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DER + Associates' design for the 45-storey Emerald Tower has been refined as site activity picks up. The cleared lot at Jasper Avenue and 114th Street NW will play host to Edmonton's tallest residential tower, usurping the Pearl Tower, both initiated by Regency Developments.
The 273-unit building meets the intersection with ground-level retail, and unusually, incorporates its onsite parking into the podium. Situating the parkade above grade translates to a quicker construction timeline and significant cost savings. Regency Developments' chief operating officer Raj Dhunna estimates the plan cuts construction time by eight months and equates to a $50,000-per-stall saving.
Updated renderings posted to the DER + Associates website show how the design has evolved since the project received approval in June 2016. Each elevation now appears to employ wraparound corner balconies protruding from the glass-walled tower. The multi-coloured exterior on the podium that was initially proposed to mask the parking levels remains in play, though the expression of the spandrel panels has been slightly altered to emphasize the verticality of the tower.
Generally, the building's new design is a simpler and cleaner interpretation of the original. A backhoe currently active on the site gives hope that a construction start is imminent, soon giving the ICE District towers some friendly competition to the west.
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