A long-time parking lot that particularly bothered us at UrbanToronto was the one which used to take up almost the entire block bounded by King, Widmer, Adelaide, and John Streets. This week's Throwback Thursday takes us back to Sept 22, 2007 when the work on developing this block was well underway, with the excavation complete. Here we see the first crane being installed for what would soon be the Daniels Corporation-developed tiff Bell Lightbox and Festival Tower complex. 

tiff Bell Lightbox / Festival Tower under-construction - September 22, 2007, image by Edward Skira

Today the situation is drastically different as the tiff Bell Lightbox replaces the previous skyline view.

tiff Bell Lightbox today, image by Edward Skira

A view looking up at the Festival Tower.

Looking up at tiff Bell Lightbox and Festival Tower, image by Edward Skira

A cool view is replaced by a massive wall. A large parking lot replaced by a cultural icon. One piece at a time the urban fabric of Toronto improves. And that parking lot we used to hate is now totally gone as the north end of this site now contains Daniels' Cinema Tower and Pinnacle International's Pinnacle On Adelaide.