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On the east side of Bay Street in the vibrant and upscale Toronto neighbourhood of Bloor-Yorkville, 50 Scollard Street is quietly asserting its presence as it rises south of Davenport Road. Within a few blocks of several other projects that are currently climbing into the sky — including The One which tends to get the lion's share of local attention — Lanterra Developments' own 41-storey luxury condo project, also, like The One designed by Foster + Partners (in this case with Arcadis serving as Architect of Record), is steadily climbing into the local skyline.
This update catches up on the past few years of construction, which experienced significant delays during the pandemic after initial demolition and heritage preservation was completed.
Capturing an early stage of excavation in August of 2021, this image looking northeast sees new work on the site following covid delays, with excavation progressing after a row of heritage buildings from 54A to 58 Scollard Street were relocated 25m east of their original location to make room for the reworked site, including a new piazza in a POPS (Privately-Owned Publicly accessible Space) at the corner of Bay and Scollard.
Stepping closer to the excavation in May of 2022, the pit is significantly deeper and beginning to be built in already, heading back up to grade from four-storeys below the surface. Steel piles and concrete caisson wall can be seen along the side of the pit. Concrete columns are now visible to the right, bearing the load of the heritage buildings above the future garage space, while a tower crane is now erected to the north closer to Bay Street. At the base of the pit, rebar is being assembled for future concrete columns, while plumbing infrastructure assembly is underway as well.
In August 2023, the heritage buildings along Scollard, variously supported until all of the new adjacent structure is in place, peak out from under the treed canopy across the street.
From street level in September 2023, the project has reached seven storeys above grade. The building's concrete skeleton showcases shoring poles below and forms above, while hoarding surrounds the construction. The building’s design is beginning to take shape, with multiple cantilevered sections along the west elevation.
A view looking north in November captures the step-back at the 11th storey above Bay Street. This design feature will serve to provide outdoor terrace space for some resident while giving the building's main frontage a more human-scaled face. While work continues to take the building higher, a yellow telescopic mobile crane is parked at grade where the future POPS will be, its boom extended as high as the sixth floor.
Returning to the intersection of Bay and Scollard Streets this month, we see the significant advancement with around 16 storeys formed. The tower crane continues to dominate the skyline, while the building's tiered south end is particularly apparent, showcasing the particularly narrow floor-plate here. The latest here, however is that tan-coloured insulation panels have now been installed on the first seven storeys of the south elevation, with anchor points showing where the building's final precast cladding will be attached through it.
Looking towards the west elevation from Jesse Ketchum Park on the other side of Bay Street, this side of the building envelope is set to feature expansive glazing separated by bronze-coloured metal frames.
Rising to a height of 147.6m, 50 Scollard Street's 41 floors will add 148 residential units to the lively Bloor-Yorkville 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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