Yesterday's groundbreaking ceremony for the Pan Am Village marks the start of construction for a whole new neighbourhood for Toronto, one which will be the product of many companies' and agencies' work. While the day's events wrapped up with the photo-op below, it's the best place to start as it brings many of the players into one place. Below are Jason Lester, Wayne Carson, Kenneth Tanenbaum, and Larry Tanenbaum, all of Dundee Kilmer Developments Ltd., Ann Sado, President of George Brown College, Gordon Chong, Chair of Board of the YMCA of Greater Toronto, John Campbell, President and CEO of Waterfront Toronto, Ian Troop, CEO of Pan Am Toronto 2015, Bal Gosal, Federal Minister of State for Sport, Dakota Whyte, Athlete on Canada's National Women's Basketball Team, Charles Sousa, Minister responsible for the Pan/Parapan American Games, Mark Grimes, Toronto City Councillor Ward 6 and Chair of the mayor's Pan Am sectretariat, Roger Garland, Chair of Pan Am Toronto 2015, Adam Feldman of architectsAlliance, and Pam McConnell, Toronto City Councillor Ward 28.

Groundbreaking ceremony for the PanAm Village in the West Don Lands, image by Craig White 2012.01.12

That's quite the list. Dundee Kilmer, a joint venture of Dundee Realty Corporation and Kilmer Van Nostrand Co. Limited, are the developers who won the right to design, build, and finance the construction of the site. They have a fixed-price contract valued at $514 million with the Province of Ontario after winning a competitive procurement bid. Amongst the agencies represented above, George Brown College will be building their first student residence which will be used for accomodations during the Games, and the YMCA will be building an 82,000 square foot recreation centre to be used as a fitness centre during the Games.

The day began with several speakers addressing a packed theatre at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts in the Distillery District, a building which also serves as the home of George Brown College's Theatre School.

Councillor Mark Grimes at the PanAm Village launch, image by Craig White 2012.01.12

Hosted by Canadian Archery Athlete Crispin Duenas and Ontario Minister of Citizen and Immigration Charles Sousa, the two are caught during the speech given by Toronto City Councillor Mark Grimes, the most animated of the moment of the morning as he fondly recalled events at the recent Pan Am Games in Guadalajara. Grimes is the City's lead politico for the Games.

At front and centre of the auditorium was a scale model of the village site. Associate Adam Feldman of architectsAlliance spoke of the collaboration of his firm and KPMB, leading a group that includes MJMA Architects of Toronto, Daoust Lestage of Montreal, and TEN Arquitectos of New York and Mexico. While we are still waiting for word of which architects are repsonsible for which buildings, we have what for UrbanToronto readers are what's most important about this announcement: images of how this new neighbourhood will look in 2015.

Looking south across the PanAm Village Model, image by Craig White 2012.01.12

So let's get a good look at the model. Below, we look east over the end of Front Street with Don River Park in the background. Market priced condos and affordable rentals line two sides of the street. We know in some cases which buildings are which, but not in all cases yet.

Looking east across the PanAm Village Model, image by Craig White 2012.01.12

At the bottom left of the image above is the George Brown College/YMCA complex. What is seen in the model above, can be translated with a shift of the viewpoint to the south, to the rendering below.

Looking eastwards across the PanAm Village, image courtesy of Waterfront Toronto

Below is a view from a similar but lower perspective. The tall tower in the background is UrbanCapital's River City Phase III.

Looking northeast across the PanAm Village Model, image by Craig White 2012.01.12

We turn more to the south. Below, following phase buildings can be seen in frosted acrylic at the bottom of the image. 

Looking northeast across the PanAm Village Model, image by Craig White 2012.01.12

Looking northeast across the PanAm Village Model, image by Craig White 2012.01.12

Below, we close in for additional detail.

Looking north across the PanAm Village Model, image by Craig White 2012.01.12

Below, we look more to the northeast. The terraced cased-diamond shape of one of the market-priced condo buildings becomes more apparent. We'll get a better look at that later.

Below, a northwest view. Some of the affordable rental buildings appear just to the east of the George Brown College residence.

Looking northwest across the PanAm Village Model, image by Craig White 2012.01.12

Back out for a more overall view, and a better idea of how Don River Park and the buildings fronting it fit in to the scheme.

Now, back down towards ground level to better consider the buildings by the new park.

Looking north across the PanAm Village Model, image by Craig White 2012.01.12

These blocks promise to be a very interesting addition to the city.

Are you making guesses as to who has designed what?

Looking northeast across the PanAm Village Model, image by Craig White 2012.01.12

Here's a look west along Front to Downtown, with the most detailed image we have of the terraced building on the left. This building is set to be a landmark.

Looking west towards Downtown Toronto with the condo tower in the left foreground, image courtesy of Waterfront Toronto

We will get more details for you of course! In the meantime, if you have not already seen them, we have many more renderings waiting for you on our dataBase page for the project, linked below. If you want to get in on the discussion, the associated Projects and Construction Forum thread link below should be your next click!