Toronto apartment tower is being totally demolished after 60 years

After providing homes to Toronto residents for six decades, an apartment tower in the Church and Wellesley neighbourhood is now being demolished.

The 14-storey building at 88 Isabella Street was constructed in 1965 amid a housing boom that saw the city rapidly built out with high-rise apartment blocks. 

However, sixty years later, these same rental buildings are now falling in increasing numbers to redevelopment in a renewed housing boom that has reshaped the region over the past decade and a half.

The sizeable structure has been cleared of tenants and is now in the early stages of demolition.

The entire building will eventually be razed to make way for a 62-storey tower from Capital Developments, which is set to contain a mix of condominiums and new rental units to replace those lost to demolition.

Redevelopment of the site was first tabled in April 2022, and, following approval, a demolition permit application landed in December 2024, signalling the impending end of 88 Isabella.

Back in March, Capital Developments' President, Carlo Timpano, told blogTO that all building residents had vacated ahead of demolition, and the company was at that point "actively tendering the demolition work."

With those permits now approved and contracts tendered, demolition crews have mobilized and begun the teardown process.

Fences were installed around the site this spring, and demolition crews arrived on-site in June.

In the weeks since demolition commenced, plenty of work has advanced despite the building remaining largely intact. 

All windows were removed earlier this summer, and the building's landscaping has been completely torn up, allowing excavators to begin working on the parking ramp and garage entrance along the west side of the tower, as well as on the below-grade sections along the site's southern frontage facing Isabella Street.

The early demolition work accomplished thus far has revealed concrete and structural rebar to daylight for the first time since it was laid six decades ago.

Structural demolition has commenced atop the tower out of view to passersby, with crews active all month on the roof, jackhammering away at the uppermost elements of the now-vacant structure.

The new tower at 88 Isabella will introduce 750 new residences to this rapidly intensifying side street.

Capital Developments

Most of the new units will be condos, though the plan will also include 82 replacement units for the demolished rentals on site, in accordance with the City's rental housing demolition policies.