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simply Dan
Guest
Darkstar416 and I purchased our first home together here - a 2-storey skyloft on the top floors... occupancy is slated for next summer.
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BrianHawkins1
Guest
^ Wow, congrats - mucho envy!
Observer Walt
Senior Member
I'm sure you'll enjoy living here. The location is a killer! We look forward to hearing your impressions once you're in.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Great location for viewing OCAD and the AGO.
simply Dan
Active Member
We will be facing west, above OCAD, with a 20ft glass wall looking down on it, the AGO and Grange Park!
00loop00
New Member
This building totally based under my radar - and I've seen it being built. Are there any renderings out there?
cassius
Active Member
You can find a rendering at their website in the Architecture section. www.9t6condos.com
RJR123
Active Member
Congrats, guys! So you are both leaving the Richmond/Sherbourne area for the west side...I'm jealous!
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Hydrogen
Guest
Hope your building is on schedule!
JasonParis
Moderator
RJR...The simply one is already a west-ender, but I'll be returning to west of Yonge for the first time in five years. Mixed feelings about that, but in general, west of Yonge is where it's at. How's Spire treating you? BTW, did you see the "From the Roof of the Richmond" photo-thread?
Hydro...We aren't too worried about a massive delay as the project is already well under construction. In fact, they are already on the 13th of a 17 story building and the first occupancies aren't for a year. Still, we are prepared for a small delay.
Hydro...We aren't too worried about a massive delay as the project is already well under construction. In fact, they are already on the 13th of a 17 story building and the first occupancies aren't for a year. Still, we are prepared for a small delay.
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Hydrogen
Guest
Either way, enjoy your new home (whenever it is completed)!
RJR123
Active Member
Darkstar, Spire has for the most part been pretty good, although the building is definitely going through some growing pains. If you were strolling by the building Sunday evening, for example, you would have seen a wall of water gushing out of the side of the building, from the sixth floor. Thankfully I'm higher up!
Tuscani01
Senior Member
So they've installed a new water feature? lol
RJR123
Active Member
To be so lucky. It was quite amazing to see the water pouring out the side of the building. Apparently several people had to spend the evening in hotels, that's how bad it was. I hope that is as dramatic as it gets here.
JasonParis
Moderator
9T6 a suite art form
Overseeing the construction of 17-storey condo with a waterfall only for insiders' eyes
May 05, 2007
Stephen Weir
Special to The Star
Project manager Mort Gaines in front of 9T6. The building is already so close to the back of the Village by The Grange that it’s barely 46 centimetres between the two concrete walls on the west side.
Big buildings often begin with big inspirations. Put the triangles of the Egyptian pyramids beside a straight stretch of the Nile. Erect the world's tallest needle next to an oblong Great Lake. Or, as in the case of the 9T6 condominium project, now under construction, build a downtown Toronto outdoor waterfall that only insiders can see.
The big idea for the waterfall was conceived inside New York City's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) by David Feldman while visiting the famous museum. Feldman is president of Camrost-Felcorp, the company constructing 9T6, a new infill condo tower at 96 St. Patrick St.
"David went up onto the MoMA sculpture garden terrace and realized he had to do something similar here in Toronto," explains Mort Gaines, 9T6's project manager.
"We didn't copy the MoMA Terrace; we used it as a starting-off point for our own terrace," he adds.
Gaines is overseeing the construction of the contemporary glass and metal building with stuccoed concrete base and end walls, one block east of the Art Gallery of Ontario.
"We call the terrace our podium, it will be the showcase, a multi-level private outdoor space for the people of 9T6," Gaines says.
Construction began last September and concrete was poured for the 12th floor by the end of April. "The condominium will be 17 storeys tall," says Gaines. "However, the 17th floor consists of six, two-storey suites. The upper floors of these suites may be considered the 18th floor but it really is just a 17-storey building – approximately 52 metres in height."
Suites with windows facing the AGO will look down on the tree-covered podium on the second and third floors, with its year-round hot tub and permanent barbecue stations.
This MoMA-inspired podium has already been roughed in and work will soon commence.
"This is an infill situation, where we are pouring concrete on what used to be a parking lot. The Village by the Grange (condominium complex and retail plaza) is on three sides of our property," adds Gaines, a veteran in the business.. "Think of it as sliding a building from the street into a downtown parking lot."
The sprawling 572-suite Village by the Grange development was built on a C-shaped plot covering close to half a city block, except for the car park. When the Grange was erected in 1978, few probably imagined a tower on the empty lot. But that was before the demand for condos began heating up.
Where 75 cars once parked, 500 people will move into the building in about a year. To make this happen, Camrost-Felcorp's 9T6 fills just about every square millimetre of land. The partly built condo already measures close to 22.5 metres wide by 54-metres long. It is so close to the back of the Village by The Grange that it's barely 46 centimetres between the two concrete walls on the west side.
"On most sites you tear down to go up. Here, we had to tear up to build down," says Gaines. "We had an empty site but we really didn't know what we were going to find when we began digging."
Because the walls of the nearby structures are on the property line, the excavation of the 2 1/2-storey basement parking garage was a precision exercise. Backhoes worked with pinpoint accuracy within a metre of the neighbouring structures.
"When you are building, there are never any `good' surprises, " Gaines says. "We didn't hit water – which is a plus – but our digging did turn up toes from the adjoining property."
In the language of construction, toes are concrete effluence. When concrete is poured into steel liners to create a basement wall, some of the still wet mixture oozes out of the bottom and forms into solid blobs shaped like toes.
The toes, found 10 metres down, had to be individually removed with a core barrel, which is a large round drill bit with serated teeth, about two-feet across. "The toes were really thick and we were concerned that they would damage traditional tools."
Now that the concrete walls have gone up inside the foundation, there is only one way for the equipment to enter and exit the site: through the 6 1/2-metre arch that cuts through the building's middle from St. Patrick St. into the rear of the structure and the basement garage. Once the building is occupied, all service vehicles, including garbage trucks, ambulances and fire trucks, will continue to pass through the arch.
"When we poured for the floor at street level we used an extra-strength concrete," Gaines says. Reinforced concrete is needed because of the heavy service vehicles driving in on a regular basis.
"We have put in place a three-slot (garbage) chute so that suite owners can separate their recyclables from their trash. An area of the ground level will be used to store various bins to stay green."
There is still much more hammering, welding, pouring and lifting to be done before buyers move in.
Building each level of a building is like making a cake. In baking you use a pan to hold and shape the cake as it bakes. In a condo, each wall is created by pouring wet concrete inside its version of the cake pan – a series of steel forms.
When a floor is finished the forms are removed and then reused on the next floor. When there aren't nearby walls and windows to bang into, these steel forms are swung out away from the building by an overhead crane and then lifted up to the next floor.
There are 572 individually owned condos at Village by the Grange, many of them within swing distance of the 9T6 site. The construction company is taking no chances and as a result only "flies" the forms out the front of the building. When working in close quarters the equipment is lifted vertically from one floor to the next.
By summer the heavy lifting of the forms will end. Instead, the cranes will be hauling tinted glass and spandrel glass panels skywards. (Spandrel glass is a ceramic-on-glass product used to cover concrete.)
Glass is now the most important material used in putting a contemporary face on highrise commercial condos. At 9T6 glass covers most of the structure's exterior, which faces St. Patrick St. Where the building abuts the Village by the Grange, poured concrete covered with stucco is used.
To allow as much light as possible into each condo suite, large floor-to-ceiling tinted windows will be put in place. The company is considering installing spandrel glass in the non-visible sections.
There are a variety of suite sizes and shapes. These include two-storey suites and two-level lofts.There are also 2 1/2-bedroom, two-bedroom and one-bedroom suites. At ground level on St. Patrick St., there are two townhome units, one single-storey live/work and a two-level live/work suite with workspace on the ground floor and the living quarters above.
To date, 70 per cent of the units have been sold.
Top floors (which are taller than nearby structures) have balconies and windows facing all directions. Regardless of what floor one lives on, everyone has access to the Podium.
The terrace on the second and third floors can't be viewed from the street and is surrounded on all sides by buildings. Protected from the wind and prying eyes, this is a four-season outdoor plaza that has a waterfall and barbecue units on the second floor and gardens and secluded sunning areas on the third.
The bricked floor of the outdoor podium will be heated, making the area ice-free in winter and open to residents. Ringing the patio are glass doors leading to a full exercise room and a meeting room on the second floor.
The library is on the third floor. On the first floor, near the concierge desk, is a guest suite that condo owners can use for overnight guests.
The last item that will be constructed before the building is open are the prerequisite bike racks. Although there are parking spots available for owners to purchase, the 30-year-old construction company is guessing that most of its suites will be snapped up by people who would prefer to walk or ride bikes in the downtown core.
Building with an urban MoMA inspiration?
It is an art.
Overseeing the construction of 17-storey condo with a waterfall only for insiders' eyes
May 05, 2007
Stephen Weir
Special to The Star
Project manager Mort Gaines in front of 9T6. The building is already so close to the back of the Village by The Grange that it’s barely 46 centimetres between the two concrete walls on the west side.
Big buildings often begin with big inspirations. Put the triangles of the Egyptian pyramids beside a straight stretch of the Nile. Erect the world's tallest needle next to an oblong Great Lake. Or, as in the case of the 9T6 condominium project, now under construction, build a downtown Toronto outdoor waterfall that only insiders can see.
The big idea for the waterfall was conceived inside New York City's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) by David Feldman while visiting the famous museum. Feldman is president of Camrost-Felcorp, the company constructing 9T6, a new infill condo tower at 96 St. Patrick St.
"David went up onto the MoMA sculpture garden terrace and realized he had to do something similar here in Toronto," explains Mort Gaines, 9T6's project manager.
"We didn't copy the MoMA Terrace; we used it as a starting-off point for our own terrace," he adds.
Gaines is overseeing the construction of the contemporary glass and metal building with stuccoed concrete base and end walls, one block east of the Art Gallery of Ontario.
"We call the terrace our podium, it will be the showcase, a multi-level private outdoor space for the people of 9T6," Gaines says.
Construction began last September and concrete was poured for the 12th floor by the end of April. "The condominium will be 17 storeys tall," says Gaines. "However, the 17th floor consists of six, two-storey suites. The upper floors of these suites may be considered the 18th floor but it really is just a 17-storey building – approximately 52 metres in height."
Suites with windows facing the AGO will look down on the tree-covered podium on the second and third floors, with its year-round hot tub and permanent barbecue stations.
This MoMA-inspired podium has already been roughed in and work will soon commence.
"This is an infill situation, where we are pouring concrete on what used to be a parking lot. The Village by the Grange (condominium complex and retail plaza) is on three sides of our property," adds Gaines, a veteran in the business.. "Think of it as sliding a building from the street into a downtown parking lot."
The sprawling 572-suite Village by the Grange development was built on a C-shaped plot covering close to half a city block, except for the car park. When the Grange was erected in 1978, few probably imagined a tower on the empty lot. But that was before the demand for condos began heating up.
Where 75 cars once parked, 500 people will move into the building in about a year. To make this happen, Camrost-Felcorp's 9T6 fills just about every square millimetre of land. The partly built condo already measures close to 22.5 metres wide by 54-metres long. It is so close to the back of the Village by The Grange that it's barely 46 centimetres between the two concrete walls on the west side.
"On most sites you tear down to go up. Here, we had to tear up to build down," says Gaines. "We had an empty site but we really didn't know what we were going to find when we began digging."
Because the walls of the nearby structures are on the property line, the excavation of the 2 1/2-storey basement parking garage was a precision exercise. Backhoes worked with pinpoint accuracy within a metre of the neighbouring structures.
"When you are building, there are never any `good' surprises, " Gaines says. "We didn't hit water – which is a plus – but our digging did turn up toes from the adjoining property."
In the language of construction, toes are concrete effluence. When concrete is poured into steel liners to create a basement wall, some of the still wet mixture oozes out of the bottom and forms into solid blobs shaped like toes.
The toes, found 10 metres down, had to be individually removed with a core barrel, which is a large round drill bit with serated teeth, about two-feet across. "The toes were really thick and we were concerned that they would damage traditional tools."
Now that the concrete walls have gone up inside the foundation, there is only one way for the equipment to enter and exit the site: through the 6 1/2-metre arch that cuts through the building's middle from St. Patrick St. into the rear of the structure and the basement garage. Once the building is occupied, all service vehicles, including garbage trucks, ambulances and fire trucks, will continue to pass through the arch.
"When we poured for the floor at street level we used an extra-strength concrete," Gaines says. Reinforced concrete is needed because of the heavy service vehicles driving in on a regular basis.
"We have put in place a three-slot (garbage) chute so that suite owners can separate their recyclables from their trash. An area of the ground level will be used to store various bins to stay green."
There is still much more hammering, welding, pouring and lifting to be done before buyers move in.
Building each level of a building is like making a cake. In baking you use a pan to hold and shape the cake as it bakes. In a condo, each wall is created by pouring wet concrete inside its version of the cake pan – a series of steel forms.
When a floor is finished the forms are removed and then reused on the next floor. When there aren't nearby walls and windows to bang into, these steel forms are swung out away from the building by an overhead crane and then lifted up to the next floor.
There are 572 individually owned condos at Village by the Grange, many of them within swing distance of the 9T6 site. The construction company is taking no chances and as a result only "flies" the forms out the front of the building. When working in close quarters the equipment is lifted vertically from one floor to the next.
By summer the heavy lifting of the forms will end. Instead, the cranes will be hauling tinted glass and spandrel glass panels skywards. (Spandrel glass is a ceramic-on-glass product used to cover concrete.)
Glass is now the most important material used in putting a contemporary face on highrise commercial condos. At 9T6 glass covers most of the structure's exterior, which faces St. Patrick St. Where the building abuts the Village by the Grange, poured concrete covered with stucco is used.
To allow as much light as possible into each condo suite, large floor-to-ceiling tinted windows will be put in place. The company is considering installing spandrel glass in the non-visible sections.
There are a variety of suite sizes and shapes. These include two-storey suites and two-level lofts.There are also 2 1/2-bedroom, two-bedroom and one-bedroom suites. At ground level on St. Patrick St., there are two townhome units, one single-storey live/work and a two-level live/work suite with workspace on the ground floor and the living quarters above.
To date, 70 per cent of the units have been sold.
Top floors (which are taller than nearby structures) have balconies and windows facing all directions. Regardless of what floor one lives on, everyone has access to the Podium.
The terrace on the second and third floors can't be viewed from the street and is surrounded on all sides by buildings. Protected from the wind and prying eyes, this is a four-season outdoor plaza that has a waterfall and barbecue units on the second floor and gardens and secluded sunning areas on the third.
The bricked floor of the outdoor podium will be heated, making the area ice-free in winter and open to residents. Ringing the patio are glass doors leading to a full exercise room and a meeting room on the second floor.
The library is on the third floor. On the first floor, near the concierge desk, is a guest suite that condo owners can use for overnight guests.
The last item that will be constructed before the building is open are the prerequisite bike racks. Although there are parking spots available for owners to purchase, the 30-year-old construction company is guessing that most of its suites will be snapped up by people who would prefer to walk or ride bikes in the downtown core.
Building with an urban MoMA inspiration?
It is an art.