Tag Archives: Diamond Schmitt Architects

Accent panels on Paintbox Condo tower exterior add colour to Regent Park’s growing skyline

October 31 2011: Windows, cladding and coloured accent panels recently installed on the NE corner of the Paintbox Condominiums tower in Regent Park

October 31 2011: The west side of the Paintbox Condominium tower, under construction on Dundas Street East in the heart of Regent Park

Colour palette: Construction of the Paintbox Condominium tower has climbed above 22 storeys, leaving just four more floors to be built before the newest highrise addition to Regent Park tops off. Meanwhile, window and cladding installation is well underway on the four-storey podium plus the tower’s bottom seven floors. In fitting with the building’s name, the tower’s dark grey exterior features multicoloured, horizontal accent panels above and below the windows on each floor — adding welcome touches of colour to a once-dour district currently undergoing a massive multibillion-dollar redevelopment.

Rising at 591 Dundas Street East at the intersection of Sackville Street, Paintbox Condos is part of Phase 2 of the multi-year Regent Park Revitalization program. The redevelopment, which will see the construction of additional condo and apartment towers, plus low-rise and townhouse residence components, commenced several years ago and could take up to 12 more years to complete.

A project of The Daniels Corporation, Paintbox will have 284 units ranging in size from 392 to 925 square feet, starting at $200,000. The building was designed by Toronto’s Diamond + Schmitt Architects. Below are more photos, taken today, showing progress on the condominium tower as well as the new Regent Park Arts and Cultural Centre under construction at its base. Photos of Paintbox Condos from earlier this year can be viewed in my July 15 2011 post, which includes a link to an online photo album showing Regent Park Revitalization project Phase 1 & 2 construction activity.

Paintbox Condo tower illustration on a Dundas Street billboard

October 31 2011: Paintbox Condominiums rises above the west end of the Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre under construction on Dundas Street East between Sumach and Sackville Streets

October 31 2011: Window and cladding installation at the northeast corner of the Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre

October 31 2011: The north side of the Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre extends along Dundas Street East

October 31 2011: Paintbox tower rising at the west end of the culture centre

October 31 2011: Window and cladding installation on the tower’s NE corner

Octover 31 2011: Looking up the condo from the west end of the cultural centre

October 31 2011: Windows and cladding have been installed on the first seven floors above the four-storey condo podium

October 31 2011: Looking up the northeast corner of the tower

October 31 2011: Paintbox condo tower viewed looking east along Dundas Street

October 31 2011: Lower half of the tower viewed from the north side of Dundas, just west of Sackville Street

October 31 201: Part of the four-storey podium on the tower’s west flank

October 31 2011: The condo tower will soar 26 storeys above the podium

October 31 2011: Window and cladding details on the tower’s west side

October 31 2011: More windows, cladding and balconies on the west wall

Glass cladding installation adds shape & sheen to new Bridgepoint Hospital being built in Riverdale

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July 13 2011: Glass cladding gradually encloses floors of the new Bridgepoint Hospital under construction in Riverdale (seen here looking to the northeast from the Gerrard Street bridge above the Don Valley Parkway)

July 13 2011: Cabbagetown view of cladding along the lower west wall

July 13 2011: Closer view of cladding on the lower west wall

July 13 2011: A glass wall segment on the west side of the building

July 13 2011: Cladding installation on the building’s southwest corner

July 13 2011: Cladding along the south side of the building, facing Gerrard Street

July 13 2011: Glass cladding installation in the southeast corner

July 13 2011: A cloud reflects in a panel on the south side of the building

July 13 2011: A construction worker appears to emerge from clouds as he works behind one of the newly installed glass wall panels

July 13 2011: Glass cladding installation along the east side of the hospital building

Glass goes on: One long-familiar city landmark is set to disappear while a notorious historical building under restoration close by is going to get a new lease on life serving a function completely different from its original purpose. The Bridgepoint Health hospital building near the northwest corner of Broadview Avenue and Gerrard Streets has been a landmark for decades. Standing on a Riverdale hillside overlooking the Don Valley, the distinctive semicircular building has been seen daily by thousands of commuters driving up and down the Don Valley Parkway, or crossing over the valley and the Don River on either the Bloor Street Viaduct or one of the east-west bridges farther south that connects Riverdale to downtown. But construction of a new hospital building has been taking attention away from the curved structure for months — and in two years’ time, the old Bridgepoint building will disappear from the landscape altogether.

Originally established in 1860 as a House of Refuge for “incurables and the indigent poor,” Bridgepoint evolved into an institution renowned for specialized care, research and education for complex chronic disease and multiple lifelong illnesses. In the process, it outgrew its dated and inefficient building, and desperately needed to redevelop its facilities to better cope with steadily increasing demand for care and services. In 2006, the City of Toronto approved a Community Master Plan that gave Bridgepoint the green light to construct a new 472-bed hospital facility as part of a comprehensive neighbourhood redevelopment program that will revitalize a vast swath of land northwest of the Broadview-Gerrard intersection, including the historic Don Jail and two heritage buildings nearby.

Converting the historic jail into part of a state-of-the-art health care facility is arguably one of the most intriguing elements of the Bridgepoint redevelopment. Built in 1864, the Don Jail was designed by William Thomas, the same architect who designed Toronto’s St. Lawrence Hall on King Street East at Jarvis Street. The jail was closed in 1977; a “new jail” has been operating right next door ever since, but will itself be closed and then demolished once a new detention centre has been opened in Etobicoke. Restoration work on the “old” Don Jail started last year and is currently in full swing. According to the Preserving the Historic Don Jail information page on the Bridgepoint website, the building exterior is being restored and preserved, and will be linked to the new hospital building by a modern glass bridge. Inside, the building’s rotunda will be restored to its original splendour. The rotunda once featured a glass floor, which at some point was covered over, along with a skylight, which was similarly tiled in. Both will be uncovered during the restoration process, and the rotundra will become a publicly-accessible space for community and hospital events. “On the second level, walkways run the circumference of the rotunda and are held up by wrought-iron gargoyles (dragons and snakes). The walkways, the gargoyles and the wrought-iron railings along the walkways will all be preserved. As well, a group of cells in the basement and the gallows will be retained in their original state for historical purposes,” the website states.

When complete, the Bridgepoint campus will include the new hospital, the Bridgepoint Collaboratory for Research and Innovation, Bridgepoint Family Health Team primary care services, and the Bridgepoint Health Foundation. Toronto firms Stantec and KPMB Architects developed the “design exemplar” for the Bridgepoint request for proposals process, while the project’s architects of record — HDR Architects and Diamond + Schmitt Architects — worked from that exemplar to develop a final design that met compliance requirements. Construction of the new hospital commenced in 2009 and is scheduled for completion in 2013. Renovation of the Don Jail began last year and is expected to finish in 2012. Demolition of the existing hospital, along with the Toronto Jail facility to the east of the Don Jail building, is anticipated to take place between April and June of 2013.

Below are renderings of the new hospital building as they appear on the Bridgepoint website, along with photos I’ve taken showing construction progress at various stages.

September 26 2010: Riverdale Park view of the current Bridgepoint Hospital

This architectural rendering from the Bridgepoint Health website offers an aerial view suggesting how the Bridgepoint campus in Riverdale will look in several years with the new hospital (left), and the restored historic Don Jail (right)

This architectural rendering from the Bridgepoint website suggests how the hospital will look when viewed from the southwest on Gerrard Street

Another architectural rendering, from the project website, showing a Gerrard Street view of the new hospital and restored Don Jail

Also from the project website, a rendering that depicts how the hospital will appear when viewed from the northeast, in Riverdale Park

Above is a rendering of the hospital viewed from the east, while below …

… is a rendering showing a view of the hospital from one of the footbridges that crosses the Don Valley to the northwest of the project site

April 27 2010: From the Bridgepoint website, an aerial view of the excavation underway immediately west of the present hospital and the Don Jail

October 27 2010: A photo I took from Cabbagetown, to the west, of three construction cranes at the Bridgepoint hospital construction site …

… and, from the Bridgepoint Health website, a photo showing an aerial view of the construction site on the very same day

Bridgepoint redevelopment proposal sign posted on Gerrard Street East

March 27 2011 : Bridgepoint hospital construction sign on Gerrard Street

March 27 2011: Riverdale Park view of the north side of the semicircular Bridgepoint Hospital. This building will be demolished — likely in early 2013 — after the new hospital is finished and occupied.

March 27 2011: Riverdale Park view of the present hospital, left, and the new facility under construction next door to its immediate west

March 27 2011: Riverdale Park view of construction of the hospital’s north side

March 27 2011: The present hospital building, seen from Broadview Avenue

March 27 2011: Construction viewed from the southwest on Gerrard Street

March 27 2011: Construction progress viewed from the parking lot situated to the southeast of the building site

March 27 2011: View from the southeast of ground floor construction progress

March 27 2011: Construction progress on the south side of the building

March 27 2011: Looking up at the southeast corner of the new hospital building

March 27 2011: Parking lot view of the southeast corner of the new building (left), the present hospital (center) and the west wing of the Don Jail (right)

March 27 2011: Looking northeast from the parking lot at restoration activity underway on the exterior of the historic Don Jail building

March 27 2011: Exterior restoration work on the Don Jail’s west wing

March 27 2011: The central rotunda section of the Don Jail

March 27 2011: The Don Jail’s main entrance and rotunda will be accessible to the public for community uses and public gallery space. it also will be used for hospital events and lectures.

March 27 2011: Architectural details on the front of the Don Jail building

March 27 2011: The “Father Time” sculpture above the Don Jail main entrance

March 27 2011: The upper southeast corner of the Don Jail, built in 1864

March 27 2011: The east wing of the “old” Don Jail and the adjacent “new” jail, which will be closed and then demolished once a new detention centre has been constructed in the west end of the city

March 27 2011: Gerrard Street view of the Don Jail and the “new” jail (right).

March 27 2011: Two historic houses will be retained on the Bridgepoint property along Gerrard Street. New park grounds will enhance this area.

March 27 2011: The west side of the jail’s former gatekeeper house. The building will be retained and incorporated into the new park area.

March 27 2011: The former Governor’s House at 562 Gerrard Street East will be retained and restored as part of the Bridgepoint redevelopment project

March 27 2011: The Governor’s House sits next door to the Riverdale branch of the Toronto Public Library. The library entrance, at the northwest corner of Broadview Avenue and Gerrard Street East, is seen here.

March 27 2011: Gerrard Street view of construction on the southwest corner of the hospital building

March 27 2011: Bridgepoint hospital construction progress viewed from the Gerrard Street bridge above the Don Valley Parkway

March 27 2011: Hospital construction viewed from the Gerrard Street bridge

March 27 201: Bridgepoint Hospital construction progress viewed from from a park below the Cabbagetown neighbourhood on the west side of the Don Valley

June 21 2011: Riverdale Park view of the Bridgepoint Health hospital buildings

June 21 2011: Construction progress on the south end of the new building

June 21 2011: Exterior restoration work on the Don Jail building

June 21 2011 The exterior of the Don Jail is being restored and preserved. The Jail will be connected to the new hospital by a modern glass bridge.

June 21 2011: Restoration activity on the east wing of the Don Jail

June 21 2011: Hospital construction progress viewed from the southwest

June 21 2011: Construction progress viewed from the Gerrard Street bridge

July 13 2011: The new hospital rises above Gerrard Street. Below is an online album containing dozens more photos of the hospital construction.

Demolition of former retail plaza underway at Jarvis/Dundas site for 46-storey Pace condo tower

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July 1 2011: A view of the southwest corner of Jarvis and Dundas Streets …

… where half of the small strip plaza that once occupied the site has been demolished to make way for construction of the 46-storey Pace Condos tower

March 22 2011: This is what the plaza looked like before demolition started

Strong sales: There isn’t much left of the small retail plaza that formerly sat at the southwest corner of Dundas and Jarvis Streets, home to a convenience store, coin laundry and restaurants until late last year. This week, a demolition machine began to destroy the single-storey structures that used to occupy the property on which developer Great Gulf Homes plans to construct Pace Condos. According to the rezoning application that Great Gulf filed with the city in March, the proposed 46-storey tower will have a 10-storey podium and five underground levels, and will contain 417 condominium suites. The Pace Condos website indicates that 27 different floor plans are available for units ranging from small studios to 1- and 2-bedroom apartments, along with “family suites” offering 3, 3.5 or 4 bedrooms. Design-wise, Pace Condos will be “a paragon of architectural brilliance,” the website gushes. “Pace is a shimmering glass tower artfully placed on a podium comprised of dark charcoal-coloured bricks. This is urban elegance at its best. This is eye-catching, eye candy design the likes of which the city has never seen,” it adds. Curiously, the website doesn’t credit Toronto’s Diamond + Schmitt Architects, the firm behind the tower design it lauds so highly, although it does mention that “custom kitchens” will be designed by Ciccone Simone.

When I first wrote about the Pace Condos project in my March 22 2011 post, I noted that the building location is a seedy area on the edge of one of Canada’s poorest residential districts. While I personally wouldn’t want to live in the neighbourhood, nor would any of the friends with whom I have discussed the condo project, I did acknowledge that Great Gulf would probably find plenty of eager buyers willing to pay to live there. It looks like that has indeed been the case: According to the project website, 14 of the condo’s 27 floorplans have already sold out.

Below is a screenshot — from the Pace Condos website — showing how the proposed tower will look, along with several more photos I took today of demolition progress on the building site.

From the Pace Condos website, an architectural illustration of the glass tower and its 10-storey dark charcoal-coloured brick podium

July 1 2011: A view of the Pace Condos site from outside the Hilton Garden Inn Toronto/City Centre on the northeast corner of Dundas & Jarvis

July 1 2011: The former convenience store building has been reduced to rubble

July 1 2011: Only the south wall of the former retail businesses is left standing

July 1 2011: The former coin laundry building is partially demolished

July 1 2011: A view of the Pace Condos site from the north side of Dundas Street. The Grand Hotel & Suites Toronto is the tower at left, while the highrise at right rear is a condominium; both are located on Jarvis Street just south of Dundas.

July 1 2011: Another view of the site from the north side of Dundas Street

July 1 2011: Demolition will resume after the Canada Day holiday weekend

July 1 2011: A view of the site from Jarvis Street, looking west

St Mike’s opens research, healthcare centres at new Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute building

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West view from along Shuter Street of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute (right) and the tubular pedestrian bridge linking it to St. Michael’s Hospital. Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Gyde/Diamond and Schmitt Architects.

Centre celebration: St Michael’s Hospital yesterday celebrated the official opening of its new Keenan Research Centre and Li Ka Shing International Healthcare Education Centre — facilities collectively known as the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute. The hospital says the Centres “are among the first in the world — and the only ones in Toronto — specifically designed to bring together researchers, educators and clinicians to brainstorm ideas across professions and to take best practices and research discoveries to patient bedsides faster.”

The Keenan Research Centre occupies 25,200 square metres (271,300 square feet) with three floors of flexible, open concept wet laboratories and two floors for dry lab study in a wide range of medical research programs. 400 research staff will work there. The building’s education component includes a library, classroom and meeting facilities. These are linked by multi-level lounges that sit above Victoria Lane and are connected by an elegant wishbone staircase, providing a focal point for informal encounters. A 200-seat raked auditorium also serves as a conference centre and lecture hall.

The nine-storey building was designed by Jack Diamond, a principal with Toronto’s Diamond and Schmitt Architects. It occupies the north side of Shuter Street between Victoria and Bond Streets, and is connected to St Michael’s Hospital by a 21-meter tubular glass pedestrian bridge.

A Diamond and Schmitt press release says design highlights of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute building “include a glass curtainwall, which allows natural light to penetrate deep into the building. This serves not only to create an open and engaging workspace but also a visibly accessible connection into the world of medical research for the community at large. Solar shading placed horizontally on the south façade and vertically on the west façade minimizes heat gain and is made of glass instead of the typical metal shades so as not to impede the views to landmark buildings such as St. Michael’s Cathedral and Massey Hall. Other sustainable features include energy recovery systems on air handling units, reflective roofing, light sensors and a high use of recycled content in materials.”

Keeping tabs on … Ryerson Gallery & Research Centre

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April 30 2011: Ryerson Gallery and Research Centre exterior construction progress viewed from the northeast corner of Bond and Gould Streets

Colourful facade: It’s not scheduled to open until September 2012, but the Ryerson Gallery and Research Centre looks more and more complete each time I walk past — from the outside. Inside, it’s a much different story; at night, when lights are on and you can see through the huge windows, it’s obvious that substantial interior construction work remains to be done. The facility, which is part of Ryerson University’s School of Image Arts, will be “an international centre of excellence for the study, teaching, research and public exhibition of photography, new media and film,” the university website states. It also will be one of the most colourful buildings in downtown Toronto at night, thanks to a programmable multicoloured light show that emanates from thousands of LED lights behind the Centre’s translucent glass exterior. The Centre was designed by Diamond + Schmitt Architects. According to the Ryerson University website, the Centre “will have more space for students to mingle, lounge, study and collaborate; improved faculty offices; renovated digital imaging facilities and dedicated production areas; greater accessibility, particularly with washrooms and elevators; and more natural light. Landscaping will fully integrate the building into the newly pedestrianized Gould Street.” Below are photos I’ve taken of the Ryerson Gallery and Research Centre between late February and today. Additional images of earlier construction progress can be viewed in my January 12 2011 post.

February 25 2011: Dusk provides an opportunity to see inside the Centre and view ongoing testing of the facade’s LED light show

February 25 2011: Another Gould Street view of the Centre’s north side

February 25 2011: The west side of the Centre viewed from the skating rink

February 25 2011: Thousands of programmable LED lights behind the building’s translucent glass exterior will illuminate the Centre at night

March 11 2011: Another test of the Centre’s facade light show; testing of the light system has been ongoing since early in the year

April 8 2011: Northwest view of the Centre from Bond Street

April 8 2011: St George’s Greek Orthodox Church reflects in the facade

April 30 2011: Ryerson Gallery and Research Centre viewed from Gould Street

April 30 2011: Ryerson University expects construction to be complete in time for the building to be occupied for the 2011-2012 academic year

April 30 2011: Ground level view of the Centre’s northeast corner

April 30 2011: A view of the building’s northeast facade along Bond Street

April 30 2011: The southeast end of the Centre on Bond Street

April 30 2011: Northwest view of the building from Bond Street

April 30 2011: The center section of the east facade is still under wraps

April 30 2011: The glass facade on the east (Bond Street) side of the Centre

April 30 2011: A view of the Centre from the corner of Gould & Victoria Streets

Community meeting tonight will review plan for 46-storey Pace Condos tower at Dundas & Jarvis

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Great Gulf Homes is proposing a 46-storey condo tower for this site at the SW corner of Dundas and Jarvis Streets, seen here on March 22 2011.

Public feedback: A community consultation meeting this evening will give city residents the opportunity to voice their views about a Toronto developer’s proposal to build a 46-storey condo tower at the southwest corner of Dundas and Jarvis Streets. The meeting about Pace Condos, scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at Metropolitan United Church, was recommended in a March 22 2011 preliminary report by the city’s Planning Division.

Great Gulf Homes is proposing a 46-storey mixed-use building for the corner site, which includes municipal addresses at 200 Jarvis Street and 155 – 163 Dundas Street East. The tower would have five underground levels and a 10-storey podium, and would contain 417 residential units in studio, 1-bedroom, 1-bedroom + den, 2-bedroom and 2-bedroom + den configurations. Prices start at $209,990.

An article on the Great Gulf website claims that Pace Condos “offers unbeatable downtown Toronto value in new condo living,” and raves that its prime location — which is just a “leisurely pace” from leading downtown attractions and key city transit services — will be ideal for people seeking “a new urban lifestyle.” The article further boasts that the condo building itself will be “a paragon of architectural brilliance. This shimmering, sleek and streamlined glass tower designed by Diamond + Schmitt Architects Inc. will artfully rise from a podium comprised of dark charcoal-coloured bricks. Pace will embody urban elegance at its best — and will define a new generation of urban elegance. Landscaping by Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg will frame the building in startling greenery and colour.”

What the article doesn’t describe is the gritty neighbourhood; as I mentioned in a March 22 2011 post, the Pace Condos location is on the edge of one of the poorest residential areas in the city, if not the entire country. Within mere minutes’ walking distance are dozens of hostels, homeless shelters, subsidized housing apartments, soup kitchens and social service agencies for the poor. From my experience, it has been difficult to walk past the Dundas/Jarvis intersection, or along nearby streets, without encountering numerous panhandlers, street people, and a slew of sketchy people openly selling and doing drugs or drinking alcohol. Despite the neighbourhood’s seedy character, the condo tower proposal has generated tremendous local interest — from excited potential buyers, from citizens who think Pace could kickstart wider urban renewal in the immediate area, and from nearby residents who are alarmed by the height and size of the building that could soon become their new neighbour.

Given wide interest in Pace Condos, tonight’s meeting could attract a large turnout and spark colourful discussion, both positive and negative. I’m keen to hear if the Pace Condos proposal generates reactions similar to those expressed at other public meetings I have attended recently. A community consultation for a massive condo project planned for the St James Town area drew overwhelmingly negative feedback from the audience, while a Jarvis Street resident read an emotional and strongly-worded three-minute speech blasting the Pace Condo proposal at another public meeting about proposed guidelines for tall buildings in the downtown area. Unfortunately, I can’t attend the meeting, but I will continue to track further developments.

Regent Park revitalization creates massive construction zone on Dundas Street East

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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

Checking in on Charlie

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Architectural rendering from the Charlie Condos website

From Chaz to Charlie: Yesterday I posted about Chaz on Charles Street. Today I’m taking a look at Charlie on Charlotte Street. (Far as I can tell, they’re not siblings — their names and street locations might be similar, but they’re separate projects by totally different developers.)

Now that she’s finally got an above-ground presence, passersby are starting to notice Charlie Condos in the Entertainment District. Up until late last year, you couldn’t see much of her. Hoarding hid Charlie from public view on King Street West, so construction of her parking garage and underground levels could be seen only through a tall chain-link fence along a back lane off Charlotte Street. Work on Charlie’s below-ground floors reached street grade in early December, and now the building is beginning to rise above the bold blue hoardings that shield the sidewalk on the north side of King.

Designed by Toronto’s Diamond + Schmitt Architects, and a project of Great Gulf Homes, Charlie will “define mile-high style” (according to her website) — even though she’ll stand only 32 stories tall. But with her clear glass windows, aluminum frame, and heritage brick foundation, Charlie will look “elegant and evocative … classic and contemporary.” We’ll have to wait until at least several floors of windows and exterior finishing treatments have been installed to judge if that’s in fact the case. But by taking the place of what used to be a parking lot, Charlie is classing up the corner and already helping to boost property values in her immediate vicinity.

A friend of mine made a very handsome profit selling his Charlotte Street condo late last year, thanks to the interest that Charlie and other nearby condo projects, including M5V across the street on King, have stirred up in the area.

Below are some of my pics of construction progress at the Charlie site.

Charlie billboard at King & Charlotte Streets on September 26 2008

Charlie location at King and Charlotte Streets on September 26 2008

Charlie construction approaching street grade on November 23 2010

Charlie construction approaching street level November 23 2010

Charlie construction approaching street grade November 29 2011

Charlie underground levels approach street grade while the M5V condo tower nearby on King Street (left) is almost finished construction.

Charlie construction progress on January 14 2011

Charlie will block views from Charlotte Street of these nearby buildings

UHN to demolish former nursing residence and build “state of the art” lecture hall in its place

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January 14 2011 view of 90 Gerrard Street West. Originally a residence for nursing students, in recent years the building housed The Residence College Hotel.

Dormitory demolition: Toronto’s downtown hospital district will be getting another new building in the near future — a “state-of-the-art” lecture hall — once a tower that occupies the proposed 90 Gerrard Street West location has been demolished.

The University Health Network (UHN), which operates three downtown hospitals — Toronto Western on Bathurst Street, Princess Margaret on University Avenue and Toronto General on Elizabeth Street — once had a large lecture theatre at Toronto General. However, that facility was lost several years ago when the MaRS Centre was constructed at Toronto General along College Street. UHN has been languishing without an appropriate lecture centre ever since, but is now taking steps to remedy the situation by building an ultra-modern UHN Lecture Hall at the northeast corner of Elizabeth Street and Gerrard Street West.

The mid-rise, 19-storey concrete and glass building currently on the site is now being prepared for demolition. Originally constructed as a residence for nursing students, the building was recently known as The Residence College Hotel, which offered budget accommodations to hospital patients and other Toronto visitors.

In a newsletter announcement to staff last April, UHN president Bob Bell said UHN had applied to the city for a permit to demolish The Residence and replace it with the new lecture hall as well as green space. The city issued the demolition permit on June 1. The building’s windows subsequently were covered from the inside, while fencing and hoarding was installed on the outside of the property, so crews could prepare the structure for demolition.

The UHN Lecture Hall is being designed by Toronto’s Diamond + Schmitt Architects, which also designed the SickKids Research and Learning Tower that I profiled in TheTorontoBlog last week. So far, UHN has not made public any proposed designs for the new building. The lecture hall project is the fourth major building initiative currently underway in the hospital district. Besides the SickKids tower, there is ongoing building activity at nearby Mt. Sinai Hospital, where several new floors have been added to the top of the hospital, and at Toronto Rehab, where work is continuing on addition to that facility. Below are several photos taken last Friday of 90 Gerrard Street West.

SickKids Research & Learning Tower design details becoming evident in construction along Elm Street

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SickKids Research and Learning Tower taking shape along Elm Street

Artistic rendering of SickKids Research and Learning Tower

Beacon on Bay: Although foundation work is still below grade level along the Bay Street portion of its construction site, some design elements of the SickKids Research and Learning Tower are already obvious on the fast-progressing Elm Street section of the project — particularly a long, rectangular row of windows in what will be a patterned wall above Elm.

The $400 million facility will feature 750,000 square feet of space and 21 floors rising approximately 117 meters (383 feet). Sick Kids Hospital boasts that its new building, scheduled to open in 2013, will be not only “an architectural landmark,” but “a beacon in Toronto’s Discovery District and a magnet for the best and brightest child health professionals around the world.”

If the finished tower winds up looking like artistic renderings I’ve seen, it should be a beacon indeed — a bright, beautiful building that should drastically improve and enhance a rather unsightly stretch of Bay Street (the site itself used to be a parking lot).

I’m also fervently hoping that the tower will rise tall enough to block views of its next-door neighbour, the Enwave steam plant smokestack on Walton Street — especially views from the south, since the stack stands out like a sore thumb between the graceful curving towers of City Hall.

There’s a wealth of information about the Research and Learning Tower project, as well as renderings of the building interior, at the SickKids Foundation website.

The tower is a project of Toronto’s Diamond + Schmitt Architects. Below are several recent photos showing how far construction has progressed, as well as a rendering of the tower viewed from Bay Street.

SickKids tower construction viewed from Bay Street below Gerrard Street

SickKids tower construction viewed from Bay Street

SickKids tower construction progress at corner of Bay & Elm Streets

SickKids tower construction progress along Elm Street

Progress of foundation work for SickKids tower

SickKids tower construction progress along Elm Street

Artistic rendering of SickKids Research and Learning Tower

I’m hoping the SickKids tower will be high enough to block views of the Enwave steam plant smokestack between the towers of Toronto City Hall

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SickKids Research & Learning Tower design details becoming evident in construction along Elm Street

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