Plaza's Theatre District Residence and RIU Plaza Hotel complex located on southwest corner of Adelaide and Widmer streets in Downtown Toronto has hit a few milestones since our last check in back in March when the towers stood just four and five-storeys above their podiums, and cladding had just begun to be applied. 

Most notably, orange-coloured brick-embedded precast concrete panels have been applied to the majority of the building's podium levels, being hoisted up by cranes in large pieces.

Large panel of brick-patterned precast concrete ready to be hoisted up, image by UT Forum contributor Red Mars

Below the podium levels, red brick precast cladding panels have been gracing the base levels for several months now, tying the development into the predominant building material of Toronto's Victorian past. Meanwhile, fronting Widmer Street with the podiums behind them, Victorian townhomes are being incorporated into the development. They are going through a long restoration process that will have them looking as good as new when complete.

Orange and red-brick cladding applied to all podium levels, image by UT Forum contributor Red Mars

Each of the six townhomes will be finished with two bedrooms + den, plus a workspace on the lower floor when the project is completed.

Victorian townhomes still undergoing restoration, image by UT Forum contributor Red Mars

Looking further up the BDP Quadrangle-designed buildings, another type of cladding has begun to be applied to the lowest levels of the tower.

Close-up of metallic cladding and glazing being installed on the first few levels of the tower, image by UT Forum contributor Red Mars

This aluminum panel cladding will enclose the towers all the way to their final count of 48 and 49 storeys. They are currently just shy of half way up. 

Metallic Cladding being applied to upper tower levels, image by UT Forum contributor Red Mars

Finally, the base of the towers is beginning to see some large panels of glazing installed at the entrances to the buildings. 

Glazing being installed at street level, image by UT Forum contributor Red Mars

Upon completion, the 49-storey south tower will be home exclusively to 424 condominium suites, while the 48-storey north tower — marketed as Encore at Theatre District — will feature 131 condo suites on its 25 upper floors, with the 353-room RIU Plaza Hotel taking up the first 23 floors. Despite having a different number of levels, both towers will eventually reach identical heights, both measuring 156 metres tall: an extra-tall hotel amenities floor in the north tower accounts for the difference.

Theatre District Residence and RIU Plaza Hotel, image courtesy of Plaza

UrbanToronto will continue to follow updates for this development, but in the meantime, 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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Related Companies:

BDP Quadrangle, Janet Rosenberg & Studio, Live Patrol Inc., Plaza, Rebar Enterprises Inc, Unilux HVAC Industries Inc.