January 30 2012: The L Tower, seen here looking south from the NW of Yonge & Front Streets, has climbed 23 storeys on its way to 57
More photos and information follow on the next page.
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Rising in the east: Construction cranes and condo towers old & new dominate the southeast downtown skyline, seen here from the south building of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on January 6 2012. From left are: the green-windowed west tower of London on the Esplanade Condos, completed in 2010; The L Tower, a Daniel Libeskind-designed condo more than one-third of the way to its ultimate height of 57 floors; the 33-storey wedge-shaped condo tower at 25 The Esplanade, constructed 14 years ago; the 25-storey Market Wharf condo tower rising on Lower Jarvis Street; and, climbing skyward in the distance behind Market Wharf, the 40-storey Clear Spirit condo tower in the Distillery District. The yellow crane in the foreground is working on the $640 million Union Station Revitalization project.
June 20 2011: L Tower construction dominates the west end of The Esplanade as the condo tower rises past the 5th floor on its way to 57 storeys
November 9 2010: Last fall, supply trucks had a bigger presence on The Esplanade than did construction of the L Tower condo tower itself
High Five: It doesn’t take long for new building construction to make a major impact on the look and feel of a downtown street, as the L Tower condominium highrise demonstrates. Just five months ago, anyone heading west on The Esplanade, near Scott Street, could see only a tall white construction crane, hoarding and supply trucks as they approached the building site. They had to get within less than half a block of Yonge Street before they could see any signs of the base being built for the 57-storey condo tower. It’s a completely different story now that L Tower is five floors high — and counting. The construction is visible from much farther east on the Esplanade, and L Tower already dominates the western end of the road at Yonge Street. It won’t be much longer before L Tower climbs above the Sony Centre next door and begins asserting its presence on the city skyline, too. Designed by New York-based Daniel Libeskind, L Tower is a project of Fernbrook Homes, Cityzen Real Estate Group and Castlepoint Realty Partners. Below is a series of photos comparing construction progress since February, followed by several more photos taken today. Further information about the condo project, along with pics I took during earlier stages of construction, is available in my March 8 2011 post.
February 3 2011: Construction of the tower base begins rising above the street …
March 7 2011: Construction has reached the second level …
April 21 2011: L Tower has almost blocked sight of the federal government building on the west side of Yonge Street …
June 20 2011: The federal building is now barely visible from The Esplanade
March 7 2011: Construction inches above the hoarding along Yonge Street …
April 21 2011: In just six weeks, the condo tower construction now commands attention from Yonge Street
March 7 2011: The Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, next door to L Tower, is visible through this entry gate at the corner of Yonge & The Esplanade …
June 20 2011: The Sony Centre is now barely visible behind the L Tower
March 7 2011: Skyscrapers in the Financial District are visible to the north of the L Tower site in this view from The Esplanade …
April 21 2011: L Tower is gradually blocking the skyscrapers from view …
June 20 2011: Only the top floors of the BCE Place towers remain visible from The Esplanade — and will soon be blocked as L Tower climbs higher
June 20 2011: Looking northeast from Yonge Street at L Tower’s progress
June 20 2011: Distinctive angles accent the tower’s southwest corner
June 20 2011: L Tower will soon overtake the Sony Centre in height
June 20 2011: L Tower begins climbing into view from the south; this photo was taken on the north side of Lake Shore Blvd. near Bay Street
Construction crews at the south end of the L Tower site on March 7 2011
Construction is now higher than the hoarding along Yonge St.
Rebar pokes above hoarding along the tower’s Yonge Street perimeter
Raising L: For the past three years, hoarding has hidden most of the construction progress for the 57-storey L Tower condominium going up on Yonge Street, between Front Street and The Esplanade. But now that construction is climbing higher than the hoarding, passersby are finally getting a glimpse of the controversial Daniel Libeskind-designed skyscraper. The big question now is: will people like it? When the condo tower project was announced in 2005, its original L-shaped boot-shaped design drew considerable criticism and downright blunt derision. The funky-looking “foot” and “heel,” actually an eight-storey podium, was originally intended to be a $75 million cultural facility dedicated to arts and heritage awareness. Since the podium “toe” would have extended over the roof of the city-owned Sony Centre for the Performing Arts next door, some people thought the image of a “boot” stomping on the Sony Centre looked ridiculous. However, as architecture writer John Bentley Mays explained in an Oct. 29 2009 column in The Globe and Mail, that project hit the skids when the federal and provincial governments refused funding, and no corporate sponsors could be found to step in and foot the bill. With the cultural centre axed, the much-maligned podium was chopped from the design and the resulting tower, to use John Bentley Mays’ words, “is half a Libeskind, a shaft without a strong base.”
(I always thought the boot would have been an excellent site for a Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the famous neon signs saved from the long-defunct Sam the Record store at Yonge and Gould Streets. Some of you might recall that, around the time the L-Tower was unveiled, plans were announced to build a Canadian Music Hall of Fame in the Metropolis entertainment complex being built opposite Yonge-Dundas Square. Those plans ultimately got derailed, while Metropolis itself encountered turbulence in its efforts to obtain construction financing. The complex did eventually get built, and was officially called Toronto Life Square after the owners of the local magazine with the same title purchased naming rights. But Toronto Life ended its affiliation with the building several years ago and the complex, which is home to AMC cinemas, restaurants and retail stores, is now known simply as 10 Dundas East.)
But the L Tower’s problems continued beyond the cancellation of the podium museum project. Funds from the condo tower development were going to be used to revitalize the 50-year-old Sony Centre (originally called the O’Keefe Centre, and more recently the Hummingbird Centre.) The Sony Centre’s desperately-needed interior upgrades were supposed to begin in 2007; however, the renovation work got pushed to the fall of 2009. Part of the delay was due to difficulties in arranging financing during the global recession, while it also took time for the developer to resolve various outstanding issues with the city. In an Oct. 21 2009 story in the National Post, former Toronto Mayor David Miller is quoted as saying: “You’re building a very significant new condominium building above a heritage building. That’s complicated, the financing is complicated and the neighbourhood consultation was complicated… There were 27 public meetings.”
Construction eventually did commence on a revised tower design. As described by John Barber in an Oct. 3 2008 column in The Globe and Mail, “the revised plan…shows a plain, generous plaza on the [Sony] Centre’s Yonge Street frontage, where the boot was meant to come down. The handsome limestone cladding of the centre’s western elevation remains largely unmolested, as does it roof.” But while the Sony Centre lost a new cultural attraction, the condo tower gained a great new place for some of its facilities. “Such amenities as an indoor pool, fitness facilities, spa and a party room were moved above ground from basement level. The development also includes a landscaped outdoor plaza running north to Front St. that will be open to the public,” Paula Kulig wrote in a Nov. 7 2009 article in the Toronto Star.
Below are renderings of the L Tower’s original and revised designs, along with photos I’ve taken at the condo construction site over the past three years.
A rendering of the much-criticized original “boot” design for L Tower, left, compares with a rendering of the revised footless condo building, right
September 3 2008: Original development proposal sign for the L Tower condo tower, seen here outside the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts
September 3 2008: L Tower billboards on hoarding outside Sony Centre
The building under construction behind the Sony Centre is the London on the Esplanade condo complex, another project by the same developer as L Tower.
Sept 22 2008: CN Tower view of the L Tower site (circled)
April 25 2009: Original L Tower design rendering on a billboard on the hoarding along the Yonge Street side of the construction site
November 8 2009: L Tower condo tower marketing sign, featuring the revised building design, propped on a sidewalk on The Esplanade
March 9 2010: Demolition and early excavation work at the L Tower site
March 9 2010: Excavator digging at the south end of the site near The Esplanade
March 9 2010: North view of demolition and excavation activity
March 9 2010: Hoarding along the Yonge Street sidewalk next to the L Tower construction site; note that exterior work has finished on the nearby London on the Esplanade condo building behind the Sony Centre
November 2 2010: CN Tower view of cranes at the L Tower construction site
November 2 2010: Another CN Tower view of the L Tower construction site
November 9 2010: L Tower construction site viewed from The Esplanade
November 9 2010: L Tower foundation building progress viewed from Yonge St.
January 3 2011: L Tower construction site viewed from The Esplanade
January 3 2011: Above-grade construction viewed from Yonge St.
January 3 2011: Rebar for wall forms extend one storey above street level
January 3 2011: Foundation construction forms viewed from Yonge St.
February 3 2011: Floor building forms for L Tower construction are stored on the future Esplanade location of the Backstage condo tower
February 3 2011: A crane hoists an L Tower building form into the air
February 3 2011: Construction progress viewed from The Esplanade
February 3 2011: Building forms for L Tower’s street level along Yonge Street
February 3 2011: Street-level construction viewed from Yonge Street
March 7 2011: Yonge Street view of construction crews on the L Tower site
March 7 2011: Building forms viewed from the west side of Yonge Street
March 7 2011: L Tower construction viewed from the west side of Yonge Street
March 7 2011: Two tall cranes are being used to build the 57-storey condo tower
March 7 2011: Workers and the crane at the south end of the construction site
March 7 2011: The construction is most visible at the south end of the site
March 7 2011: Workers put metal bars in place for construction of the next level
March 7 2011: Northeast view of the site from the nearby GO bus terminal
March 7 2011: Construction viewed through the southwest truck entrance
March 7 2011: Construction viewed from the south side of The Esplanade
Once it reaches its full 57-floor height, L Tower will block most of this view, from The Esplanade, of these Financial District skyscrapers
March 7 2011 view north, from The Esplanade, of the L Tower construction site
March 7 2011: First level of above-grade construction viewed from The Esplanade
Rendering of the proposed Backstage on the Esplanade condo tower; real estate brokers packed a sales office this week for a sneak peek at the project
Condo boom losing steam? The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) says housing starts in Canada dropped 13% in December, dragged down by a 45% drop in condo construction in Ontario. According to CMHC, multiple-unit starts (mainly condos) averaged 91,000 in 2010, but dipped to 85,000 in December. Some experts predict the numbers will fall even lower — to 75,000, which is the average historical level. Does this mean Toronto’s red-hot condo boom is on the verge of a slump? Not necessarily.
According to a story in The Globe and Mail today, “Toronto builders expect to launch 35 new projects in the first two quarters of the year, with as many as 17,000 new units expected to hit the market in 2011.” Last year, the second-best ever, saw 19,000 new units sold. And real estate agents are optimistic the high demand for condos will continue.
Earlier this week, the Globe pointed out, realtors packed the Backstage on the Esplanade sales office for a sneak peek at the project. Backstage is a 36-storey tower proposed for a narrow wedge of land nestled between the railway tracks to the south, Yonge Street to the west, and The Esplanade to the north. It will sit behind the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts and the Daniel Libeskin-designed L Tower, which is currently under construction at the northeast corner of Yonge and The Esplanade.
The site looks impossibly tiny for a condo tower when viewed both from street level and above, but developers have been plans to make it work.
Below are some photos of the Backstage location, its sales office, and its original development proposal signage on The Esplanade.
Backstage condo tower location viewed from CN Tower
Another CN Towerview of the site proposed for the Backstage tower
November 9 2010 view of Backstage Condos site on The Esplanade
Proposed Backstage condo tower site viewed from The Esplanade
Marketing banner on Yonge Street railway underpass adjacent to Backstage site
Backstage sales office one block east of the tower site
The project’s original development proposal sign on The Esplanade