Construction for Canada's new tallest building is about to break records in Toronto

The new condo tower rising from the Toronto Star lands at the foot of Yonge Street may not look too special right now, but this construction site is producing what will soon be the tallest building in Canada.

Pinnacle Developments’ flagship Pinnacle One Yonge development will soon be home to an absolute behemoth of a condo tower, rising 105 storeys and permanently reorienting the Toronto skyline.

The sprawling Hariri Pontarini-designed development has already added one new tower to the skyline, and its second tower is now quickly rising. However, this tower is set to just keep on climbing, higher than any building ever constructed in Toronto or anywhere else in Canada.

Looking east from Harbour Street to the rising SkyTower. (Fareen Karim)

Pinnacle’s SkyTower ultimately came out as the victor in a heated battle against Mizrahi Developments’ The One, with the two developers vying for approval to have the tallest building around.

The SkyTower was granted a height increase to 105 storeys in late 2023, beating out The One’s approved increase to 91 storeys granted earlier that year. Mizrahi would later be booted off his own project in early 2024, months after it was placed into receivership.

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Late 2023 approvals for SkyTower and another 92-storey tower in the Pinnacle One Yonge complex have firmly established the development in the running for the most significant of the current building boom, as it prepares to break multiple records in the months to come.

Looking southeast from Yonge Street to the rising SkyTower. (Fareen Karim)

The SkyTower will be Canada’s tallest overall building, the first building in Canada to exceed 100 floors, and will be home to the highest residences in the country.

Glass installation has enclosed much of the tower’s base. (Fareen Karim)

At just shy of 345 metres, the tower would stand as the world’s 10th-tallest all-residential building — with the only taller residential buildings in cities like Dubai, Chicago, and New York.

Only the CN Tower and three guyed television masts in Ontario and Manitoba rise taller than the SkyTower’s total height, though none of these qualify as buildings.

The developer’s logo fixed to the base of an externally mounted construction crane. (Fareen Karim)

The tower is now approaching 20 storeys in height, and recent progress has seen concrete forming completed for the larger lower-level floorplates, moving onto the slender tower floorplates above.

With a smaller surface area and repeating floor layouts, these floors are expected to rise at a much faster pace than the lower floors, which should make for an exciting ascent in the months to come.

Looking northeast from Queens Quay to the tower. (Fareen Karim)

Installation of the building’s curtainwall glass cladding has now progressed as high as the seventh floor, offering the first hints at the glitzy new landmark’s reflective finishes.

Pinnacle’s SkyTower will soon be the tallest building around. (Fareen Karim)

The tower will add almost 1,000 new condominium units to the neighbourhood once work wraps up, while permanently altering postcard views of Toronto.