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This week's Throwback Thursday puts a spotlight on the expanding border of Toronto's Financial District by comparing two photos captured approximately two and a half years apart. For this instalment, we head back to February, 2019 for a view from Simcoe and Wellington streets facing southeast towards Front Street. At that time, preparatory work was beginning for a new 46-storey, 134,766 m² (1.2 million ft²) office tower at 160 Front West that will extend the traditional borders of the Financial District west of University Avenue.
Fast forward to mid-2021, and the surface parking lot is gone, while 99.9% of the brick building to the east has been demolished. (Its Front Street facade is being partially preserved in-situ while another portion will be reconstructed.) In their place, the new office tower has begun its climb towards a height of approximately 240 metres, its podium taking shape to the north, and tower floors sprouting to the south at the corner of Simcoe and Front. In the left background, the first phase of the CIBC SQUARE office complex now stands approximately 238 metres high above the corner of Bay and Lake Shore, extending the Financial District's borders southward in the process. The practically complete CIBC SQUARE office tower's comparable height offers a hint at the impact 160 Front will have upon topping out just two metres taller. Designed by AS + GG Architecture and B+H Architects for Cadillac Fairview, 160 Front will be anchored by banking titan TD Bank.
We will return in two weeks with another look at the changing face of Toronto. In the meantime, you can submit your own Throwback Thursday comparisons in our dedicated Forum thread for your chance to be featured in next week's edition.
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