Shangri-La Toronto

Shangri-La Toronto is a hotel in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was designed by James K. M. Cheng and was built by Westbank Projects Corporation, who also designed and constructed the Living Shangri-La in Vancouver. It is 214 meters tall, and is one of the ten tallest buildings in Toronto. The hotel component is run by Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts and is planned to have 202 guest rooms. The condominium portion occupies the upper floors of the building and consist of 353 units. Excavation of the site started in 2008, and work on the parking garage began in early 2009.Shangri-La Toronto is located on University Avenue and Adelaide Street, in an area just west of the Financial District that has seen rapid growth in recent years. The site was previously home to a number of smaller structures, most notable the historic Bishop's Block. The Bishop's Block was built in the 1830s by John Bishop who built a series of Georgian row houses on the site and developed it as a high end residential district.Most of the buildings were eventually torn down and replaced with a large parking lot. The one exception a structure that served as one of the city's first hotels and then as a pub for many decades. It too was abandoned for several decades, but as a heritage structure was not torn down. This building was disassembled for the construction of Shangri-La Hotel, Toronto but the developers have pledged to rebuild and restore the Bishop's Block as part of the project. Prior to excavation the site was the subject to several months of archaeological exploration, and many artifacts from the city's early history were found. Shangri-La Hotel, Toronto was the second deepest excavation for a building in Canada's history at 102 ft (31 m), with only Scotia Plaza being deeper. This was done to create an 8 level below grade parking garage.