{"id":163992,"date":"2025-09-23T14:30:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T14:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/163992\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T14:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T14:30:09","slug":"toronto-skyscrapers-reach-new-towering-heights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/163992\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto skyscrapers reach new, towering heights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

At 1 Yonge St., in downtown Toronto, Pinnacle International\u2019s 106-storey Sky Tower will top out at 351 metres and be one of five skyscrapers that\u2019s part of the 4.4-million-square-foot Pinnacle One Yonge development.Wallace Immen<\/p>\n

Amid Toronto\u2019s forest of skyscrapers, developers are erecting a new generation of \u2018supertall\u2019 buildings, which top out at 300 metres<\/a> and above.<\/p>\n

The trend comes amid pricey Toronto land values and as finding large pockets of land proves difficult, making building tall a more economical and feasible option, according to Isaac Work, Canada associate director at the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). <\/p>\n

While the city\u2019s real estate market has recently cooled, housing demand in Toronto likely means construction will begin to increase soon, adds David Pontarini, founding partner of Toronto-based Hariri Pontarini Architects, which has been involved with the designs of several supertall developments in the city, including Pinnacle One Yonge, One Bloor West and another proposed College Park project. <\/p>\n

The 85-storey One Bloor West, under construction by Tridel, will reach more than 300 metres, officially becoming Canada\u2019s first supertall building this summer, before it\u2019s officially completed in 2028. The project, under construction since 2015, has been marred by controversy<\/a>, it is years behind schedule and it is hundreds of millions of dollars over budget.<\/p>\n

Its record will be short-lived. By the end of the year, Pinnacle International\u2019s 106-storey Sky Tower at 1 Yonge St., will reach 351 metres, with more supertalls on the way.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The iconic Sky Tower \u2014 projected to reach 351 metres \u2014 will surpass the height of the CN Tower\u2019s main observation level, which sits at 346 metres.Supplied\/Pinnacle International<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s supertall stock<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re tracking a total of 11 supertalls in development \u2013 including three under construction \u2013 which makes Toronto eighth among cities in the world building supertalls,\u201d says Mr. Work.<\/p>\n

In addition to One Bloor West and Sky Tower in Toronto, the 300-metre, mixed-use Concord Sky tower is under construction at the city\u2019s Yonge and Gerrard streets. Other proposed Toronto supertalls include one of a trio of towers at College Park, one at 19 Bloor St. W. in Yorkville, one of three towers designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry in the Theatre District on King Street and one at 191 Bay St. in the Financial District. <\/p>\n

The only other supertall building proposed elsewhere in Canada<\/a> is a 315-metre tower that is part of a three-building property \u2013 announced by developer Holborn Group \u2013 at the corner of West Georgia and Dunsmuir streets in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

Heights rise globally<\/p>\n

While new for Canada, 242 supertalls have been completed around the world, while another 353 are in development, according to Chicago-based CTBUH. <\/p>\n

The council is holding an international conference<\/a> at Toronto\u2019s Westin Harbour Castle hotel from Oct. 6 to 9, which is expected to draw 1,400 experts.<\/p>\n

There are 71 cities around the world with at least one supertall building, with four reaching \u2018megatall\u2019 status \u2013 buildings of more than 600 metres, CTBUH calculates<\/a>. <\/a>The four megatalls are the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai Tower and the Clock Towers in Mecca.<\/p>\n

Dubai leads supertall standings with 33, followed by Shenzhen, China, with 21 and New York City with 19. China boasts 120 supertall buildings, followed by the United Arab Emirates with 37 and the United States with 31, the council tabulates<\/a>. <\/a><\/p>\n

Aside from ranking eighth for supertalls, Toronto ranks as the 16th tallest city in the world, with 108 skyscrapers reaching more than 200 metres, says CTBUH.<\/a> It\u2019s also the third-tallest in North America after New York and Chicago. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The lower 12 floors of Sky Tower will be the 224-room Le M\u00e9ridien Toronto Pinnacle Hotel, while the upper floors will include 960 residential units.Supplied\/Pinnacle International<\/p>\n

Master planning for tall buildings <\/p>\n

The unobstructed views of Lake Ontario are only part of the equation when it comes to building the 4.4-million-square-foot, five-tower development at One Yonge St. <\/p>\n

South of Toronto\u2019s Gardiner Expressway, the property\u2019s supertall Sky Tower will sit alongside four other structures, one of which will be another supertall rising 95 storeys \u2013 or 320 metres, says Anson Kwok, vice-president of sales and marketing for Pinnacle International. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re turning the waterfront into a community where everything is available within a convenient walk,\u201d Mr. Kwok says. \u201cBefore this, there were retailers that only survived in the summer months when tourists visited. The residential will drive thriving retail businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pinnacle One Yonge complex will ultimately include more than 2,500 condominium suites, one million square feet of office space, 80,000 square feet of retail and a 50,000-square-foot community centre. <\/p>\n

The development\u2019s already-completed first tower \u2013 a 65-storey building called The Prestige \u2013 includes office and retail space, including a Bank of Montreal and SKN Beauty Centre. <\/p>\n

The lower 12 floors of Sky Tower will be the 224-room Le M\u00e9ridien Toronto Pinnacle Hotel, while the upper floors will include 960 residential units.<\/p>\n

While the tower will surpass the height of the CN Tower\u2019s main observation level, which sits at 346 metres, there are no plans for a public rooftop, Mr. Kwok notes. The top four floors will be for mechanical equipment.<\/p>\n

The economics of building tall<\/p>\n

Building tall is a natural result of land values that have increased dramatically over the years, explains Mr. Pontarini of Hariri Pontarini Architects. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile building two 53-storey buildings might be faster as crews could work in parallel and sequence construction, it\u2019s increasingly difficult to assemble large parcels of land in Toronto\u2019s core,\u201d Mr. Pontarini says. \u201cWe will be seeing more and more of these supertall projects as cities mature to get the highest and best use of constrained sites.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rising to super-heights is also more complicated and challenging, Mr. Pontarini notes. \u201cYou need stronger concrete at the bottom than at the top and different footing sizes and elevator systems.\u201d <\/p>\n

Tall buildings also need special systems to counteract wind-induced vibrations. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to know what you\u2019re doing, but we have learned a lot as these structures become more common around the world,\u201d he adds. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: At 1 Yonge St., in downtown Toronto, Pinnacle International\u2019s 106-storey Sky Tower will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1401,13754,1397,76,354,355,49,48,84920,84921,84925,356,75,84926,84924,84927,13753,84919,84922,84923],"class_list":{"0":"post-163992","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-adveditorial","9":"tag-advpropertyreport","10":"tag-appwebview","11":"tag-arts","12":"tag-arts-and-design","13":"tag-artsanddesign","14":"tag-ca","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-supertall-buildings","17":"tag-canada-supertalls","18":"tag-college-park-toronto","19":"tag-design","20":"tag-entertainment","21":"tag-one-bloor-west","22":"tag-one-yonge-toronto","23":"tag-pinnacle-one-yonge","24":"tag-property-report","25":"tag-supertall-buildings","26":"tag-toronto-supertalls","27":"tag-vancouver-supertalls"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}