The Race To Build Canada's Tallest Skyscraper

Video hosted and narrated by Fred Mills.

THE ONE could change Canada forever.

When complete, it'll be the country’s first ever supertall skyscraper, setting a precedent for the future.

Initially predicted to cost more than a billion Canadian dollars, it’ll offer 306m of condo, hotel and retail luxury. But to live here, you’ll need pretty deep pockets.

The lavish homes cost anywhere from three to more than 30 million dollars. But what’s a few million when you have the chance to live in Canada’s tallest skyscraper?

The One really is a record breaker. Well, it might be.

On the prestigious corner of Yonge and Bloor, The One should have been a slam dunk for the city. Ground was broken in 2017 and it was expected to be a game changer not just for Toronto but for the whole of Canada.

However, at the moment it still looks a lot like a building site. What was sold as a sanctuary in the clouds, is currently an incomplete block of concrete and steel on the corner of one of Toronto’s busiest intersections.

Above: The One remains incomplete due to ongoing issues.

And that’s because The One’s attempted climb to the top of the city's skyline has been very difficult. It’s in A LOT of debt, well behind schedule and earlier this year, the lead developer was given the boot from his own project.

But this isn’t just about saving The One from crisis. It’s about securing the legacy of what was meant to be Canada’s first supertall skyscraper.

Constructing The One

The corner of Yonge and Bloor is a key intersection in Toronto.  It’s a major hub in modern midtown where two iconic streets meet. It’s the ideal city living experience - if you’ve got the cash.

Above: Yonge and Bloor is one of the busiest and most iconic intersections in Toronto, full of high-rises and perfect for The One.

Full of penthouses, condos and glass facades, exclusivity is the name of the game. You really couldn’t pick a better location for a supertall condo complex like The One and it’s well on its way towards the skies above Toronto. Now standing at more than 250m, the structural elements have come to life. 

Running on the outside, the horizontal and vertical frame is exposed on the facade, providing visual distinction from any of the buildings nearby. In its makeup a series of ties climb up at regular intervals, where the mechanical floors are found.

Eight giant exterior pillars then support the tower from top to bottom, providing additional space inside. A frame hangs the floors by the distinctive diagonal beams and at every six levels there are two diagonal braces on each corner.

Above: A model of The One, showing the exterior columns, floors and the frame.

As with any project of this scale, the plans were tinkered with quite a bit before work on The One could begin and it was largely because of the weather. All skyscrapers have to pass a wind test before being commissioned and that’s done using a model of the proposed building.

Testing was carried out by performance engineers RWDI, and the results highlighted pretty intense wind pressures. It was decided much stronger materials were needed but that’s not all. 

A neat piece of kit called a Tuned Mass Damper will be added to the top - it’s basically a 600-tonne pendulum. As The One sways with the wind, the pendulum swings to counter the rocking, halving the amount the tower moves. 

But that wind has to go somewhere. There are cutaways in the mechanical floors to disrupt the flow, keeping it from blowing people over at street level - a fairly important factor for any tower like this.

And so work is well and truly underway but there’s some way to go before The One is ready for its glitzy inhabitants to move in.

In fact, that landmark should have been hit in 2022, so what’s the hold up?

The One is fighting the tide

It’s worth looking at The One's context within the city. It may be architecturally unique in Toronto but it’s just one piece of a much bigger jigsaw.

The city is in the midst of a construction purple patch, with a quite frankly ridiculous number of cranes in operation at well over 200. That’s four times more than anywhere else in North America.

And while it’s partially the mark of a growing destination, it’s also indicative of a problem facing the whole country - a housing crisis. 

By 2030, it’s thought Canada will need an extra 5 million homes and Toronto isn’t immune.

The population is rising by nearly 1% every year and housing can’t keep up. Previous zoning laws, known as the Yellow Belt, haven’t helped either. They traditionally saw large sections of Toronto’s residential areas reserved for detached and semi-detached single-family homes.

Not ideal for tackling an influx of people in need of affordable places to live.

Above: The Yellow Belt in Toronto has traditionally protected residential areas from large scale developments, although that is starting to change.

That’s slowly changing - four units are now allowed to be built per one plot in the Yellow Belt - but it isn’t happening fast enough, hence the upward climb of residential properties in the heart of Toronto, often in the form of condominiums like The One.

But therein lies another problem.

Canada’s condo crash

Back in the late 1970s, Toronto experienced a boom of condo development that changed the face of the city forever, becoming a high-rise metropolis. But in recent years, that condo momentum has been stuttering, with many of the towers no longer fit for purpose.

Chris Hume is a journalist in Toronto and has been following the city's development for years:

"It turned out most of these condos were actually built with investors in mind. That meant they were small and basically bought to be rented out. They became the de facto source of most of the rental stuff in the city for decades. But because they were so small, they weren’t the kinds of places families would want to live, or that people would want to live permanently. It means they’ve taken on a temporary feel."

Safe to say, the condo market isn’t in great shape. As of early 2024, 60 of the towers are on hold in the city and various others have been cancelled. Developers are struggling with high interest rates, not to mention lofty inflation, and rent isn’t meeting ownership costs.

The One is no exception. The project is facing soaring debts, climbing to $1.7 billion. Accrued debts like this are why some developers in the city have been going out of business.

Mizrahi Developments isn’t shutting down but as of early 2024, its lead Sam Mizrahi is no longer managing The One’s construction. It follows the appointment of Alvarez and Marsal as receiver, to get the tower back on track.

Besides the climbing debt, they reported that the relationship between Mr Mizrahi and his partner on The One, Jenny Coco had become ‘acrimonious’.

Mr Mizrahi and Alvarez and Marsal didn’t take The B1M up on the offer to comment.

What next for The One?

The One has been a hotbed of issues and that means construction has well overrun its target date. Remember that 2022 completion aim? By October 4th 2023, only 40 floors of concrete walls and columns had been poured.

But given its key location in the city, the money spent so far and plans to create more apartments in the upper floors, it’d be a surprise if The One isn’t completed - it’s already part way there and as we know, major skyscrapers are never left unfinished or unopened. Ask the teams behind Goldin Finance 117, Chicago Spire and Ryugyong Hotel.

Above: From left to right: Goldin Finance 117, Chicago Spire, Ryugyong Hotel.

The delays could cause more problems for The One than debts and irritating the tenants and investors.  It should have been Canada’s first supertall skyscraper, its legacy forever secured in the history books.

But it may miss its moment under the spotlight because of a development down the road. The SkyTower - the jewel of Toronto’s latest major development, Pinnacle One.

When they first started building, it was planned to be an already impressive 313 metres but the developers found that boring so in 2022 they asked if they could increase the height. Approval was given, meaning it’ll stand at more than 340 metres tall. It’s well on its way to those dizzying heights too and could even be finished in 2025.

And so the race is on for The One to reach supertall status first. But who knows when it’ll be finished and ready to be lived in? 

Senior lenders want to wash their hands of the failing build, looking to sell for nothing less than $1.2 billion.  The trouble is, estimates reported by the Toronto Star currently put it at half that value. The Star is also reporting tenancy contracts could be torn up so that apartments can be sold at higher rates.

Even if that does recoup some investment, anyone who takes on The One will have to go about finding a lead retail tenant.  Apple was due to move into the ground floor but because of the ongoing delays, the tech mega giant pulled out, leaving a gaping hole in the floor plan.

Of course, for any of this to matter, construction of the skyscraper actually needs to be finished. Chris Hume says work is still continuing:

"The last time I went by there the construction seemed to be underway. Now, I didn’t stop and take a look but it’s too big a project in too important a neighbourhood to just sit there, although we’ve done that before. But I think it will eventually get done."

Above: A render of The One in the Toronto's skyline. Image courtesy of Foster + Partners.

One thing is for certain: in the next two years, Canada will have its first supertall skyscraper. The question is which will win the race?

Toronto is on the cusp of transformation and given the construction landscape here, the flood gates are now open for more supertalls to follow.

The One has faced billions of dollars of debt, receivership, a change of management and mounting delays. Who’ll end up living and working here still isn’t entirely clear.

Only time will tell if it ever manages to fulfil its destiny, and finally become Canada’s first supertall skyscraper.

Video narrated and hosted by Fred Mills. Additional footage and images courtesy of Dgabit, Foster + Partners, Stephen Velasco, guillom, MasaneMiyaPA, Sony Pictures Classics, CityNews, CBC News, Global News, Sikander Iqbal, Amazingloong, Martin Cigler, Lectrician2, PERI, Simon Carr.

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