89 Avenue Road

At 89 Avenue Road stood an old hotel that housed rental suites and rooms. The hotel was demolished to make space for a luxury New-York style condo development that is competing to be the tallest in Toronto with 35 suites over 20 storeys. The building was not occupied prior to PDI and AHD taking control. The structure was a standard 9 storey building with structural framing, concrete slabs, block and brick facade components, concrete footings and foundations. The primary components of the structure were concrete block and slab, along with brick exterior and standard interior.

The goal of the project was to demolish the entire 9 storey building down to grade level, and remove all below grade elements—footings and foundations, complete backfill of the empty basement once all concrete had been removed (using crushed material for future drill rig platform usage). There was no space between 89 Avenue Road and the neighbouring buildings. In order to utilize our equipment safety in a tight space, machines were driven through the building so the structure could be demolished from the inside out.

Key Challenges: Close proximity to neighbouring buildings and the busy traffic along Avenue Road. Full protection was needed, with outriggers and netting along the north and south elevations to allow a top-down demolition, eliminating all debris from falling against, or onto the adjacent structures. Egress of material and disposal off-site was another key challenge. The PDI team engineered a plan, and supports for the 2nd floor (to allow removal of L2 slab—enough to fit our disposal trucks through the front of the building). The inside footprint on the ground floor and backfilled basement had no access.