Opening the new year with another month of concrete pouring, tower climbing, and ambitious design, January of 2023 was active as ever in all corners of Toronto’s development industry. New development proposals from late last year continued to populate the City’s Development Applications website, while construction enjoyed some time in the spotlight, with exciting progress seen on new transit infrastructure and new buildings alike. Here is the January roundup of the most popular news stories, database files, and forum threads on UrbanToronto!
Our Top 10 Most Read News Stories:
Our Top 10 News Stories list begins at number 14, with a nod to our most recent Topping Off story, looking back at everything that had UrbanToronto’s audience hooked in 2022. The list provided some interesting insights on the trends of an unpredictable year, and proved that nothing gets clicks like a new transit project — except The One, of course, which remains in a league of its own.
14. Tall Stories: Topping Off 2022 on UrbanToronto
On the list of our most popular news stories from the month of January, construction updates saw some above-average engagement, with the rapid intensification of Yorkville emerging as a particularly buzz-worthy topic. In first place, a story that could very well be one of the most popular of the year broke early in the month, when developer KingSett proposed a 75-storey tower on Yonge Street. If that story sounds familiar, it’s because they proposed another development of 76 storeys right across the street just a few months earlier.
10. Eight Cumberland Tops Off as Yorkville’s Density Spike Continues
9. High-Rises Proposed to Replace Low-Rises at Royal York and Gardiner
8. First 70Ft Steel Struts Installed for Portland Commons Cantilever
7. 62-Storey ’11 YV’ Now Rising Above Its Podium in Bloor-Yorkville
6. Tunnelling for Scarborough Subway Gets Underway With ‘Diggy Scardust’
5. First Structure Cladding Panels at The One Reveal Champagne Finish
4. Revised Plans for 5-Tower Canada Square Site Ups Public Space, More
3. Infill Proposal Would Add 35-Storey Rental Tower to Etobicoke Apartment Site
2. Tower Proposed at Yonge & Wellesley Heritage Site
1. KingSett Proposes 75 Storeys on Yonge Across From 76-Storey Tower
Worm’s-eye-view of proposed 76-storey Tower, 646 Yonge, from Yonge Street, image from submission to City of Toronto
Our Top 10 Most Searched Database Files:
In the most searched Database Files section, our Top 10 list also begins at number 14, with a shoutout to the proposed redevelopment of Canada Square, 2180 Yonge. After a rather tumultuous trip to the Design Review Panel in 2021, the project has resurfaced with a new design from Hariri Pontarini Architects, reimagining the development’s plan for the Yonge-Eglinton multi-use transit node and the programming of its future public space.
14. 2180 Yonge
Down in the Top 10 list proper, January saw some notable disruption to the rankings that have recently generally quite constant otherwise. With the top four remaining unchanged, Nobu Residences’ jump into the fifth spot marks a spike in the project’s popularity, but the real story here is the newcomer to the group, the Don Mills Ismaili Community Centre and Jamatkhana. The 3-storey institutional project made a splash with a striking design from architects-Alliance defined by a perforated treatment of the facade, and will certainly be followed closely as plans for it progress in Toronto’s Thorncliffe neighbourhood.
10. M2M Condos
9. Forma
8. CIBC SQUARE
7. Don Mills Ismaili Community Centre and Jamatkhana
6. Sugar Wharf Condominiums (Phase 1)
3. The Well
1. The One
New renderings for proposed Don MIlls Ismaili Community Centre and Jamatkhana, image from submission to City of Toronto
Our Top 10 Busiest Threads:
Finally, looking at the busiest threads over course of the last month, our Top 10 begins at number 12, with the Ontario Line. With the lead-up to construction processes getting underway, UrbanToronto’s Forum contributors have been keeping a close eye on the project and the associated controversies… or should we say controver-trees?!
12. Ontario Line
Just like we saw with the Database category, January brought some additions into the Top 10 busiest Forum Threads as well. The ranking at number 9 of the Don MIlls Ismaili Community Centre and Jamatkhana can be attributed to a new set of renderings that emerged this month, bringing some fresh traffic to the thread that had been dormant since February, 2022. As well, a boost in activity was seen in the thread for one of Toronto’s highly anticipated ‘starchitect’ projects, the Frank Gehry-designed Forma. Forum contributors flocked to the thread to catch a glimpse of the first images of work beginning on site, with the dismantling of the existing building.
9. Don Mills Ismaili Commiunity Centre and Jamatkhana
8. Union Station Revitalization
7. CIBC SQUARE
4. Forma
3. The Well
1. The One
Demolition begins on existing buildings on site of Forma, image by UT Forum contributor ProjectEnd
We will be back at the beginning of March for a recap of February’s top news stories, Database files, and Forum threads!
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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.
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