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Last month, UrbanToronto attended the topping-off ceremony for Cielo Condos, the project transforming the northwest corner of Bloor and Huron streets in Toronto’s Annex. Designed by KPMB Architects for Collecdev-Markee Developments, with heritage work overseen by ERA Architects, the 34-storey mixed-use development combines new residential construction with the heritage retention of Bloor Street United Church’s Gothic Revival walls and the restored George C. Pidgeon House to its north. With the building now at its full structural height, a visit to tower floors now showcase one of Cielo's defining features: its fantastic panoramic views across much of Toronto owing to its great location.
Today, we turn our attention to those views from the 34th floor. Rising above the predominantly low-rise neighbouring Annex and University of Toronto St George campus. Owing to Cielo’s location on the edge of that august educational institution, and its well-heeled, well-lawyered neighbours to the north, the building offers sweeping, largely unobstructed vistas that should persist in most directions over the coming years. They're certainly great now, taking in trom Midtown to the Financial District to Spadina Avenue and the city’s western neighbourhoods, the outlook illustrates both the tower’s unique position within Toronto and the remarkable breadth of the skyline visible from its upper residential levels.
Looking southeast from the 34th floor, Cielo’s position above the low-rise Annex and University of Toronto St George campus provides a sweeping panorama across Toronto’s skyline. In the foreground, Robarts Library anchors the university precinct, while the CN Tower rises above the Entertainment District in the distance, framed by an ever-expanding collection of office and residential towers, the Financial Core to its east.
A more zoomed-in view centres on Toronto’s Financial Core, where established office towers are joined by active construction. Cranes spike the skyline, including the blue, red, and white crane serving The United BLDG in the middle, on its way to 54 storeys, while the crane atop the topped-off 106-storey ‘supertall’ SkyTower at Pinnacle One Yonge is visible in the distance.
Looking east, the University of Toronto campus fills the foreground, where the red crane in the middle distance marks progress on the Academic Wood Tower, the 14-storey hybrid mass-timber building that will become Canada’s tallest academic timber structure when complete. Beyond the campus, the skyline continues to evolve as the 85-storey One Bloor West rises in the Bloor-Yorkville area, with work advancing on its crown and tuned mass damper.
In a westward view along Bloor Street, the vantage point illustrates the transition from The Annex’s and Harbord Village's predominantly low-rise neighbourhoods toward newer centres of intensification. Midway along the corridor, the five towers of Mirvish Village rise over the former Honest Ed’s site at Bathurst Street, ranging from 13 to 26 storeys. Farther west, the seven-tower Bloor Crossing community marks another concentration of recent growth at Bloor and Dufferin, ranging from 8 to 37 storeys. Humber Bay Shores' many towers edge Lake Ontario to the southwest, while faintly in the distance, the Mississauga City Centre area can be jsut made out, interrupting an otherwise smooth horizon.
Looking northwest, the view shifts away from Downtown to reveal the mostly leafy residential character of The Annex. Spadina Road's apartments carve through a landscape otherwise dominated by heritage houses and mature tree canopy. In the distance, the broad white form of the nine-storey Bianca Condos is visible along Dupont Street.
Turning to the northeast, the cityscape gradually transitions from The Annex’s tree-lined streets to the denser skyline of Midtown Toronto. Several cranes are visible along the Yonge Street corridor, including the recently topped-off One Delisle, standing out with its stacked modules rotating as they ascend to transform the building from a rectilinear podium into a near-cylindrical 44-storey tower. To its left, a green and white crane marks where a 37-storey residential tower continues to rise at 30 Merton Street.
With Cielo Condos now topped off, these images offer a preview of the views future Cielo residents will enjoy. The tower now stands 130.35m tall, and will deliver 349 residential suites above a mixed-use podium that includes community uses, office space, retail, and worship facilities.
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's research and data service, UTPro, provides comprehensive data on construction projects in the Greater Golden Horseshoe—from proposal through to completion. Other services include Instant Reports, downloadable snapshots based on location, and a daily subscription newsletter, New Development Insider, that tracks projects from initial application.
| Related Companies: | Bousfields, Collecdev-Markee Developments, ERA Architects, HGC Noise Vibration Acoustics, Jablonsky, Ast and Partners, Janet Rosenberg & Studio, RDS |
