In recent years, Bay Street north of Toronto City Hall had more than its share of surface parking lots and under-utilized properties. Our seemingly un-ending building boom has been changing all that though, and now Bay has become the street address for thousands of downtown dwellers. More high-rise homes are on the way, and Cresford Developments' 1Thousand Bay is now growing skyward at the intersection with St. Joseph Street. Now standing 25 storeys tall, the architectsAlliance-designed condominium development is three quarters of the way towards a final height of 32 floors plus mechanical penthouse.

1Thousand Bay viewed from the north on Bay Street, image by Camil Rosiak

While the building's reflective gazing has now been installed as high as the 14th storey—sealing off just under half of the tower from the elements—the defining characteristic of this building will be its shifting balcony plates. While you can already make them out, they don't yet jump the way they will once their railings and glazing have been installed. That process has already started, as can be seen at left in the photo below, on the more traditionally stacked south half of the building. Once the balconies are complete on the north half, the effect will be quite dramatic.

Cladding on the building's Bay Street frontage, with balcony glazing and railings visible, image by Camil Rosiak

Standing on the former site of a seven-storey office building, a two-storey restaurant space, and a surface parking lot, the new condominium tower will add 478 residential units to the meeting point between the Bay-Cloverhill neighbourhood and the University of Toronto, on a stretch of Bay Street seeing a large increase in residential density.

1Thousand Bay viewed from the north on Bay Street, image by Camil Rosiak

The completed development will offer residents a selection of lifestyle amenities including an outdoor pool, a fitness centre, an indoor/outdoor yoga studio, and a movie screening room. Residents will also enjoy a landscaped rooftop garden and barbecue deck, a party room, and two guest suites.

Base of 1Thousand Bay viewed from the west on St. Joseph, image by Camil Rosiak

Additional information and renderings can be found in our dataBase file for the project, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum threads, or leave a comment using the space provided at the bottom of this page.