Sprouting from Toronto’s Yonge and Bloor intersection, the enormous new tower known as The One is pretty impossible to miss — both through its visual prominence and its saga of construction setbacks along with disastrous financial and legal challenges.
Despite all its trials and tribulations, the soaring skyscraper known as The One is about to claim the title of Canada’s tallest building.
However, this distinction will be short-lived, and The One will reign as the country’s tallest building for just a few months before another huge skyscraper snatches away the crown.
The 85-storey tower is now just a few levels shy of its peak and on the cusp of overtaking the country’s longstanding tallest building, First Canadian Place, as the country’s new tallest within a matter of weeks.
The One now rises roughly 80 storeys into the Toronto skyline, and its design from U.K.-based architects Foster + Partners working with local talent Core Architects has already become a new icon for the Bloor-Yorkville area.
As of early March 2025, it is now the second-tallest building in Canada after First Canadian Place, and will soon eclipse the 50-year-old bank tower’s 298-metre height.
Previously approved at a 94-storey height, plans for The One were scaled back to an earlier 85-storey version following a protracted battle over the project’s ownership. This plan will see the tower top out at a height of almost 309 metres.
Phil Marion
Only a few residential floors and the lowest portion of the tower’s mechanical penthouse section stand between The One and this record height.
Jeremy Gilbert
The One has faced a slew of setbacks, from legal proceedings after developer Sam Mizrahi was ousted from key roles to a receivership order and resulting listing of the project.
Finally, after all of these setbacks, veteran developer Tridel was put in charge of the project in December 2024, and will oversee the completion of the embattled skyscraper.
Tridel was put in control of the project after buyers balked at the roughly $2 billion price tag. The site’s court-appointed receiver Alvarez & Marsal selected Tridel out of 11 participating bidders, with the firm cited as the “best aligned with the size, scope and complexity of the project.”
As part of the deal, the veteran builder will work towards getting the project across the finish line while maximizing value for stakeholders by “saving costs, and potentially re-designing concepts for certain of the unbuilt residential units.”
And while The One will indeed claim the title of Canada’s tallest in the weeks or months to come, future residents of the tower’s multimillion-dollar suites will never be able to boast this honour.
The One’s record-breaking height will itself be eclipsed by the 105-storey Pinnacle SkyTower under construction a few kilometres to the south on Yonge Street.
At a height of 345 metres, the SkyTower’s upper floors will be roughly eye-level with the observation deck of Canada’s tallest freestanding structure (that does not technically count as a building due to a lack of successively habitable floors), the CN Tower.
