Toronto’s St James Town skyline has grown one tower richer with the rise of 159SW Condos from the Alterra Group of Companies. The 36-storey, Richmond Architects-designed tower draws its moniker from its address number of 159 (Wellesley East) at the corner of Sherbourne and Wellesley, its position at the southwest corner of the intersection adding more meaning to the name. Work on the project began roughly three years ago, and the building is now topped out, almost fully enclosed, and expecting to welcome its first residents later in the year.

Shoring and excavation continued on the irregularly shaped 0.3-acre site through mid-2018, a crane being installed at the base of a 40-foot-deep pit in August of that year. The months that followed saw the four-level underground garage with 63 spaces gradually materialize, culminating in the start of ground-floor concrete pours in early 2019. The building made steady above-grade progress in the year and a half that followed, before topping out in late 2020 at a final height of almost 119 metres tall.

Cladding installation has been ongoing since early 2020, when the first panels of brown precast concrete were installed along the building’s four-storey podium to form a staggered pattern of slender verticals in a lattice around the podium’s balconies. The first tower cladding appeared in the following weeks, in the form of a window wall system with gridded mullions in black aluminum. These finishes now cover practically all of the tower, along with clear balcony glazing to complete the look.

Finishing touches remain for the ground level, where a dark glazing and spandrel treatment is filling in the spaces below the brown precast. Much more is happening beyond the view of passersby, as crews ready the building’s 360 new condominium units and supporting amenities for the upcoming arrival of the first wave of residents.

Source: UrbanToronto