West of Toronto's Entertainment District and its sky-scraping towers, a new wave of medium-scaled buildings are adding to the revitalization of the adjacent Fashion District. At the corner of Portland and Adelaide streets, one such project from Minto Communities GTA is advancing through its early stages of construction. Named for its address at 123 Portland Street, the 14-storey Sweeny &Co Architects-designed boutique luxury building has been under construction since July, with a ground breaking having celebrated the start of work the following month. Now well into November, a large pit is growing as the site is readied for the first forming.

Looking northwest across site of 123 Portland, image by Forum contributor Red Mars

Shoring rigs arrived at the site this past summer, and when we last checked in on the project in October, drilling had wrapped up and crews from Michael Bros. excavation had begun the dig, revealing the watertight caisson shoring system on the north side, while lagging was slotted into the piles of the shoring walls along the other sides. Over one month later, the pit has progressed down to its full 10-metre depth at the north end, while excavation continues to the south. 

Looking south across site of 123 Portland, image by Forum contributor Red Mars

With the dig now concentrated at the south end of the pit, dense clay soil bears the tooth marks of the excavator buckets as they work towards bringing this section of the pit down to the same 10-metre depth.

Looking west across site of 123 Portland, image by Forum contributor Red Mars

The installation of a tower crane as the base of the pit is upcoming. Once in, the forming of foundations and a three-level underground garage will begin. It will house 49 resident and 8 visitor parking spaces.

Once construction wraps up, 123 Portland will introduce 117 new condominium units to the Fashion District, with residents to benefit from a range of sustainability features, along with a selection of amenity spaces appointed by interior designers U31.

123 Portland, image courtesy of Minto Communities GTA

Additional information and images can be found in our Database file for the project, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum thread, or leave a comment below.

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Related Companies:

Live Patrol Inc., Minto Communities GTA, NAK Design Strategies, Sweeny &Co Architects Inc., U31, UCEL Inc.