{"id":14059,"date":"2023-03-11T15:28:01","date_gmt":"2023-03-11T23:28:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/crane-goes-up-at-400-king-west-with-excavation-complete\/"},"modified":"2023-03-11T15:28:02","modified_gmt":"2023-03-11T23:28:02","slug":"crane-goes-up-at-400-king-west-with-excavation-complete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/crane-goes-up-at-400-king-west-with-excavation-complete\/","title":{"rendered":"Crane Goes Up at 400 King West With Excavation Complete"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It has been nearly four years since Mountain Equipment Coop (MEC) vacated their King Street retail store for Queen Street, leaving the well situated Entertainment District site poised for a significant redevelopment effort. Purchased by\u00a0Plaza<\/a>, the developer is now building a 49-storey mixed-use, but mostly residential condo development, 400 King West<\/a>, on the site. Designed by BDP Quadrangle<\/a>, the project started construction last year, with demolition getting underway in the late spring. More recently, the project is now well into construction, with excavation complete and a tower crane installed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Looking northeast to the 49-storey 400 King West, image from submission to City of Toronto<\/span><\/p>\n

Tracking how the project got to this stage reveals some interesting construction processes that were activated in response to the complex set of site specific circumstances that define projects taking place within the dense urban context.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of these processes was reported on in an earlier story<\/a>, describing how the building is repurposing the existing foundation walls of the demolished MEC building. With additional excavation required to carve out the project\u2019s three levels of below grade parking, the installation of shoring walls beneath these existing foundations has been an interesting and technical process to follow, and has appeared to advance in stages so as not to destabilize the foundations of the surrounding buildings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The project’s shoring walls have been installed below the existing foundations of the previous building, image by UT Forum contributor Red Mars<\/span><\/p>\n

Another interesting tactic implemented on the confined site to aid in the construction process was the creation of a robust staging platform on the southwest corner of the site. Pictured to the right in the image below, the platform is made of a solid concrete slab reinforced with rebar, and is supported by eight steel piles that were drilled deep into the ground. The platform provides invaluable space at grade level for the storage of materials, and allows the crew to work within the boundaries of its site without overflowing into the street.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A staging platform was installed on the southeast corner of the site to provide grade-level storage space, image by UT Forum contributor tstormers<\/span><\/p>\n

With excavation and shoring continuing into the winter months, the pit bottomed out early this year, allowing the crew to move on to the next stage, preparing the base for the tower crane. Rising from a central location in the pit, the image below captures the installation of the crane, which took place on January 9th. Not pictured is the crane\u2019s boom, which was successfully added on shortly after.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Looking south as the tower crane is installed on site, image by UT Forum contributor tstormers<\/span><\/p>\n

With the crane in place, the last two months of work have been focussed on the early stages of concrete forming for the tower\u2019s lowest levels. In the image below, we can see that a number of concrete columns have already been poured and set, while forms are in place to continue creating more, beginning on the east side of the site. On the left of the frame, we can see rebar being laid in position for the eventual pouring of the building\u2019s first concrete slab.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With excavation complete, concrete work is now underway below grade, image by UT Forum contributor Red Mars <\/span><\/p>\n

Concrete work will continue to advance over the next few months, and could be expected to emerge above grade by the end of the summer. After that, the tower will have another 49-storeys to complete before it can deliver on its promise of 612 new condo units with at-grade retail.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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UrbanToronto has a research service,\u00a0UrbanToronto Pro<\/a>, that provides comprehensive data on construction projects in the Greater Toronto Area\u2014from proposal through to completion. We also offer\u00a0Instant\u00a0Reports<\/a>, downloadable snapshots based on location, and a daily subscription newsletter,\u00a0New Development Insider<\/a>, that tracks projects from initial application.<\/p>\n\n\n
Related Companies:\u00a0<\/td>\n\nBDP Quadrangle<\/a>, Bousfields<\/a>, Gradient Wind Engineers & Scientists<\/a>, Groundwater Environmental Management Services Inc. (GEMS)<\/a>, HGC Engineering Inc<\/a>, Jablonsky, Ast and Partners<\/a>, Janet Rosenberg & Studio<\/a>, Live Patrol Inc.<\/a>, Plaza<\/a>, Rebar Enterprises Inc<\/a>, U31<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n