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After what felt like a rather slow pace of excavation initially, Plaza’s Bijou on Bloor has seen notable progress in the past months. This 12-storey BDP Quadrangle-designed, mostly residential mixed-use development is beginning to take shape in Toronto's Bloor West Village. Built on a site that slopes downwards to the southwest, and in an even more pronounced way to the northwest, and having the subway below ground just beyond the building's limits, has made for a tricky early go, but there are now advancements in foundation work to report on.
In our previous update from 2022, we reported the addition of a second shoring rig and levelling of portions of the sloping site at 2452 Bloor Street West, particularly at its northwestern edge, where shoring was nearing completion. Several months of progress, tracked in images particularly by UrbanToronto Forum contributor A Torontonian Now, have ushered in structural milestones like the tower crane.
A year after our last report, the excavation pit shows notable advancement in the image below from April, 2023. When viewed from the east, the deepened pit buzzes with activity. The sloping topography is evident, with a significant mound of earth still occupying the northwest corner of the pit. Crawler excavators are spotted at the pit's base, and just beyond the pit walls at ground level. Orange tarps cover the shoring walls, while pedestrian hoarding stands prominent, walling off the Bloor Street sidewalk.
In June, An UrbanToronto Daily Photo captured a convoy of dump trucks on Bloor Street, lined up for their load of surplus soil to haul away, and by July, the pit is clear enough that the bottom slab has been formed within its eastern half. To the right, the protective orange tarps from the shoring walls also cover the walls of the neighbouring commercial building to the east.
A broader north-facing perspective across Bloor later in July unveils a concrete pump truck with its elongated and articulated boom, delivering liquid concrete to the excavation's depths.
Come August, a dense mat of rebar is visible in the shadows, mid-pit. This will be the raft slab foundation for the tower, and the X seen atop the rebar is the foundation for the crane that was soon to come. The previously observed earthen mound in the northwest corner has been reduced, with the soil now rising only halfway up the pit's depth.
By mid-August, concrete covers the rebar and a tower crane has been installed above it and now graces the site. Tiebacks, their ends protruding from the shoring walls, are anchored into the surrounding earth, stabilizing the walls.
Now in September, the concrete foundation has progressed. The excavation is segmented into two tiers, the higher northwest half and the deeper southeast half from which the crane rises. Looking westward again, new walls are visible east of the crane's base, its jib delivering materials here, forms awaiting a concrete pour.
Bijou on Bloor is anticipated to be completed in 2025. It will stand 42.1m while bringing 186 new residential units and plenty of new retail to the Bloor West neighbourhood.
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.
