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Tucked away from the busy streets of Toronto's Fashion District, a corridor of street art made famous by Rick Mercer's alley-roaming rants is the site of a new condominium development. Rush Lane, aka Graffiti Alley, will get a new-build section of laneway-fronting canvas with the aptly named Rush Condos, a 15-storey, BDP Quadrangle-designed building now rising at the intersection of Richmond and Augusta. The fast-rising project from the Alterra Group is replacing the former single-storey Stephenson's Rent-All location with new residential density, along with its lost section of Rush Lane's unofficial brick canvas.
We last checked in on Rush Condos three months ago, approximately one year into its construction, when work had surpassed the milestone of having reached grade and the start of forming of the ground floor. Over the twelve weeks since, the speed of construction has been dialed up significantly; the building's seven-storey base volume rapidly forming as the fifth and sixth levels are now taking shape. Above the seventh floor, the massing steps back for the eight tower floors that will rise above.
With the upcoming switch from podium to tower floors, the reduced floor-plate size should allow an even faster ascent for the building's upper half. Already rising at an impressive pace, Rush Condos should reach its final height of 52.42 metres in the spring.
Along with 125 condominium units bringing ever more vitality to the neighbourhood, Rush Condos will contribute to the cultural destination it is named for with replacement space for street art along its north and west podium walls. While property owners are typically required to pay for the removal of unlicensed street art, Rush Condos will be covered under Rush Lane's exemption from municipal unlicensed street art laws through the City's 2011-adopted Graffiti Management Plan, which designated Rush Lane as an area of municipal significance. This ultimately led to the City's formation of "StART", a now well-established street art program promoting similar art across the city.
You can learn more from our Database file for the project, linked below. If you'd like to, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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| Related Companies: | Alterra Group of Companies, BDP Quadrangle, Jablonsky, Ast and Partners, McIntosh Perry, Modulex Group, Norris Fire Consulting Inc, U31, UCEL Inc. |
