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Downtown Toronto biggest office tower boom in decades continues despite the COVID-19 pandemic as various projects advance, expanding the limits of the Financial District outwards. On the western front of this expansion, developer Cadillac Fairview is bringing a significant boost in office space to the intersection of Front and Simcoe streets with their 160 Front Street West office tower for anchor tenant TD. Under construction for approximately two years now, the project designed by AS+GG Architecture of Chicago working with Toronto-based B+H Architects will rise 46 storeys into the skyline with a curvilinear massing and textured exterior.
The project's early stages included the demolition of a heritage building along Front Street, other than for the structural bracing of its south wall which will be reintegrated into the new building's base. This followed by shoring, excavation, then forming of the below-grade levels. The first above-grade progress was on the pair of concrete elevator cores, one for the tower, one for the podium, before construction was halted to comply with the December 26, 2020-issued province-wide shutdown. Select construction sites have since restarted, including this one, resulting in noticeable progress on the cores, as well as the recent start of installation for the tower's structural steel skeleton.
We last checked in on construction in early April when a series of canted double-height columns had begun to shape out the ground floor surrounding the main tower core. This marked the first installation for what will eventually amount to 9500 tons of structural steel and 1.07 million ft² of metal decking that will surround the tower core.
It's been a busy month of steel assembly since our last update, with steel now installed as high as the fourth floor. The sections of steel now in place are hinting at the tower's atypical massing that will set is apart from the average 'cereal box' shaped tower.
As the steel skeleton rises, work has begun on the tower floor-plates themselves with the installation of steel decking, and most recently the start of concrete pouring atop the decking.
160 Front will top out at a height of 240 metres, and will have a prominence in views of the Downtown skyline from the West. The building will have 134,766 m² (1.2 million ft²) of new office and retail space upon completion, with TD to occupy 33 floors of the tower while owning a 30% stake in the building.
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 below.
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