The excavation for Plaza's 50 at Wellesley Station is progressing in Toronto's Church and Wellesley Village. With digging of the pit now practically complete at the south end of the site, the 37-storey Quadrangle Architects-designed condominium tower is now one step closer to the installation of a tower crane and the subsequent start of structural forming.

Site of 50 at Wellesley Station viewed from Wellesley Street, image by Stefan Novakovic

The site sits mid-block between Church and Yonge Streets, stretching from Wellesley Street in the south to Dundonald Street to the north. The Wellesley side of the excavation has recently reached its final depth of three storeys, while the Dundonald side of the pit is currently being used as the dirt ramp to give construction vehicles to access the pit.

Site of 50 at Wellesley Station viewed from Dundonald Street, image by Stefan Novakovic

50 at Wellesley Station's below grade structure will support a 3-level underground parking garage containing 163 spaces. 117 of these spaces will be reserved for residents of the development, while the remaining 46 parking spaces on the P1 level will be designated as a new public pay parking lot for the Toronto Parking Authority.

Excavation at 50 at Wellesley Station, image by Stefan Novakovic

The image above shows the the west area of the pit where Cresford's Vox Condominiums will be built. Vox is a 33-storey condominium development that was excavated simultaneously with 50 at Wellesley Station. It is a bit further along, with the installation of its tower crane earlier this month (seen below). The forming of its foundation slab is now being done.

The complex nature of having side-by-side construction sites necessitates plenty of coordination between the two: while they each benefit from not having to shore a fourth wall, they must work together to minimize equipment conflicts at the tight mid-block site. 50 at Wellesley Station's tower crane will be installed at a different height than the recently-installed Vox crane, for example, though crane movements at either site will have to take the other crane's location under consideration.

50 at Wellesley Station pit with the Vox crane visible on the right, image by Stefan Novakovic

We will be back to watch the process here! In the meantime, additional information about "50" including renderings and several floor plans can be found in the project's dataBase file, linked below. Want to get involved in the conversation? Check out the associated Forum threads, or join in the discussion by leaving a comment in the space provided at the bottom of this page.