Cristal

Planned for construction in 2008, this tower was shelved for a few years, but might still eventually replace the old Bennett Glass building (see photo of it before demolition), thus the name of the condo tower and some of the crystal design hints; architectural touches that harkens to our history, brief though it is. The site has been used as a storage area for the builder's planned Kai Towers condo project kitty-corner to it, but that's been cancelled and in 2011 will rise as a single rental building to be called Oslo.

There are to be--some day--207 suites in the 32-storey Cristal tower incorporating "built green" low energy-use design. There will be one commercial space on the ground floor, likely housing a restaurant. The tower is to be set back from the intersection, allowing for a drop-off driveway loop and outdoor seating area and perhaps a fountain. The podium for Cristal will house studio suites with a green roof atop that, and larger suites in the tower with its rounded corners on the south side.

The project is by Homburg Centron Group, which in 2008 also completed the luxury-class Churchill Estates Condos in Eau Claire, Castello condos in Connaught's eastern end, and had started excavating for the aformentioned twin Kai Towers on the large site kitty-corner from Cristal before shelving both.