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Bloor-Yorkville, the Downtown Toronto neighbourhood in the midst of a quickly developing growth spurt, is welcoming another peak to its skyline, with Eight Cumberland now topping off. Towering 170 metres above the northwest corner of Cumberland and Yonge streets, the 51-storey Great Gulf and Phantom Developments project has advanced into the closing stages of construction, with the tower crane soon to come down.
The image above depicts the architects—Alliance-designed tower as it stood in the Fall of last year, when the forming of the mechanical penthouse began. With all 51 floors formed and set, the tower was on the cusp of structural completion, and was taking on its new role as one of the defining presences of the tower-ridden corridor on either side of Bloor Street West.
The building’s glass and aluminum envelope, on the other hand, was also progressing well at that time, with less than 10 floors remaining on the south and east elevations pictured.
Jumping ahead to last week, we can see the moment when the disassembly of the tower crane began, with two derricks set up to lower crane sections to the ground, weeks after the final concrete pour took place to complete the forming of the mechanical levels.
The above image also shows us that glazing now reaches as high as the 49th level on the eastern elevation, with two more floors remaining. The mechanical level is also seeing the beginnings of its own cladding process, having BlueSkin installed on all sides to create a vapour barrier between the concrete and the impending finishes.
Down at ground level, the construction efforts have also been focussed on finishings, as work continues to complete the building’s prominent street-walls on both Cumberland and Yonge Streets. The image below, captured earlier this month, shows that all three storeys of glazing for the tower’s main entrance on Cumberland Street have been installed (left), while more vapour sealing is being applied to the concrete in preparation for the ceramic tile cladding.
Meanwhile, the eastern street-wall fronting Yonge Street, slated to reintroduce the longstanding retail units has been kept under wraps, literally. The row of five three-storey heritage properties, exemplary of the traditional built form of Yonge Street, have been experiencing an extensive in-situ restoration process that has been playing out behind the protective tarps since mid-2021. With the project’s finishing touches getting underway, we expect to be getting our first sightings of the restored buildings, and their reconstituted historic grade-level retail frontages, some time soon.
With a total unit count of 399, Eight Cumberland will bring a boost to density in Yorkville, but the phenomenon will only be growing more familiar for the area. Immediately to the west, 11 YV, The Pemberton, and 1255 Bay will all be reaching completion over the next few years, delivering roughly 2,000 new units collectively.
UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on this development, but in the meantime, you can learn more about it from our Database file, 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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