Bazis and Plaza are gearing up for construction of their new condominium tower named after its address of 1 Yorkville. Designed by architect Roy Varacalli to soar to over 600 feet into the air near Toronto's busiest subway interchange, the 58 storey tower will rise behind a row of heritage storefronts along Yonge Street two blocks north of Bloor.

The back of the storefronts mid-demolition, image by UT Forum contributor The Charioteer

From Yonge Street, anyone walking by will know that "something is up" on the site because of empty storefronts and boarded up windows, but it has been the back side of the site where most of the action has been taking place.

The back of the storefronts post-demolition, image courtesy of Bazis Inc.

Over the past several months, preparation for construction by TMG Builders has included stabilizing the delicate heritage building fronts in preparation for some heavy construction immediately behind them. Now, demolition of their back rooms has been completed, with shoring followed by excavation of the foundation pit to begin shortly.

The back of the storefronts post-demolition, image courtesy of Bazis Inc.

Here's what the Yonge Street frontage looked like a couple months ago; rather ghost-townish in fact…

The boarded-up storefronts, image by UT Forum contributor stjames2queenwest

…while here's what the plan calls for once the tower is complete…

1 Yorkville, image courtesy of Bazis Inc.

…and the heritage storefronts have been restored by ERA Architects and their contractors:

1 Yorkville restored heritage storefronts, image courtesy of Bazis Inc.

Want to know more about the building? Info and more renderings can be found in our dataBase file, linked below. You can get in on the discussion in our associated Forum thread, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page. Earlier stories describing the building in greater detail can be found linked further down this page.