Mountain range-shaped condo is totally transforming major Toronto street

A new mountain range-shaped condo is providing some welcome relief from the monotony of cookie-cutter Toronto developments, visually transforming a stretch of King Street West with what is sure to be a much-discussed landmark in the city for generations to come.

The sculptural condominium development known as KING Toronto is now in its fifth year of construction at 489 King St. W., and the impressive mountainscape from the team of developers Westbank Corp and Allied Properties REIT is now rapidly approaching its final form just west of Spadina.

Gently rising as high as 16 storeys above King Street West, the complex's four interconnected peaks topped out in 2024, and much focus has since shifted to cladding the exterior and fitting out the interior spaces ahead of residents and retail tenants.

KING Toronto sets itself apart from the deluge of sameness that has dominated Toronto's condo development scene, marking the first project in the city from acclaimed Danish architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG).

The development's shape alone has been turning heads on King West since last year, but it is the recent addition of the building's equally unique exterior treatment that is really tipping the scales towards landmark status.

Unlike the typical cladding choices copy-pasted on developments across the city, KING Toronto is standing out from the pack with a daring glass block exterior.

Cladding installation has been a gradual process, in part due to the custom design of the panels employed for this potentially iconic building.

With this cladding now enclosing the first three levels of the complex, passersby are getting a clearer picture of what this geologically inspired development will look like upon completion.

Renderings depict these glass-block slopes and cliffsides draped in greenery, combining to bring an organic flow to the artificial landform.

Bjarke Ingels Group

In case KING Toronto wasn't already bringing enough individuality through its massing and exterior treatment, the complex will also provide a new connection between King Street West and Wellington Street to the south.

This large three-storey passage carved into the base of the mountainscape opens up to a central courtyard at the heart of the complex, emptying out into a park south of the site.

KING Toronto will introduce 440 new homes to the bustling King West area once construction wraps up.