877 Yonge Street: Construction Updates

Now that the construction of our new theatre and office space at 877 Yonge Street is complete, things are moving quickly. Here’s a peak at the construction updates and milestones we achieved throughout this process…

December 2024

Happy New Year! We are excited to bring you the December construction update, which includes details on the tech booth in the new theatre and the gorgeous colours of our new space.

Performance Hall

Our theatre is coming to life!

You can now see the skeleton of the tech booth at the north of the space. You can already see the rectangular windows! We are thrilled to be able to have a dedicated tech booth in the theatre, as this will facilitate not only the discrete running of lighting, projections, and sound but it is also a soundproof space from which we can record professional audio. This booth will significantly improve our capacity to self-produce dynamic shows for a smooth and enjoyable audience experience!

Office Space

The walls and door frames of our office space are also beginning to take shape. It is very exciting to vision how our team will gather in this space afresh! 

Colours! Finishings!

We have decided on the final colours for our new space, and we’re thrilled! Clay Jones and Naz Afsahi have worked to share the name of the space associated with the colours.

October 2024

Construction is in full swing! Now that we have handled the water remediation work, we are full steam ahead with creating the new venue. The large room opposite the theatre is divided into a rehearsal studio, a green room, and Nightwood and Tapestry’s offices. We have exciting developments about framing, final paint, millwork, colours, and finishings.

Performance Hall

The tech booth, storage, and piano room are now framed in the theatre. After spending so much time with the floor plans, it is incredibly exciting to see these spaces emerge in three dimensions. 

Office and Rehearsal Studio

This space is being turned into Nightwood and Tapestry’s offices, our rehearsal studio, and our green room. As we have only ever seen this space as a large activities room, the effect of delineating the space with framing is immense. The window section along the east wall has gotten bigger—yay, more light for our future office!

The walls and framing are up in the rehearsal studio, both private offices for Tapestry and Nightwood leadership and the green room.

Behind the scenes

This space is being turned into Nightwood and Tapestry’s offices, our rehearsal studio, and our green room. As we have only ever seen this space as a large activities room, the effect of delineating the space with framing is immense. The window section along the east wall has gotten bigger—yay, more light for our future office!

The walls and framing are up in the rehearsal studio, both private offices for Tapestry and Nightwood leadership and the green room.

August & September 2024

In our last update, we found water everywhere, so read on to learn about the remediation work in the previous two months.

Performance Hall

Under Slap Water

After record-setting heavy rainfalls this summer, the team found evidence of water seepage under the concrete slab. While this is unwelcome news, it was better to have found it at this stage with everything demolished and not later when we have our shiny new flooring and are open. The remedial work included installing weeping tile under the slab, increasing the drainage outside the building, and a new sump pump system. Since the work took the better part of August and continued into September, our timelines have shifted slightly – but we will still be opening in early 2025, so never fear!

Insulation

The team at StructCon is currently installing insulation in the Theatre, which you will see on either side of the photo below. This is exciting progress as we see the shape of the walls and the envelope of the space emerge. Incredible to think of this space full of people and art and beauty in just a few short months!

Office and Rehearsal Studio

Framing

Water remediation work took place in our Rehearsal Studio space in August and September, but it didn’t slow down the framing (much). It’s been so long as an open space we’d gotten used to it, but it is tremendously exciting to see the walls coming up to demarcate the spaces – it’s really starting to feel real. As you can have seen on the floor plan, there will be two private offices, and those are the spaces that you can see in this photo of the framing. This section of the floor also bore the brunt of the water work, so you can see evidence of that too!

Behind the Scenes

Panoramic view of construction in full swing in the performance hall.

July 2024

We have officially broken ground on creating the theatre, offices and rehearsal studio at 877 Yonge Street. Having completed the demolition and asbestos removal earlier in the spring, it is full steam ahead to create an accessible and affordable theatre in Toronto.

Performance Hall

After the demolition work was completed, we found some water behind the drywall, which is to be expected with a building of this age. While we move ahead with mechanical, electrical, and plumbing rough-ins, we’re also working hard to address the leaks, springs, and drips that have made themselves known.

Office and Rehearsal Studio

The construction team has started with replacing the ventilation system and ductwork. The team raised the pre-construction ceiling by nearly three feet, and we were delighted to discover its full height—dancers using the studio will be happy, too!

January to March 2024

As of January 2024, asbestos remediation was completed, and in early March so was demolition, setting up the runway for construction!

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