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The area east of Wilson subway station in Toronto is being built out with a growing number of medium-density residential developments, including three from developer Collecdev. While one building is a purpose-built rental not yet being marketed, two of these projects—Nordic Condos and Tretti Condos—are each at different stages of construction. The more recent in this pair of gh3-designed developments to get underway is Nordic Condos, where construction has been active since mid-2020, when demolition began on a shuttered four-storey commercial building at 530 Wilson Avenue and a pair of four-storey rental apartment buildings at 470 and 490 Wilson. Most recently, the project crossed an important milestone with its first crane having been installed earlier this week.
Demolition and drilling for the site's geothermal energy system—which we covered in-depth in a previous article—continued until the end of 2020, freeing up the site for shoring work earlier this year, and the subsequent start of excavation in February. Moving from east to west, excavation proceeded to a depth of 9.9 metres to create space for the building's foundations and garage levels. With the pit bottomed out at its east end, the stage was set for the next step in construction, with the installation of the project's first tower crane.
Installation of the crane was first spotted this past Monday, and by midday Tuesday, the crane was fully in place, standing tall over the site's east end.
Meanwhile, excavation continues to catch up at the site's west end, where crews continue to dig away and are roughly halfway to the bottom. This area of the site is also home to a geothermal drilling rig, continuing work on the complex's geothermal system.
The next steps will involve the installation of more tower cranes, while the forming for foundations and garage levels can begin at the east end. After forming reaches back grade, Nordic can begin its rise to a height of just over 41 metres, eventually bringing 429 condominium and rental replacement units to the site across all the phases.
As the early phases progress for Nordic, the other Collecdev projects are progressing a short distance to the southwest on Tippett Road. To the south of their complete Tippett Park Phase 1 rental building managed by Shiplake, the 14-storey second phase rental building is now rising into the air on the west side of the site, while the construction closer to the camera below is Tretti Condos, now a couple storeys above ground, but heading for 13 when complete. This residential complex started its four-level underground garage's forming process roughly one year ago.
With forming moving along quickly, the complex's unique massing variations are now apparent, including a flatiron-form of the Tippett Park 2 rental building seen in the image below.
Cladding installation is beginning to enclose the exteriors, and will further define the complex as additional finishes like balcony guards are installed in the near future. A view of the Tippett Park Phase 2 building below shows alternating black and grey cladding beginning to reveal the complex's exterior design details.
You can learn more from our Database files for the projects, linked below. If you'd like to, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum threads, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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