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Since the project's inception in 2012, following the trajectory of Frank Gehry’s highly anticipated two-tower residential development, Forma, has been a rollercoaster ride to say the least. The project successfully wrestled for approval of ambitious rezoning requests, changed ownership, and has experienced extensive design changes. Now being brought to fruition by a team of experienced developers — Great Gulf, Dream Unlimited, Westdale Properties — the first phase has sold very well and secured financing during the most unstable economic climate in years. Through all the speed bumps, the project has landed on its feet, and has now obtained a new building permit for the construction of the first phase.
Located on King Street West to the east of Duncan Street in the heart of Toronto’s Entertainment District, the first-phase East Tower will soar 73 storeys and 263 metres tall. Adamson Associates Architects have been brought on as the architects of record, assisting in bringing the design from the starchitect's firm, Gehry Partners, to life.
The tower will offer a total of 864 new dwelling units as well as grade level retail and four storeys of institutional space for OCAD University. Boasting a structurally rousing sculptural massing that comprises a number of stacked volumes and a highly textured metal and glass cladding, the project will be Gehry’s first residential project in the City of Toronto, and the tallest building of his storied career.
Targeting Spring of this year for the start of construction, work to prepare the site for the impending tower began in mid-November, with the early stages of demolition on the existing 5-storey building. Formerly the home of the iconic Old Ed’s Warehouse restaurant, a relic of a bygone era in the history of Toronto, the early 20th century building was more recently occupied by a Shoeeless Joe's Sports Grill, before going vacant in 2020. After the first hoardings were set up in November of last year, the demolition process began with the construction of scaffolding along the King Street West elevation, and the removal of a vertical bay in the middle of the west elevation, pictured below.
By the start of the new year, demolition picked up, and the building began to come down in more substantial chunks. Pictured again in late February only a few floors of the old warehouse remained. Interestingly, when the northern elevation came down, a pair of hand-painted billboards over a century old were revealed on the party wall of the building located immediately to the north.
A week later, the remainder of the above grade structure had been removed, leaving behind just the foundations and a levelled site where the former building previously stood. Pictured in the distance in the image below are members of the clean-up team dressed in white hazmat suits; protective measures like this were taken throughout the demolition process after it was identified that harmful substances may have been present in the building materials.
With the above grade demolition now complete, work can begin on shoring for the excavation for the new building, which should follow shortly thereafter.
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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