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Among the roster of projects currently on the go for Mattamy Homes in different corners of the GTA, work is picking up on the West Toronto site of Westbend Residences, a 12-storey mid-rise condominium development located just east of High Park. Designed by BDP Quadrangle, the project will see the delivery of 174 new dwelling units while injecting three new retail units along the building’s extensive Bloor Street West frontage. Over the course of the last many months, the project has moved from demolition into early construction processes, with shoring and excavation currently sitting at the top of the crew’s to-do list.
Looking back on what has happened to get the project to this point, the first traces of activity on site date back to December of 2021, when hoarding was set up around the now demolished low-rise commercial building that stood at the site; by the following spring, the structure had been almost entirely removed. Referring to the image below, captured in May of 2022, we can see that only a grade level slab was left of the previous building.
A month later, the site was fully cleared and ready for the next stage of work to commence, but the ceremonial ground breaking event wouldn’t take place until February of this year. Since that time, the crew has been working quickly to get the next phases of the project moving, with the last few months of shoring work allowing excavation to get underway. Due to the relatively steep slope from the south side down to the north side of the site, excavation is focusing on lowering the southern portion of the site to create a flat surface that is level with the site's lowest point along its northern limit.
Like any shoring process, a flat surface is always required in order to allow the large rigs to operate safely. Once levelled, the next stage of drilling can begin for boreholes to install a geothermal heating and cooling system for the building; the piping will reach a depth of roughly 900 feet below ground.
Along the southern limit of the site, fronting the Bloor Street sidewalk, we can see below that a shoring wall is being installed to hold back loose earth from falling into the excavated site, with a worker measuring the distance between two steel piles at the southwest corner of the site; here another piece of wood 'lagging' will soon be installed. As the crew continues to make its way eastward, another retaining wall is already in place along the western elevation.
A significant amount of excavation is still required though, before the site bottoms out at its desired depth; there are still about 10 metres of earth between the site’s current level and grade level the in the northwest corner, and with four levels of parking planned below grade, the final depth will sit another two storeys below that depth.
With construction work now in full stride on the site of Westbend Residences, the development spark has been reignited on this particular stretch of Bloor Street West, which has been dormant for a number of years. Enjoying close proximity to both Keele subway station, and Dundas West subway and Bloor GO stations just a bit further east, the area is more than capable of accommodating density at this scale, and will enjoy the retail component, adding more activity to the already lively streetscape.
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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