Above is a link to my January 2013 Flickr album of building and construction photos I shot during walks in the downtown area. Click once on the image to view a small-format slideshow of the pictures, or click twice to access the album directly on Flickr and see full-size photos and captions.
August 15 2012: Construction of Fly Condos viewed from Bathurst Street to the southwest. From this perspective, there appears to be considerable wide open space on the condo building’s north and west sides …
… thanks to a large surface parking lot on Fly’s west flank …
… and another large parking lot to its immediate north and northwest …
… however on its south side, Fly shares close quarters with three CityPlace condo towers, including the east Apex building, left, and the two oval Matrix towers on Front Street …
… while Fly’s east side rises almost smack against the Element condo highrise to its east
Close quarters: At this time last summer, the underground parking levels of Fly Condos were still in the early stages of construction, with months to go before the building reached grade. As of this week, the building has climbed 23 stories above the street — just one level shy of its final floor count. In the process, Fly has made a mini condo tower canyon on Front Street West look and feel even more cramped and crowded than it had been before.
Right now, there’s lots of open space to the north and west of Fly, since the surrounding land is occupied by large surface-level parking lots (who knows for how much longer before they’re redeveloped into condos, too). But it’s a completely different story on Fly’s other two sides.
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The construction crane for the Fly condo tower will be mounted on this pad near the east side of the building excavation, seen here on March 29 1011
The Fly Condos excavation, looking north from Front Street West
The east side of the excavation pit for the Fly condo tower
Awaiting a crane: Looks like a construction crane will be installed on the Fly Condos building site on Front Street West near Spadina Avenue any day now. The excavation for the 24-storey glass, stone and precast tower is four levels deep on the east half of the site, and a concrete pad for the crane base has been prepared in the middle of the pit. A project of Empire Communities, Fly Condos was designed by Graziani & Corazza Architects Inc. Below is a billboard with a rendering of the Fly condo tower, followed by photos taken March 29 2011 of the excavation site.
Fly condos marketing billboard on Front Street West
Ramp leading from Front Street into the Fly condos excavation
Front Street view toward the northeast corner of the Fly Condos excavation
A trailer at the bottom northeast corner of the pit
The ramp curves downward to the pad for the construction crane base
Southeast corner view of the excavation for the 24-storey condo tower
A view of the crane pad, near top left, and excavation equipment in the pit
The excavation on the east side of the site is about four levels deep
Three men make the long walk up the ramp at the end of the workday
Looking west across the Fly Condos excavation
Excavation activity at fly condos on January 14
Digging deeper: The hole in the ground for fly condos on Front Street West has gotten just a bit deeper in the two weeks since my “Big Digs” excavation update post.
Here are three more pics of the excavation progress.
Hole-y moley! That’s my reaction to several mighty big excavations currently underway for a half dozen major construction projects in the southern half of downtown.
One of the biggest (above) is for the new waterfront campus of George Brown College, situated between Sherbourne Common and the Corus Entertainment head office, both of which opened in 2010.
Just down the road, an even bigger dig is in progress for the Waterlink at Pier 27 condo complex.
Meanwhile, York Centre is the site of an enormous L-shaped excavation where the two ICE condo towers (65 and 55 storeys tall, respectively) and their office highrise sister (31 floors) ultimately will rise alongside the new Infinity3 three condo building (35 storeys).
Finally, on nearby Front Street West, holes are gradually getting deeper for Fly Condos (24 floors) and the 300 Front Street West condo tower (49 storeys).
Here’s a set of photos I’ve taken of these project sites recently, including some aerial shots from the CN Tower.
New George Brown College waterfront campus site August 29 2010
George Brown College waterfront campus excavation August 29 2010
George Brown College waterfront campus excavation August 29 2010
Waterlink at Pier 27 excavation November 2 2010
Waterlink at Pier 27 excavation November 2 2010
Waterlink at Pier 27 excavation November 9 2010
ICE + Infinity3 condos excavation November 2 2010
ICE + Infinity3 condos excavation November 2 2010
ICE + Infinity3 condos excavation November 2 2010
ICE + Infinity3 condos excavation November 2 2010
ICE + Infinity3 condos excavation November 2 2010
Fly Condos excavation January 3 2011
Fly Condos excavation January 3 2011
Fly Condos excavation January 3 2011
Fly Condos excavation November 2 2010
Fly Condos excavation November 2 2010
300 Front Street West excavation January 3 2011
300 Front Street West excavation January 3 2011
300 Front Street West excavation January 3 2011
300 Front Street West excavation January 3 2011
300 Front Street West excavation November 2 2010
300 Front Street West excavation November 2 2010