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For decades, North York City Centre has been the visible epicentre of North York, endowing the area with a distinct skyline outside of Toronto’s Downtown; but as development continues to spread in every direction along North York’s main streets, the City Centre is quickly encountering more competition on the high-rise front. On the site of the former Newtonbrook Plaza about a kilometre north of Finch along Yonge Street, M2M Condos' towers are making up the first phase of the master planned community from Aoyuan International, and are now another defining presence in the wider skyline.
To catch up with the latest progress on the Wallman Architects- designed project, we took a trip to the site to see it for ourselves - and with the help of our video drone, we were able to get a pretty good view. Check out the video below for a quick summary of the construction progress and the surroundings, as seen from the sky.
Zooming in on the south tower, shown on the right hand side in our video, we can see that the structure has not only reached its final 36-storey height, but is also now almost entirely sealed with glazing. Despite its advanced exterior state however, the crane remains active on the roof, assisting the crew with the hoisting of the remainder of the exterior materials. Still to come are more balcony guards as well as the installation of the remaining panels of accent cladding that form the design motif on the tower’s north and south facades.
Meanwhile, the tower to the north is on the cusp of topping off, with forming underway to complete the last few floors of its 34-storey concrete frame. This hasn’t slowed the progress on installing the north tower’s exterior envelope though; referring to the image below we can see that glazing has now been installed all the way up to the first step-back on the tower’s east elevation. Interestingly, the progress on the east elevation balcony guards actually appears to be further along on the north tower, despite trailing slightly behind in forming progress. By late next month, the tower could be topped off, and the full profile of M2M’s first phase will be visible for the first time.
Down at ground level, we can see that the progress made to clad and seal the buildings has also carried over to the lowest levels, (ground level itself is often finished near the end of the construction process). Looking at the southern streetwall in the image below shows us that the curtainwall glazing that covers large portions of the towers’ shared podium has been installed, and weatherproofing treatment is now applied to the angled sections that will eventually enjoy a metal cladding treatment. Through the glass, we can also see preliminary interior work taking place on the upper levels of the podium; according to Aoyuan, interior finishes are now well underway.
The next few months will see the towers reach exterior completion, and the removal of the two tower cranes, signalling a shift into the final stretch of construction. However, the site will not be quiet for long before work picks up again to begin construction of the second phase, bringing another two towers to the community.
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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UrbanToronto has a research service, UrbanToronto Pro, that provides comprehensive data on construction projects in the Greater Toronto Area—from proposal through to completion. We also offer Instant Reports, downloadable snapshots based on location, and a daily subscription newsletter, New Development Insider, that tracks projects from initial application.
