Bay Street is synonymous with finance in Toronto, and Bay Street is often used as a metonym for our financial core in the same way that Wall Street is associated with US finance. North of the downtown core however, Bay Street takes on a different form, largely populated by high-rise condominium developments like Lanterra Developments and Dov Capital Corporation's Burano, a 48-storey architectsAlliance-designed condominium tower on the west side of Bay Street, just north of College. It was completed in 2012, but back in 2007, construction on the new development had yet to begin, and the two-storey heritage McLaughlin Motor Car Showroom located on site was still standing in one piece (most recently known as Addison on Bay), with a small surface parking lot located to the immediate north.

Burano site as seen before construction, in April 2007, image by Edward Skira

Fast forward to 2015, and from several steps back we can see that construction of the new development has long since been completed. The preserved facade of the former car dealership has been incorporated into the development, while a trapezoidal jewel-box structure stands on the site of the former surface parking lot, housing a soon to open restaurant called Via Vai (Italian for "coming and going") which will boast a large installation by artist Sandro Martini called Glass Memory. To the west, there's a new Women's College Hospital, and in the distance to the south, Lumière condos now dominates that stretch of Bay Street.

Burano site post-construction, in 2015, image by James Laphon

We will return next week with another look at the changing face of Toronto!