The southwest corner of Yonge Street and Bloor Streets in Toronto, is pictured on Wed., March 11, 2015. Mizrahi Developments is proposing the construction of an 80-storey mixed-use building on the site.
The Toronto businessman who purchased the iconic southwest corner of Yonge and Bloor streets unveiled his vision to local residents on Wednesday, promising a building that will put the intersection “on an international map.”
Towering above the heart of the city at 80 storeys, “The One” retail and residential development received several rounds of applause from a packed meeting room at the Hyatt hotel on Avenue Road. And then, an unheard of thing happened in a city rife with pitched battles over density: a member of the local ratepayers association rose to ask developer Sam Mizrahi if he would consider adding more floors in order to expand the public realm.
“This is what this open forum is about. The city decides,” Mr. Mizrahi said with a smile. “If this is what the community wants, and wants us to add floors, it’s a design in progress.”
Mr. Mizrahi’s plan, designed by renowned British architect Norman Foster, for the corner occupied for 114 years by Stollerys is to create a shopping destination on par with Chicago’s Michigan Avenue and New York’s Fifth Avenue. If approved, it would be the tallest building in Canada, he said.
The model and artistic renderings on display show a glass building encased by beams that crisscross the structure. It’s known as an “exoskeletal” structure which, Mr. Mizrahi said, means it doesn’t rely on columns or pillars to stand upright. The plan is to build and open the retail section first, which includes winter gardens and a public atrium, then construct the residential suites.
“This is one of the most unique engineering feats there is, where form and function come together,” he said in an interview after his presentation. “And it actually acts as jewelry on the building, as public art. But it’s actually holding the whole building up.”
He said about nine buildings in the world use exoskeletal technology, which according to studies he commissioned decrease wind speeds in the corridor.
The proposal created controversy when Mr. Mizrahi moved in January to start demolishing the old Stollerys building just days after local Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam sought to look into giving the building a heritage designation.
Mr. Mizrahi said demolition plans had been in the works since October and that no concerns were raised with him.
“We were transparent about what our intentions were,” said Mr. Mizrahi to a question about the timing. “We were issued legal demolition permits by the city of Toronto and we did it exactly according to plans six months prior.” He said he has preserved limestone from Stollerys to make a monument.
Ed Whaley, president and CEO of Stollerys, attended the meeting and said of Mr. Mizrahi, “what he says, he’ll do. You’re a real gentleman.”
Others in attendance, including interior designer Brian Gluckstein and high-end clothier Harry Rosen praised the proposal, with others touting its potential to rejuvenate the entire area and keep Yorkville, as one man put it, from “going the way of the dodo.”
Councillor Wong-Tam was not in attendance. Reached by email, she declined to share her opinion until the full application had been submitted. “This icon intersection requires the greatest scrutiny and development impacts to the neighbourhood will last 100 years. There can be no mistakes,” she wrote. “The architecture must respond in a contextually appropriate manner to Yonge Street in addition to Bloor Street.”
National Post
03.11.2015
Maziar Moini, Broker of Record - Home Leader Realty Inc.
300 Richmond St. W., #300, Toronto, ON M5V-1X2
