Construction Nearing Completion at Lifetime’s Panda Condos

Just north of Yonge and Dundas Square in Downtown Toronto, Panda Condominiums by Lifetime Developments has been under construction since 2018. Work on the Turner Fleischer Architects-designed tower on Edward Street means that finishing touches are now being applied in advance of the building’s first residents moving in during the first quarter of 2022.

Since our last update in March, a lot has happened on the site. First and foremost, the building has risen from 26 storeys to its final total of 30.

The last crane was removed from the top of the building in the Spring: since the building is below a helicopter flight path to two major Downtown hospitals, there were crane height restrictions imposed on the tower to ensure clear airways. Those restrictions prevented the cranes from being very tall, and resulted in specially designed cranes to do the same work without standing in the way.

Cladding work had also picked up around that time, with the building starting to show its black and white colour pattern. Original design architects architects—Alliance envisioned the tower’s two-toned colour scheme to balance like yin and yang on top of its glass podium, a colour choice that led to the project being named after the black-and-white Asian bear. Looking at the base level of the towers back in August, the podium that Panda’s volumes rise from in the process of being  glazed. Here, large panels of curtain wall were being installed to achieve a “glass box” look.

Currently, cladding work is being finished up on Panda’s upper levels. There is still some glazing to be installed—notably where the construction hoist runs up the northeastern corner of the building—but for the most part, just about everything else is in place now. The top two levels of the eastern, darker-clad tower have been enclosed with window wall, and the balconies have their dark-tinted balcony guards, while the western, white grid-clad tower sports its lighter look. The glazing on both volumes avoids the mess of waist-height mullions with floor-to-ceiling panes of glass.

Upon its completion, Panda will bring 555 condominium units to the Yonge and Dundas area, while the base of the building on Edward Street will consist of three levels of retail, on a below-grade concourse level, at ground level, and one level above, while the uppermost podium level is given over to office space. A connection to a future PATH system extension and/or a second Dundas subway station entrance may offer residents climate-controlled pedestrian connectivity in years to come.

Source: Urban Toronto