49-storey Wallman-Cormier condo collaboration begins construction at Front and John
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
300 Front, the latest project by architectsAlliance co-founder Rudy Wallman, begins construction this month.
Consisting of a 49-storey tower and a 15-storey loft building, the project at the corner of John Street will have a total of 683 units, with gardens on street level at the southeast corner of the property, which has been a parking lot for some time.
"Its main selling feature is that it's at the heart of the entertainment district," says Tridel spokesman Samson Fung,"and it's one of the highest in the area, so we expect it to appeal to affluent, younger buyers." The building is approximately 70 per cent sold, according to Fung.
The gardens were designed by Montreal landscape architect Claude Cormier. "To give the building a signature presence, we inscribed its address � 300 � directly into the design," he says of the design on his website. "The roadways and sidewalks of the site make up the digits, clearly visible from the high vantage points in the nearby surroundings.
"Like the logo on a Fendi purse, the site-integrated icon is woven through with an intricate network of paving."
Wallman, who was also a principal behind the new Four Seasons and Lumiere on Bay, is one of the city's homegrown starchitects, who along with Peter Clewes (with whom he's worked at Architectsalliance), Quadrangle's Brian Curtner and David Pontarini of Hariri Pontarini have put a lasting stamp on the city during the recent condo boom.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Tridel, Claude Cormier
