It's been ten months since we last checked in on construction of Halo Residences, a 38-storey condominium tower on Yonge Street north of College in Downtown Toronto by Cresford Developments. In October 2018, our last update covered the relocation and ongoing heritage retention work of the clock tower of the 1871-built Fire Hall No.3, set to live on as part of the base of the new architectsAlliance-designed tower. In the months since, shoring and excavation have prepped the site for the next steps in construction.

Looking northeast across the site of Halo, image by Forum contributor Benito

With the clock tower relocated and a three-storey heritage facade at 480 Yonge Street braced in-situ for eventual integration into the podium, shoring work continued into early 2019. The start of excavation followed in February, and in the months since this task began, crews have dug to a depth of 13.5 metres. With the pit now bottomed out, work can begin on forming the site's underground components. 

Halo will have a five-level underground garage, expected to take another several months to form. Before concrete can rise back up to street level though, crews must first install a tower crane, and signs of preparatory work for the foundations and crane base are now evident at the north end of the pit.

Underground forming begins at north end of Halo site, image by Forum contributor Benito

Parking levels will gradually rise from these foundations, a task that will be limited by the constrained site, depth of the pit, and the rakers—the horizontal supports—that now cross the site: as the subway runs immediately to the east under Yonge Street, tiebacks were not able to be installed into the ground to support the shoring walls, and there rakers which provide support from the other excavation walls were needed to be installed. Their presence slows down the work to create the below ground levels. 

Halo Residences on Yonge, image courtesy of Cresford

The resulting garage is set to contain 117 parking spaces, with 80 spaces for residents, and 35 for the retail component, along with a pair of car-share spaces. Once these levels wrap up a few months down the road, the podium and tower will begin to rise above Yonge Street.

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 the associated Forum thread, or leave a comment in the field provided at the bottom of this page.

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