Even if it only looks like destruction so far, construction has begun on the East Tower at Brookfield Properties' Bay Adelaide Centre in Downtown Toronto. The sleek glass tower, designed by KPMB Architects and Adamson Associates Architects, marks the second phase for the state-of-the-art office development. Space is being made on the site to accommodate the construction of the 44-storey, 980,000 square foot building, and so far an aging three-storey commercial building plus a recently built restauraunt have been demolished. The Adelaide entrance to the operating parking facility below has been closed so that it can be rebuilt to fit into the new tower.

Construction begins on Bay Adelaide East, image by BayStBoi

In the image above a shovel digs into the first basement level underneath of where the South of Temperance restaurant briefly operated, while in the image below we can see a gap in the Adelaide streetwall where an unremarkable three-storey commercial building has come down to make way for the new tower. More of what is below will also be coming down: the postmodern commercial building on Yonge with the band of lights on will disappear completely, while the four-storey heritage structure to its left will be disassembled, and then reconstructed facing the Dineen building at Yonge and Temperance, leaving that corner bookended with restored heritage buildings. 

Here we can see the demolition of the commercial building next to the parking entrance making way for Bay Adelaide East, image by raptor

The construction is exciting news for professional services firm Deloitte, which Brookfield recently announced as the anchor tennant for the cutting edge facility. The tower will be connected to the underground PATH system and is being designed to achieve LEED Gold Certification. When complete in late 2015/early 2016, the Bay Adelaide East Tower will change the dynamic of the Yonge Adelaide intersection. 

A detailed view of the Bay Adelaide Centre plan

In addition to the Bay Adelaide Centre East and West, a third planned phase of the development, Bay Adelaide North, can accommodate additional new space of approximately 500,000 square feet. While in the plan above the North Tower is labeled as hotel and residential, owing to the strength in the commercial market, current plans are to build it as office space.

Bay Adelaide Centre

To learn more about the development, links to both our UrbanToronto dataBase entry and Forum thread can be found below.