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After recent coverage of the many cranes at Parkside Village’s Avia 1 & 2, Voya, and Phase One of the Square One District, today UrbanToronto ventures southwest of those Mississauga City Centre projects to Rogers Real Estate Development Ltd and Urban Capital Property Group's expansive M City development. While the stacked accordions-shaped M1 and M2 towers now stand completed, progress continues on M3, M4, and M5, each with their own cranes now towering over their future sites.
Core Architects are the designers of M1, M2, and M4, while Arcadis are the designers of M3 and M5. The masterplanned community, bordered by Burnhamthorpe Road West, Webb Drive, Confederation Parkway, and Grand Park Drive, will be home to over 18,000 residential units across its eventual eight towers, and they have made for an ongoing development boom to the southwest of Square One Shopping Centre.
Looking southwest at dusk recently, the M1 and M2 towers stand completed, both at 62 storeys. In May, they were bestowed the Award of Excellence in the 'Best Tall Building' category by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). The towers showcase a dynamic facade where the floor plates visibly skew from one side to the other, creating a rhythmic oscillation meant to simulate movement. This unique feature also contributes to the varied floor layouts within. The glazing is installed to align with the shifting exteriors, providing unobstructed views. The podiums use faceted glass walls and as cladding, while a skating rink is featured atop the podium at M1. Between the towers, the emerging M3 can be spotted climbing into the sky with the M City logo on it.
This image, below, showcases the M3 tower, currently ascending towards its final count of 77 storeys, with construction closing on the halfway mark at approximately 35 storeys. The tower — the tallest of M City, seen in the rendering above — is characterized by a subtle, gradual shift in its massing, evident as the structure climbs above its six-storey podium. The podium's balconies can be seen projecting to the left, along with extensive glazing. The tower's sawtooth balcony accents, which are shaped to form a striking black-and-white diagonal pattern across the facade, are meant to complement the tower's gradual shift.
Below, M3 looms in the background of a view looking northeast from an adjacent condo at Grand Park. This shot focuses however on the pit for M4, set to stand 67 storeys, where the white tower crane now rises and orange tarp lines the upper portions of the north and south shoring walls. To the crane's left and right, red concrete pump booms stand ready when the next pour is ready. Across the site, materials such as formwork panels and rebar cages can be seen, awaiting use.
Another shot, this time from ground level, peers into the pit of M5 where ongoing excavation is underway to the sides, even as a tower crane is already in place, and wooden formwork sits assembled in advance of foundation level concrete pours. This tower, the shortest at M City, will eventually stand 36 storeys tall.
To the northeast of M City and closer to Square One Shopping Centre, Exchange District Condos is making progress with its own three cranes. We will catch up with an update on it tomorrow!
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.
