One of two cranes at Tridel's Front Street condo, Rêve, has come down as the shorter north portion of the stepped building has been topped off. Meanwhile, the 14-storey south end continues to grow in Toronto's Victoria Memorial Park area west of Downtown. The Wallman Architects-designed building was originally to be a hotel - or specifically two conjoined Starwood hotels - the first Element and aloft branded hotels in the city.

The hotels were caught in the downturn however, so Tridel stepped in and bought the project which had only risen as far as ground level. A redesign turned the hotels into a condominium, and with brisk sales the project was able to restart quickly. UrbanToronto member Jasonzed captured these shots of the dismantling and removal of the north crane.

Construction progress on Reve Condos, image by jasonzed

Reve Condos, looking towards the downtown core, image by jasonzed

Construction progress on Reve Condos, image by jasonzed

Rêve's design is marked by staggered, cantilevered balconies, and terra cotta-coloured frames accenting the stepped building's volumes. Rêve, day and night, below:

Day and night renderings for Reve Condos

Scale model of Reve Condos

Scale model of Reve Condos

While the renderings and model shots above show silver-gray spandrel panels and mullions, final design decisions have created more drama by using charcoal colouring on the exterior. UrbanToronto member TridelWebmaster provided the model shots abpve, and the shots of recent construction below.

Application of windows and cladding, image by jasonzed

Balconies taking form on Reve, image by jasonzed

You can follow Rêve's progress on Tridel's webcam:

Screenshot from Reve's construction webcam

Jasonzed put Rêve into context with this shot.

Panoramic view of Reve and surrounding context, image by jasonzed