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Toronto's largest private construction project — The Well — has been under construction for a few years now. Located downtown at Front Street and Spadina Avenue, a lot has been on the go recently, with many textural elements being added to the various surfaces of the mixed-use complex's buildings.
The mixed-use development is comprised of a 36-storey office tower, and residential rental and condo buildings of 14 through 46 storeys, all rising above a major retail base. When it is completed, the development will include a total of 1.1 million ft² of office, 500,000 ft² of retail and food services, and 1,700 residential units spread throughout six buildings connected to the 3-level retail base.
Since our last update on the project in February, the easternmost of three architects—Alliance-designed residential towers on Front Street – developed for RioCan Living and Woodbourne Canada Management – is closing in on its ultimate height of 46 storeys. As it completes its rise, the glazing is following a few floors behind. While the south face will be all windows, the east and west sides of the tower are beginning to show staggered balconies, now with their glass installed too, with progress about three quarters of the way up the tower.
West of the 46-storey tower, a 38-storey Tridel condo is also closing in on its top floor, and similarly has about three quarts of its exterior glazed. Meanwhile, the westernmost 22-storey Tridel condo right next door has reached its 20th level – with about half of its south-facing facade currently glazed.
The easternmost podium, shared with the office tower, has recently seen quite a number of terra cotta-coloured fins installed. Here, crews have recently been seen capping the fins with a frame between them and curtainwall glazing above.
Looking to the Wallman Architects-designed RioCan Living and Woodbourne mid-rises rentals along Wellington Street, brick panelling is gradually being applied to the facades of the buildings in a warm, red colour. These buildings have been undergoing cladding and glazing since our update in the fall, and are nearly fully-clad. Not seen to the west in the image below, darker brick panels are now beginning to appear on the final Tridel condo.
Outside the base of the office tower along Spadina Avenue, the surface in this image is being prepared for sidewalk and paving stones to be laid at street-level…
…while just to the north, multi-shade beige and grey pavers are being laid, giving us a taste of how much of the pedestrian streetscape will look.
All of the buildings are collected around a BDP-designed multi-level retail galleria that sweeps through the centre of the site, sheltered by a glazed steel canopy. Recently, workers were captured piecing together the canopy while standing atop mountains of scaffolding. The canopy will eventually be filled with glass skylights, letting natural light into the open-air space below, to be lined with retailers, services, and dining venues.
Some of the first signs have also made their way onto the exterior of The Well. We can see below a partial sign that has been affixed to the south side of the development, onto Front Street.
Despite construction picking up over the last few months, and so many new elements being completed at the project, there is still much to be done at The Well. 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.
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