Tag Archives: HOK

Exterior work nearly complete at 77 Charles

77 Charles West

January 26 2013: A view of the 77 Charles West luxury condo building from one block to the north at the intersection of Sultan and St Thomas Streets. Work on the building’s green glass exterior is nearly complete and, inside, model suites are available for viewing.

 

Nearly finished: When I last reported on the 77 Charles West condo project in an August 13 2011 post, windows and cladding were just being installed on the midrise building’s ground floor.  Now, the midrise condominium is almost ready for occupancy.

As of this month, the building is completely glassed in, finishing touches to the exterior are nearly complete (apart from one northwest-facing balcony which appears to be getting a major alteration, and parts of the building frontage along Charles Street which still await landscaping), work on the condo suite interiors is well underway, and developer Aspen Ridge Homes has opened a model suite for exclusive private viewings. Residences are still available for purchase, at prices starting from $2.1 million.

 

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

In Photos: Summer construction activity in north downtown and the Bloor-Yorkville area (Part 1)

77 Charles West condo Toronto

August 13 2011: Newly-installed glass curtain wall cladding on the 77 Charles West luxury condo building, seen (above and below) from St Thomas Street

 

77 Charles West condo Toronto

 

 

77 Charles West condos reaches 12 floors; cladding installation begins

 

Going green: Construction on the 77 Charles West luxury condo midrise could be topping off later this month, now that 12 of the building’s 13 floors have been built. Meanwhile, down at street level, the facade is beginning to reflect some of its nearby condo neighbours as its striking green-hued curtain wall cladding gradually gets installed.

I was surprised when I saw some of the first panels being put in place five days ago because the glass is turquoise green rather than blue, as renderings on the project website suggested it would be. Nevertheless, I like how it looks — and think it makes 77’s neighbours look good, too. Depending upon where I stood while looking at the new windows this morning, I saw sharp reflections of the One St Thomas Residences condo tower across the street, the Residences of the Windsor Arms at 22 St Thomas Street one block north, and other buildings in the Bloor-Yorkville area.

So far, the cladding encloses just three storeys around what will be the Charles Street entrance to the condominium homes (the 13 floors of luxury condos rise above Kintore College and Cultural Centre, a three-storey residence and educational facility for female Catholic students attending University of Toronto). I’m anxious to see how the cladding will look on the rest of the floors, especially on the curved south side of the building.

77 Charles West is a project of Aspen Ridge Homes, and was designed by Yann Weymouth of HOK.

Below are more photos of the new cladding and recent construction progress. Previous construction updates can be found in blog posts on July 5 2011, April 7 2011, and February 15 2011 —  my first report on the 77 Charles West project.

 

77 Charles West condos

August 6 2011: 77 Charles West condo construction viewed from St Thomas Street

 

77 Charles West condos Toronto

August 6 2011: New promotional signage on the building’s north side

 

77 Charles West condos Toronto

August 6 2011: Floors on the northwest corner of the building

 

77 Charles West condos Toronto

August 6 2011: St Mary Street view of the building’s curved southwest corner

 

77 Charles West condos Toronto

 August 8 2011: Crews install the first 3-storey section of glass cladding

 

77 Charles West condos Toronto

 August 8 2011: Workers put the green-hued glass curtain wall panels in place

 

77 Charles West condos Toronto

August 8 2011: A closer look at the cladding over the second and third storeys

 

77 Charles West condos Toronto

August 13 2011: New cladding viewed from Charles Street, looking west

 

77 Charles West condos Toronto

August 13 2011: Cladding above the entrance that faces north up St Thomas Street

 

77 Charles West condos Toronto

August 13 2011: The cladding reflects several nearby buildings including the Residences at the Windsor Arms, the One St Thomas Residences, 155 Cumberland Street condos, and The Colonnade apartment building on Bloor Street

 

77 Charles West condos Toronto

August 13 2011: Street-level view of the cladding’s neighbourhood reflection

 

77 Charles West condos Toronto

August 16 2011: Reflection of the nearby Residences of the Windsor Arms

 

77 Charles West condos Toronto

August 13 2011: One of the construction entrances on Charles Street

 

77 Charles West condos Toronto

August 13 2011: A closer look at a corner section of the glass curtain wall

 

77 Charles West condos Toronto

August 13 2011: New cladding viewed from the west end of the building

 

77 Charles West condos Toronto

August 13 2011: Cladding reflects the One St Thomas Residences across the street

 

«»

 

Enormous excavation for U Condominiums keeps getting deeper & wider

 

U Condos Toronto

August 6 2011: Excavation progress along the Bay Street side of the U Condos site, where the 50-storey east tower will rise


Digging down:  Whenever I checked out excavation activity at the U Condominiums site back in the spring, it always seemed like the earth was moving at a snail’s pace. I thought it might take until the end of the year before the digging would reach anywhere near the 15-metre depth required for construction of the foundation for the project’s two condo towers, which will rise 45 and 50 storeys tall.  Excavation work appeared to be moving well along the east, south and west perimeters of the property, but a  vast amount of earth remained in the center and along the north perimeter.  Since June, however, the excavation has progressed at an amazing pace, and the big hole in the ground at Bay and St Mary Streets is now more than two levels deep across most of the property.

U Condos is a project by The Pemberton Group. Its two condo towers, along with 3-storey townhouses that will flank the north, east and south sides of the development, were designed by Peter Clewes of Toronto’s architectsAlliance.

Below are photos showing summer excavation progress at the U Condos location.  Earlier construction photos can be viewed in my blog posts on May 7 2011, April 2 2011, March 18 2011, and February 4 2011 — my first report on the U Condos project.

 

U Condos Toronto

June 21 2011: Looking southeast toward Bay Street from the U Condos construction entrance off  St Mary Street

 

U Condos Toronto

 June 21 2011:  Looking towards the eastern side of the site along Bay Street

 

U Condos Toronto

June 21 2011: A construction supervisor watches excavation activity about 20 feet below. Bay Street is on the other side of the hoarding behind him.

 

U Condos Toronto

 June 21 2011: The southeastern corner where the 50-storey condo tower will rise

 

U Condos Toronto

June 21 2011: Excavation on the south side of the site next to St Basil’s Church

 

U Condos Toronto

July 3 2011: Excavation progress at the location for the east condo tower

 

U Condos Toronto

July 3 2011: Excavation equipment and machines near the ramp off Bay Street

 

U Condos Toronto

July 3 2011: An excavator on the south side of the site near St Basil’s Church. A row of 3-storey townhouses will be built along that edge of the U Condos property.

 

U Condos Toronto

July 3 2011: The southwest corner of the U Condos property near Brennan Hall on the University of Toronto campus

 

U Condos Toronto

July 24 2011: A substantially wider and deeper area has been excavated at the southwest corner in the past three weeks

 

U Condos Toronto

July 24 2011: An excavator sits roughly where the east tower will be constructed

 

U Condos Toronto

July 24 2011:  Another view of the excavator from the St Mary Street entrance

 

U Condos Toronto

July 24 2011: Looking toward the southeast corner of the property from a security fence along St Mary Street

 

U Condos Toronto

August 6 2011: Significant excavation progress on the eastern third of the site

 

U Condos Toronto

August 6 2011: Looking toward St Basil’s Church across the center of the site

 

U Condos Toronto

August 6 2011: The 45-storey west tower will be built at this location

 

 

«»

 

Foundation work begins on north section of the One Bloor site

 

One Bloor condo tower Toronto

August 6 2011: Foundation drilling equipment on the One Bloor condo tower site

 

Drilling starts: One of Toronto’s biggest construction events took place in the middle of July when the groundbreaking ceremony was held for the much-awaited One Bloor condo tower at the southeast corner of the city’s premier Yonge & Bloor intersection. Drilling equipment had arrived on the site weeks earlier, but it wasn’t until July 15 that executive shovels turned soil to officially kick off construction of the 70-storey tower.

A project of Great Gulf Homes, One Bloor was designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects of Toronto.  My previous coverage of this condo project includes posts on July 15 2011, May 4 2011, and January 10 2011 — my first report on One Bloor.

Below are several recent photos of construction equipment on the One Bloor property. Numerous tower renderings and a full architectural description of the building can be viewed at this page on the Hariri Pontarini website.

 

One Bloor condo tower Toronto

 July 13 2011: Pedestrians walk on Yonge Street south of Bloor Street, passing foundation drilling machines on the One Bloor site

 

One Bloor condo tower Toronto

 July 13 2011: Yonge Street view of the One Bloor site, looking east toward the Xerox Tower at 33 Bloor Street East

 

One Bloor condo tower Toronto

July 13 2011: A man walks along the temporary subway station access path next to the north side of the One Bloor condo tower location

 

One Bloor condo tower Toronto

August 6 2011: Foundation building equipment on the One Bloor site

 

One Bloor condo tower Toronto

August 6 2011: A ground level view of the north half of the tower site

 

 

Classy curves rise above downtown U of T campus as 77 Charles West condo climbs past 10th floor

77 Charles Street West Toronto condo

July 3 2011: The gracefully curved southwest side of the 77 Charles condo midrise

 

77 Charles Street West Toronto condo

July 3 2011: Construction progress viewed from the site’s southwest “corner”

 

77 Charles Street West Toronto condo

June 21 2011: Two of the newly-constructed balconies on the southwest wall

 

77 Charles Street West Toronto condo

From the 77 Charles website, a rendering of the building’s elegantly curved southwest side. The architect is Yann Weymouth of HOK.

 

 

Curves above the campus: The 77 Charles luxury condo midrise is roughly two-thirds of the way to its final 16-storey height with construction of the 11th floor well underway. The north side of the building now holds a commanding presence at the foot of St Thomas Street and has been stealing attention from One St Thomas Residences, its 29-storey black and white limestone condo tower neighbour on the north side of Charles Street.

77 Charles would be turning even more heads if it were situated on a busier street with two-way traffic where passersby could get a better look at its unique design. What I think is the building’s most appealing architectural feature is its distinctive southwest side, featuring gracefully curved glass walls and balconies overlooking the leafy University of Toronto campus. But you actually must be on the campus to take a close look, and the road with the best vantage point — St Mary Street — is a cul-de-sac terminating just a few dozen metres to the southwest of 77 Charles at the university’s Burwash Hall. Since St Mary is not heavily-travelled as a result, it will be mainly university students and staff who will get to admire 77 Charles’s curves — and even then many might not notice, unless they glance up the driveway between Rowell Jackman Hall and Loretto College on the north side of St Mary. The curves are obvious from Charles Street, too, but since it’s a westbound one-way road, only eastbound pedestrians will see them.

Below are photos I’ve taken in recent months of construction progress at 77 Charles. Earlier construction photos can be viewed in my April 7 2011 post and my February 15 2011 post, which also includes detailed information about the condo building’s neighbourhood. A project of Aspen Ridge Homes, 77 Charles was designed by Yann Weymouth of HOK Architects.

 

77 Charles West Toronto condo

April 22 2011:  77 Charles rising at the south end of St Thomas Street

 

77 Charles West condo Toronto

April 22 2011: Construction viewed from Charles Street, looking southeast

 

77 Charles West Toronto condo

April 22 2011: The ground floor at 77 Charles. The first three floors will be the new home for Kintore College, a residence and cultural centre for female university students.

 

77 Charles Street West Toronto

June 21 2011: 77 Charles now totally dominates the view down St Thomas Street

 

77 Charles Street West Toronto luxury condo

June 21 2011: Some suites are still available — for prices starting at $1.2 million

 

77 Charles Street West Toronto condo

June 21 2011: Street-level view from the north side of Charles Street

 

77 Charles Street West Toronto luxury condo

June 21 2011: The curved southwest side as seen from St Mary Street, between U of T’s Rowell Jackman Hall (left) and Loretto College (right). The One St Thomas Residences condo tower rises to the northeast.

 

77 Charles Street West Toronto luxury condo

June 21 2011: St Mary Street view of the curves on 77 Charles

 

77 Charles Street West luxury condo

July 3 2011: Street-level view from the north side of Charles Street

 

77 Charles Street West luxury condo

July 3 2011: Looking up from the north side of Charles Street

 

77 Charles Street West condo

July 3 2011: The curved wall viewed from the northwest on Charles Street

 

77 Charles Street West condo midrise

July 3 2011: A closer view of the building’s angles, seen from the northwest

 

77 Charles Street West condo midrise

July 3 2011: Lower levels on the south side of 77 Charles, behind Loretto College

 

77 Charles West condo midrise

July 3 2011: Looking up from the southwest corner of the building

 

77 Charles West condo midrise

July 3 2011: South view of condo floors above the 3-storey Kintore College podium

 

77 Charles West condo midrise

July 3 2011: Looking up at the southwest side of the building

 

77 Charles West condo midrise

July 3 2011: Another view of construction from behind Loretto College

 

77 Charles West condo midrise viewed from the south

July 3 2011: Curved balconies and upper floors on the building’s southwest side

 

77 Charles West condo midrise viewed from the south

July 3 2011: The walls and balconies will be sheathed in glass

 

77 Charles West condo midrise viewed from the south

July 3 2011: Another south view of the curves on 77 Charles. The brown brick wall at right is the west side of Loretto College.