Toronto's Entertainment District has been the site of explosive growth over the past decade, fueled by the housing market's unquenchable thirst for new homes in the core of the city. Ten years ago, the condominium boom was still in its infancy, and new construction had yet to transform the Entertainment District into a high-density community. Back on August 8, 2005, a crane had been installed at the Front and Blue Jays Way site of Tridel's Element Condos, well before the high-rise skyline of the Entertainment District took shape.

Looking northeast from Front Street between Spadina and Blue Jays Way, August 8 2005, image by Edward Skira

Fast forward to April 30, 2015, and the view would be almost unrecognizable if not for a few key landmarks. Element Condos has long since been completed, and is now eclipsed by Empire Communities' Fly Condos to the west. Several new additions have formed an impressive skyline to the north, including King Charlotte, M5V, Peter Street Condos, Picasso, Cinema Tower, Pinnacle on Adelaide, and the Festival Tower. Further east on Front Street, Tridel's 300 Front Street West frames the right hand side of the image.

Looking northeast from Front Street between Spadina and Blue Jays Way, April 30 2015, image by Jack Landau

The large parking lot on the north side of Front Street, shown in the image above, will eventually be filled in by 400 Front, an ambitious four-tower plan from the State Building Group and designed by architectsAlliance.

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

Related Companies:  architects—Alliance, Bousfields, CCxA, Cecconi Simone, Cohen & Master Tree and Shrub Services Ltd, Core Architects, EQ Building Performance Inc., Flynn Group of Companies, Gradient Wind Engineers & Scientists, Graziani + Corazza Architects, Hariri Pontarini Architects, HGC Engineering Inc, II BY IV DESIGN, Isotherm Engineering Ltd., Jablonsky, Ast and Partners, Janet Rosenberg & Studio, LEA Consulting, Mattamy Homes, Milborne Group, NAK Design Strategies, NEEZO Studios, Peter McCann Architectural Models Inc., Skyscapes, TAS, The Fence People, Tridel, TUCKER HIRISE Construction, U31