Tucked away at Camden and Brant in Toronto's Fashion District, construction of the mystery hotel at 51 Camden Street is progressing as rumours swirl about which hotelier will operate the 13-storey, Shim-Sutcliffe-designed boutique property. Developed by the team of Alterra Group of Companies, Zinc Developments, and Prowinko, the project has been under construction since late 2016, and recent progress is beginning to live up to the renderings released prior to construction.

Looking southeast to 51 Camden, image by Forum contributor ProjectEnd

We last checked in on the project roughly two months ago, when forming was in progress for levels 4 and 5. The repeating floor layouts have allowed for crews to develop a routine, resulting in a noticeable increase in forming speed. The project's height has almost doubled in the last two months, with eight levels formed and work now moving along for the 9th level.

Looking east to 51 Camden, image by Forum contributor ProjectEnd

Another visible change since our April update is the recent start of cladding installation. First spotted in May, the main exterior finish comes in the form of precast concrete panels with real embedded brick veneers.

Close-up of brick veneer-impregnated precast panel, image by UT Forum contributor Red Mars

The first of these panels now stretch as high as the third floor, with a series of vertical brick piers in place along the west facade, and additional panels visible along the north elevation. Here's a worked helping guide a panel into place earlier in June as the cladding work was starting. Note the clips which the panels are attached to.

A worker guides a brick panel into place, image by UT Forum contributor Red Mars

Inside, the unique board-formed concrete arches that hold the second and subsequent floors over the double-height restaurant and bar area have us pretty excited about how his space will look once the hotel opens next year!

The board-formed concrete arches of the hotel's restaurant and bar area, image by UT Forum contributor Red Mars

Once complete, the building will add 130 hotel rooms to the area.

51 Camden, image via submission to City of Toronto

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

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