On November 20, UrbanToronto toured the Lifetime and CentreCourt's 54-storey INDX Condos, a residential development which is bringing a new residential presence to Toronto's Financial District. Rising over Nathan Phillips Square to the north and First Canadian Place to the south, INDX Condos has now risen to nearly its final height in the city's core with a topping-off ceremony planned for Friday, November 27th. 

INDX under construction, viewed from Nathan Phillips Square, image by Jack Landau

Ahead of next Friday's topping-off ceremony—which we will cover with a comprehensive tour of the Page + Steele / IBI Group-designed building's interiors and amenity spaces—we bring you an early look at the views from the tower's top floors, which offer panoramic views of the city from all sides, including an unobstructed vista of Nathan Phillips Square from the building's north side.

While cladding has now been installed along much of the tower, with many of the lower levels now seeing suite interiors near completion, INDX's upper floors remain in a relatively raw state, with the lack of cladding making the surrounding skyscrapers feel even closer, underlining the tower's location in the heart of the city.

Looking north from the 53rd floor of INDX Condos, image by Jack Landau

Looking north (above), a view of Toronto's growing cluster of high-rises meets the eye, framing nearby Nathan Phillips Square with an impressive urban panorama. Along Yonge Street, Canderel's Graziani + Corazza-designed Aura and the under-construction One Bloor East draw the eye up Toronto's central artery.

The south face of One Bloor, image by Jack Landau

The towers—which are two of the tallest residential projects in Canada—are easily identifiable focal points in the increasingly crowded northern skyline, with the elevated view also allowing for a comprehensive look at exterior construction progress on Great Gulf's Hariri Pontarini-designed One Bloor (above).

Closing in on Casa II to the northeast, image by Jack Landau

Pivoting a bit to the right, Cresford's architectsAlliance-designed Casa II—located slightly southeast of Yonge and Bloor on Charles Street—is now also beginning to make a significant impact on an area skyline strongly characterized by very recent construction (above) as it pops up behind Aura in this view.

The Bay Adelaide Centre is prominently visible to the east, image by Jack Landau

To the east, Brookfield's nearby Bay Adelaide Centre (WZMH ArchitectsKPMB ArchitectsAdamson Associates ArchitectsERA Architects) dominates the immediate visual context (above), with Downtown skyscrapers gradually giving way to the east end's late Autumn foliage. Lake Ontario is visible peaking through at the top right of the image, with some of the tower's east-facing suites privileged with a valuable glimpse of the water.

The southern view, image by Jack Landau

Looking south, Lake Ontario shines through behind the the Financial District's tall skyscrapers—soon to include Oxford's under-construction EY Tower (designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and WZMH) just across the street, a corner of which can be seen rising on the bottom right-hand corner of the image above—on the bright, sunny morning of our tour. Canada's tallest building, First Canadian Place, stands as INDX's southern neighbour, framed by Mies van der Rohe's TD Centre in the background. On the left hand side of the image, the Daniel Libeskind and Page + Steele / IBI Group-designed L-Tower (developed by CityzenFernbrook, and Castlepoint Numa ) can be seen nearing exterior completion.

The Shangri-La hotel stands as the tallest building to the immediate west, image by Jack Landau

Finally, to the west, Westbank's Living Shangri-La (designed by Hariri Pontarini and James Cheng) stands as the tallest skyscraper in our vista (above). A wealth of under-construction projects, including Monarch and Goldman's strikingly designed Picasso (Teeple Architects),  Aspen Ridge's Quadrangle-designed Studio and Studio2 (close-up below), and Lamb, Niche, and Harhay's aA-designed Theatre Park form more recent additions to the skyline. Beyond the Downtown, the panorama extends to the west-end's residential areas, while a further cluster of high-rises is visible along the lakeshore. 

A look at construction progress on Studio2, image by Jack Landau

Lifetime and Ink's Wallman-designed Bisha Hotel and Residences—which will be 44 storeys tall—is now also beginning to impact the area skyline (below).

Bisha beginning to assert its presence west of Theatre Park, image by Jack Landau

We will return soon with coverage of INDX's topping-off ceremony, which will include photos from our tour of the building's interiors. In the meantime, visit our INDX Condos dataBase file for a comprehensive collection of building facts and renderings, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum threads, or leave a comment in the space provided at the bottom of this page.

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