Letters of the Toronto Star sign at One Yonge Street are removed from the building in late December. The newspaper moved to new offices at Front and Spadina in Toronto. December 21, 2022 (Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail)Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail
The developer behind the tallest tower in Canada currently under construction along Toronto’s waterfront has circulated a proposal to replace the former Toronto Star headquarters, a 25-storey office building on the same site, with two more 90-storey residential towers.
The proposal from Vancouver-based Pinnacle International Realty Group would involve the demolition of the 53-year-old Toronto Star building at 1 Yonge St. and seeks to add two more towers of 90 and 95 storeys.
No formal application has been made with the city to put the plan into motion and the company says the proposal isn’t final. But the idea of replacing the Star building with housing comes as Toronto planners appear to be relaxing a long-standing policy protecting office space from redevelopment and as the city has been approving or considering other super-tall skyscrapers that exceed 90 storeys.
The Globe and Mail obtained documents and renderings of the proposal that was circulated by Pinnacle at an in-camera meeting on April 24 with the City of Toronto and Waterfront Toronto’s design review panels, which are made up of some of the province’s prominent architects and planners. There was no public agenda posted for that meeting, and Waterfront Toronto declined to make minutes from the meeting available.
“We haven’t made any final decisions on our plans,” said Anson Kwok, vice-president of sales and marketing at Pinnacle International Realty Group, who said the new proposal was circulated as a pre-application consultation. “This is just the first go-around.”
Pinnacle purchased the land for a reported $250-million in 2012, and has already completed a 65-storey building on the site with planning permission to build another 92-storey tower in its next phase; the new plan would see four towers on the site taller than 90 storeys.
Pinnacle is currently constructing the SkyTower at Pinnacle One Yonge, a 105-storey mix of hotel and condominium apartments that will top out at 345 metres and would become the tallest tower in the country. It would be nearly 50 metres higher than the current tallest tower, First Canadian Place in Toronto, which is 298 metres tall and 72 storeys.
Initially slated to be completed in 2024, Pinnacle received permission to extend the building from 95 to 105 stories, and the completion date is now scheduled for 2026, said Mr. Kwok.
Toronto currently has planning bylaws that require the replacement of existing office space when doing demolition and new construction, and the Pinnacle site currently has zoning for 1.5 million square feet of office and hotel. The Pinnacle plan could remove much of the office space on the site as Toronto’s planning department is nearing completion of a review of its replacement policies with a report expected in July.
“Any pre-application discussions on any files are confidential in nature, so we’re not able to comment,” said City of Toronto spokesperson Deborah Blackstone in response to questions about the Pinnacle plan.
Toronto’s downtown core has seen its office vacancy rate increase significantly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Toronto has seen new office space come online in recent years while also experiencing a slower-than-expected return to the office. The high vacancy rates have been linked to perceived lack of vibrancy and street life downtown.
Mr. Kwok said the company recognizes the need to foster a more vibrant downtown, though he added that it only makes sense for the company to explore getting rid of the office component at the 1 Yonge site.
“I think that’s the diligent thing of any commercial or office property owner at this moment … just figuring out what the options are,” he said.