Construction activity is heating up at the Downtown Toronto site of MOD Developments Inc's Massey Tower Condos on Yonge Street north of Queen, where a 60-storey, Hariri Pontarini-designed condominium tower is sprouting from a compact lot. The project has been attracting the attention of photographers over the past several days, as the complex geometry of the building's 9-storey podium has begun to materialize above the 1905-built Canadian Bank of Commerce building at 197 Yonge Street.

Massey Tower rising above Yonge Street, image by Forum contributor PMT

The recent removal of concrete floor formwork on the podium's upper levels has revealed the first of Massey Tower's signature curves and angles. Although the projecting floor sections visible on the podium's west façade hint at balconies, they in fact extend from the development's parking garage, which is located above grade due to the constrained site footprint. These projections will be fully enclosed by a podium envelope—consisting of a 4-way structural silicon double-glazed, low-e, and argon-filled curtainwall system—with a bird-friendly frit pattern.

Massey Tower viewed from atop the Eaton Centre parking garage, image by Forum contributor drum118

With forming of the podium/parking levels practically complete, and the structure now rising above the adjacent J.F. Brown Furniture Building to the south, work has moved on to the 10th level, which will house indoor and outdoor amenities for condominium residents. This level is to be followed by a transfer slab, above which will be the residential levels, wrapped in translucent, ribbonlike balconies with fritted laminated glass panels.

Temporary steel supports being removed from Massey Tower's podium, image by Forum contributor drum118

Down at ground level, structural work on the two-storey retail component fronting Yonge Street has yet to begin. Wedged between the restored Canadian Bank of Commerce building—which will serve as the condo lobby—and the adjacent four-storey Bank of Toronto building to the north, the project will add a new retail space to Yonge Street. In keeping with the design language of the podium above, the retail space's exterior will be creased by angled glazing.

Ground level at Massey Tower, image by Forum contributor drum118

We will keep you updated as the building begins rising into Toronto's ever changing skyline. In the meantime, more renderings and information can be found in our dataBase file, linked below. Feel free to leave your thoughts on this project in the comment section on this page, or join a conversation in the associated Forum threads.