two Infinity condo buildings that were constructed several years ago at the corner of Bremner Blvd. and Lower Simcoe Street.

ÏCE Condos is a project by Lanterra Developments and Cadillac Fairview; the buildings were designed by Peter Clewes of Toronto’s architectsAlliance. Infinity3 is a project of The Conservatory Group. The Infinity 3 website doesn’t name the project architects; however, the E.I. Richmond Architects Ltd. website includes the Infinity towers in its portfolio. Another rendering of the Infinity3 complex can be viewed on that site.

September 22 2008: CN Tower view of the two Infinity condo buildings and the site for the Infinity3 project — a vacant lot off Lower Simcoe Street

September 22 2008: A CN Tower view of the parking lot that is now an excavation for the two ÏCE Condos skyscrapers. The brown structure in the upper left corner is the foundation for the ÏCE Condos sales office being set up at the time.

September 22 2008: CN Tower view of the Infinity3 condo site off Lower Simcoe Street; the little square building was the Infinity3 condo sales centre.

November 2 2010: CN Tower view of substantial excavation progress at the construction sites for the ÏCE Condos and Infinity3 Condos

November 2 2010: ÏCE Condos and Infinity3 Condos site excavation progress

February 18 2011: The two existing Infinity condo buildings, left, overlook the deep Infinity3 excavation pit to their south.

February 18 2011: Worksite viewed from Lower Simcoe Street

February 18 2011: Eastward view of the Infinity3 and ICE Condos worksites

Infinity3 condo construction site entrance off Lower Simcoe Street

Infinity3 and ICE Condos foundations taking shape

A man standing outside the beige construction crew trailer (top center) supervises the ÏCE Condos building activity at the bottom of the pit

A closer look at the foundation forms taking shape in the pit

One of the construction crew building the condo’s underground levels

Construction workers at the bottom of the deep ÏCE Condos excavation

Surveyors at work near the construction entrance to the ÏCE Condos excavation. The building in the background is the new Maple Leaf Square complex.

The surveyors working above the ÏCE Condos excavation

ÏCE condos website rendering of the two condominium skyscrapers

ÏCE condos website rendering of the green canopy for the condo courtyard

The ÏCE condo towers depicted in an animated video on the project website

Website video suggests how the ÏCE towers might appear on the skyline

47-storey Theatre Park condo tower will bring architectural excitement to Entertainment District

1 Reply

Tower rendering from the Theatre Park condo project website

Planning drama: I suppose it was only fitting that high drama ensued when an application to built a condo tower next to the Royal Alexandra Theatre was filed with city hall back in early 2009. Especially since the rapid pace of condo development in Toronto’s popular Theatre/Entertainment District has become a hot-button topic with area businesses, residents and City Hall.

It just wouldn’t have seemed right if the city had simply told Lamb Development Corp. and its partner Niche Development to go ahead and “break a leg” with its plans to build a striking 45-storey point tower at 224 King Street West, a site which has been occupied by a parking lot for the past 40 years. Just as one might have expected, though, city planners balked at the Theatre Park proposal. They were concerned that the building would be far too tall for the neighbourhood, and they feared that approving the project could set a dangerous precedent that ultimately could encourage other developers to demolish historical low-rise buildings in the area and construct towers in their place.

It didn’t seem to matter that a handful of highrise buildings already were under construction within a two-block radius, including the 53-storey Ritz-Carlton and 65-storey Living Shangri-La hotel/condo towers, and the Boutique and Festival Tower condos (35 and 41 storeys tall, respectively).

When the city rejected the application, the developers decided to challenge the decision at the Ontario Municipal Board. However, the parties reached a settlement allowing construction of a tower that would be slightly shorter, but would have 47 floors instead of 45.

Background about the planning and political drama behind the project, as well as some details about the proposed tower, were outlined in a November 11 2010 story in the National Post. Less than two weeks later, the Theatre Park project received rather robust attention during an advance sales event for VIP agents and brokers.

The building design, by Toronto’s architectsAlliance, is destined to get plenty of attention, too, though it remains to be seen if it will receive rave reviews from the critics once it is finally constructed. The Theatre Park website heralds the tower design as “audacious” and “iconic,” and I think those descriptions are apt. The slender tower will have a dramatic, bold presence on the Entertainment District skyline, while its open street-level plaza next to the Royal Alex should enhance the King West streetscape (particularly since the sidewalk along the north side of King always feels too narrow, and gets claustrophobically crowded both before and after performances at the Royal Alex and the Princess of Wales Theatre a few doors west).

Below are several architectural renderings that appear on the Theatre Park website, along with some photos I snapped recently of the condo project site and its famous next-door neighbour. The website has additional renderings, floorplans, and a four-minute animated video that suggests how Theatre Park will look on the skyline.

Artistic rendering of the Theatre Park penthouse

A website rendering of the tower podium and plaza on King Street West

Artistic impression of how Theatre Park will appear at street level

Another website illustration of the condo plaza fronting on King Street

Promotional billboard at 224 King Street West last November

Theatre Park site viewed from the south side of King Street on January 3 2011

A billboard with a tower rendering, seen here January 3, replaced the first sign

The Theatre Park billboard was gone when I passed the site on Thursday

The Royal Alexandra Theatre, seen here on Thursday afternoon

View toward the Theatre Park condo tower site on February 18 2011. Only one block to the north are the Boutique condo tower, left, and the Living Shangri-La Toronto hotel/condo complex, with the pink signs and construction crane.

Taking a peek at Pier 27’s construction progress

2 Replies

From The Residences at Pier 27 project website, an illustration of the condo complex under construction on Queen’s Quay Blvd. E.

This truck was pumping concrete into the Pier 27 excavation today

Crane coming?: Thanks to the spring-like thaw in the weather over the past couple of days, the excavation at the Pier 27 condo development on the waterfront has become one enormous muddy hole in the ground. But construction work continues nonetheless, and today I saw a concrete pumper truck at the northeastern end of the massive waterfront excavation. Since it looks to me — from the street and sales centre parking lot, at least — that the lion’s share of digging has been done, I suspect that concrete was being poured to build the base on which a construction crane will be installed sometime very soon.

I hope my assumption is correct, because I’m eager to see this development shake up the shape of the city’s lacklustre Lake Ontario shoreline. Right now, the waterfront is crowded with far too many tall buildings that share an unfortunate but common character trait: disappointing, dull designs. Whether they’re shiny glass and steel cylinders, or glass and concrete or brick boxes, most are boring, bland buildings that look like something you’ve seen somewhere else many times before. Some are downright ugly. What’s worse: they’re clustered in pairs and threesomes of lookalike towers. Most of the harbourside highrises would look drab enough individually, but as a long line of homely twins and triplets, they collectively give the city skyline a repetitive cookie-cutter appearance from the water.

Though they are basically just pairs of mid-rise glass and steel boxes themselves, it’s the dramatic rooftop “skybridges” linking the 12-storey Pier 27 condo buildings that will give this project an interesting flair and unique bold style that should finally break the decades-old pattern of architectural monotony along Queen’s Quay boulevard.

I also like the refreshing low scale of the development, which thankfully won’t create another wide, tall wall blocking the rest of the city from the water, like so many of the condos built in the last 30 years.

A project of Fernbrook Homes and Cityzen Developments, The Residences of Pier 27 were designed by Peter Clewes of Toronto’s architectsAlliance.

Below are photos I have taken of the condo sales office and excavation, along with several artistic building renderings that appear on the project’s website. (Some pics I’ve published previously can be viewed in this construction progress post from early January.)

Additional renderings and six construction photos, along with an animated project video, can be viewed at the Pier 27 website.

From the Pier 27 website, an aerial lake-view illustration of the condo complex

From the website, an artistic waterside view of one of the condo buildings

Side view rendering of one of the condo buildings and its rooftop “skybridge”

Pier 27 sales office next to the construction site

Another view of the Pier 27 sales centre

The southwest side of the Pier 27 excavation on February 18 2011

Another view of the west end of the giant excavation

Break time? Idle earth movers at the top of the excavation

Several huge mounds of dirt still must be removed

Pier 27 residents with east-facing units will get to enjoy this view of the Redpath sugar refinery (along with the peculiar, syrupy odour that permeates the air)

Concrete pumper working at the Pier 27 site February 18 2011

A solitary excavating machine digs away at the south side of the enormous hole

This is the east side of the excavation, next to the Redpath property

On the edge: the concrete truck pumps away

Another view of the concrete pumper truck

Shovels in the ground at X2 Condos site

Leave a reply

The earth is moving at the X2 Condos project site

X2 marks its spot: I felt a touch of nostalgia when I saw a drilling machine and backhoe cutting into the snow-covered ground at the corner of Jarvis and Charles Streets this afternoon.

Don’t know why, but I suddenly started thinking about the ugly three-storey office building that used to occupy the site. For the longest time it housed an overpriced Becker’s convenience store and a sports bar called Caps that served awesome — but wickedly hot — BBQ chicken wings, good burgers and reasonably-priced beer. Caps was popular with sports teams as well as the cops who worked across the street in a police building that ultimately met its demise when the hugely popular 44-storey X Condominium tower started construction several years ago.

Eventually, the Becker’s store and the bar closed down. The PizzaPizza company acquired the property, spruced up the building, and moved its headquarters inside. But the days of the PizzaPizza place were numbered. X Condos was a tremendous success; its units sold like gangbusters, leaving no doubt there was a strong demand for more condos in the immediate neighbourhood. It was obvious that the PizzaPizza property would be worth an absolute fortune as a condo tower development site. Inevitably, signs were posted on the property in 2008 to advise the neighbourhood that plans were afoot to build a 44-storey condo highrise there.

In November 2009, a sales office for X2 Condos was constructed on Charles Street on the site of two brick mansions that formerly housed law firms and other offices (properties that also would ultimately be demolished to make way for the condo highrise.) Demolition of all three buildings began last August, and throughout the autumn the lot sat empty while soil testing and other preliminary site preparation work was performed.

In the meantime, the city approved the developer’s request to add more floors to X2, bringing the tower’s total height to 49 storeys. Now, digging has begun in earnest on the northeast perimeter of the site.

Don’t know why, but suddenly I’m craving beer and chicken wings! Too bad I can’t walk up the street to Caps anymore.

Below is a rendering of the X2 Condo building (designed by Toronto’s Rudy Wallman Architects, by the way), along with photos I’ve taken of the X2 site over the past three years. More photos can be viewed in an album accessible from the Photo Sets page of the blog (where you’ll find another album with pictures showing the construction of X Condos, from site excavation to fully-finished and occupied tower.

Although X and X2 look a lot alike, as sisters usually do, X was designed by a different architect — Peter Clewes of Toronto’s architects Alliance.)

Artistic rendering of X2 Condo tower at the corner of Jarvis & Charles

August 14 2008: Condo development proposal sign on X2 Condos site

Sept 3 2008: View of the former PizzaPizza offices on the X2 site

Sept 3 2008: Jarvis Street view of the former PizzaPizza headquarters

December 3 2008: Charles Street view of the development site

November 2 2009: PizzaPizza building being prepared for demolition

November 2 2009: X2 Condos sales office sign on Charles Street East

November 2 2009: X2 Condos sales office being constructed on the project site

November 22 2009: X2 Condos marketing signs on the PizzaPizza building

Bright pink signs on exterior of X2 Condos sales office

August 29 2010: Demolition of the PizzaPizza building underway

August 29 2010: Big empty lot behind the PizzaPizza building being demolished

August 29 2010: X2 Condos sales office gradually being demolished

August 29 2010: Charles Street view of demolition activity at the X2 Condos site

August 29 2010: Jarvis Street view of the PizzaPizza building demolition

X2 Condos sales office in its new location: a townhouse at X Condos

October 3 2010: View of the lot where X2 will be built

November 11 2010: Work crew tests soil conditions

November 11 2010: Soil testing operations at the west end of the site

December 18 2010: X2 Condos site after a light snowfall

January 9 2011: A blanket of snow covers the X2 Condos site

February 8 2011: Machines digging away at the perimeter of the property

February 8 2011: Digging at the northeast perimeter of the X2 Condos site

February 8 2011: Tag-team excavation activity on the X2 Condos site

Four Seasons Toronto hotel & condominium towers establish a new landmark for Yorkville district

1 Reply

Four Seasons towers rising above the Yorkville Ave. fire station and library

Rapid rise: Even though it’s still under construction, the Four Seasons Hotel & Private Residences Toronto has already become a new landmark for the Yorkville neighbourhood. You can’t miss it as you approach the Yonge Street Canadian Tire store from Church Street. It’s obvious from the Annex and from many places along Avenue Road, Bay and Yonge Streets. You can even see it from the south side of Bloor across from Holt Renfrew. That’s no small achievement considering that views toward Yorkville are blocked by some of the area’s oldest skyscrapers (the Manulife Centre and the two bank towers at Yonge & Bloor) as well as several new towers (18 Yorkville, Crystal Blu and Uptown Residences, to name but three). It certainly will make it easy to help guide tourists to Yorkville (I won’t have to point at the CIBC tower at 2 Bloor West anymore and say “go there; Yorkville’s right behind it;” I’ll be able to point out the Four Seasons instead. Designed by hotshot Toronto firm architectsAlliance, the two-tower complex is a project of Menkes Developments. Below is an architectural rendering of the property, along with some pics I recently took of the Four Seasons complex from several different perspectives in and around Yorkville. You can view even more photos of construction progress on the blog’s Photo Sets page (just click on the red tab at the top of this page and scroll down to the Four Seasons album).

Architects’ rendering of the new Four Seasons Toronto hotel + condo complex

Four Seasons Toronto seen from Scollard Street January 9

Four Seasons Toronto seen from Church near Yonge on January 9

Four Seasons Toronto from Avenue Rd at Yorkville Avenue on January 9

Four Seasons Toronto seen from Bloor Street opposite Holts on January 9

Four Seasons Toronto seen from Scollard Street on January 9

Four Seasons Toronto seen from Bay Street at Davenport Road on January 9

Falling glass balcony panels a “pane” in the neck for Murano condo owners, Bay Street pedestrians

3 Replies

Murano condo towers under construction September 20 2008

Heads up! You don’t usually see scaffolding erected around a brand-new condominium tower to protect passing pedestrians after construction has finished and the building is fully occupied. But then, you don’t usually expect glass panels to shatter and fall off the balconies of new buildings, either. Yet that’s what seems to have happened four separate times in the past year at the Murano condos on Bay Street.

Designed by architectsAlliance of Toronto, Murano is a complex of two glass highrise buildings that opened in 2009: a 35-floor North Tower on Grosvenor Street and a 45-storey South Tower on Grenville Street, both linked by a two-storey podium extending along Bay Street.

According to posts in an online Toronto architecture and building forum, a glass panel broke loose from a balcony in early April of last year. It plunged to the ground, in the process shattering several other glass panels that create a canopy above Bay Street to protect pedestrians from rain and the elements. The sidewalk around the damaged panels was cordoned off with yellow safety warning tape while repairs were performed.

A similar incident occurred in September, when a tempered glass panel shattered and fell from an upper-level balcony on the Grenville Street side of the North Tower. Several days later, glass from another panel shattered and showered to the ground from a different North Tower balcony, also on the Grenville Street side. That incident made headlines in local papers; for example, the Toronto Star reported on glass falling from the Murano tower in a story on September 18.

The broken panels were replaced with sheets of wood while new panels were ordered; meanwhile, condo management called engineers in to try to determine what had caused the panels to break.

In early December, I noticed that the wood sheets were gone and the missing glass panels had finally been replaced; however, around December 21, another balcony panel shattered. Again, it was on a North Tower balcony, but this time on the south side. Scaffolding has protected sidewalks around the condo complex ever since, and up until the end of last week a piece of wood was still visible on the balcony in question. When I passed by this morning, however, the wood was gone and a new glass panel was in place; in fact, I could see a contractor working on the balcony, so he may have just finished the installation. On the other hand, the glass overhang above street level was still missing three panels.

The problem must be a source of embarrassment and frustration for the building’s developer, Lanterra Developments, which operates a customer service centre for its various condominium projects in a street-level office in the Murano podium along Bay Street (now partially obscured by the scaffolding).

But shattered glass hasn’t been the only thing dropping from the Murano towers. In a gruesome accident in May 2008, falling metal debris killed a 55-year-old construction worker while the complex was being built; details are provided in this Toronto Star story. And on March 15 last year, a man jumped to his death from a unit on the east side of the building. Could ghosts of the two deceased be responsible for the falling glass? Or is it merely a case of balcony panel defects or improper installation techniques?

It will be interesting to see how long the scaffolding remains in place; it really detracts from the streetscape and spoils views of the podium. Fortunately, it doesn’t block the colourful decorated glass windows (created by Toronto photographer Barbara Astman) on the podium’s second floor.

Missing glass panel on south side of North Tower December 21 2010

Closer view of the replacement wood panel on North Tower balcony

January 18 2011: New glass panel freshly installed

January 18 2011: Overhang above the sidewalk is still missing panels

Scaffolding on Bay Street sidewalk below Murano condo towers December 21 2010

Wood panel on a Murano North Tower balcony September 19 2010

Wood panel on another Murano North Tower balcony September 19 2010

Scaffolding on sidewalks around the Murano towers January 5 2011

With podium and cantilevered townhouses in place, Market Wharf poised to built condo tower next

Leave a reply

Website rendering of Market Wharf condos below St Lawrence Market

Podium finish: If you liken building construction to a competitive race, then Context Development has achieved a podium finish with its Market Wharf project on Lower Jarvis Street. And to borrow an expression from the 2010 Canadian Winter Olympic Team, Context will totally own the podium once it gets the 25-storey Market Wharf condo tower going up — the next phase in construction — and sells the remaining 30% of units that have not already been snapped up by eager buyers.

December was a busy building month for Market Wharf: its eight-storey-tall podium got topped off; crews began installing windows in the townhouses that cantilever over the south end of the podium; mullions were being installed for windows for the Shoppers Drug Mart store that will open in the podium’s retail level; and work continued on the base for the condo tower.

The building was designed by Peter Clewes of Toronto’s architectsAlliance. Below are photos I took of the site last week, along with another artistic rendering from the Market Wharf website where full project details and floorplans can be viewed.