9.4K 
The CIBC SQUARE office complex by Hines and Ivanhoé Cambridge continues to make progress in Downtown Toronto's financial district. Designed by UK-based WilkinsonEyre Architects with Toronto’s Adamson Associates, the complex will consist of a matched pair of towers that will stand almost perpendicular to each other.
The south tower, which recently began to welcome tenants, stands 49 storeys above the corner of Bay and Lake Shore, while the north tower, for which land is currently being excavated, will stand 50 storeys above Bay Street, just south of Front Street.
CIBC SQUARE's north tower is being constructed on the site of the previous Union Station GO bus terminal. (The buses have since moved into a larger, fully-enclosed terminal in the south tower podium.) North tower construction began in the spring with the arrival of shoring rigs. Perimeter caisson drilling was completed in July, which allowed for excavation to advance.
Our last update shared that during the early stages of the excavation, the construction team encountered buried reinforced concrete foundations, along with a handful of I-beams that were part of the previous GO Bus Terminal. The abandoned foundations are being taken out, and are expected to be fully removed within days.
Now, excavation is continuing, working towards a depth of four levels for the construction of the underground garage. Upon completion, the parking garage will provide access to One Front redevelopment of the Dominion Public building immediately to the north. Knockout panels will be created in the garage of the CIBC SQUARE North, waiting for the day in the future when One Front's construction has progressed far enough for the passage to be opened.
While excavation progresses, a first crane stands ready to hoist objects during construction, while a second crane will soon be arriving. For a few months now, the first of the two cranes has been installed south of the tower footprint on top of the overbuild park, as seen below.
Now, the base for a second crane has been installed on what will be public plaza area on the east side of Bay Street. As with the first tower, both of these cranes will rise beside the building as opposed to in the middle of it, which we see more commonly in Toronto.
The north tower will rise next to the Union Station rail corridor, and in fact the southern third of the tower will be cantilevered over the tracks. We know this from architectural drawings of the project which show that the central elevator cores of the tower will be built right up against the crash wall that will protect the building from any unlikely rail calamity.
CIBC SQUARE's north tower is targeting late 2024 to welcome its first tenants.
You can learn more from our Database file for the project, linked below. If you'd like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
* * *
UrbanToronto has a new way you can track projects through the planning process on a daily basis. Sign up for a free trial of our New Development Insider here.
