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Earlier this month, news broke on the coming redevelopment of the Yonge and Bloor intersection's last remaining low-rise corner, with Mizrahi Developments' recent purchase of the 30,000 square-foot Stollerys store located at the southwest corner of the bustling intersection. This purchase is part of a land assembly that was sold to Mizrahi for a reported $300 million, which includes 11 Bloor West, formerly occupied by a French Connection UK location, as well as the Sunrise Records located to the immediate south of Stollerys on Yonge Street.
Dozens of developers were reported to have approached the owners of Stollerys over the past few years with offers to purchase the 114-year-old menswear store, but Stollerys owners only sold to Mizrahi as they were convinced that the developer would build a high-quality landmark on the site. It is still to be confirmed which of the adjacent properties located to the west along Bloor or to the south along Yonge are also included in the land assembly.
While there is no final design for the development and the visioning stage is still ongoing, Sam Mizrahi, President of Mizrahi Developments told the Globe and Mail that they felt a responsibility to create an iconic building at this important intersection, one which he has dubbed 'The One' for its 1 Bloor Street West address. Mizrahi is considering a significant retail component to the development, and is looking at international retailers and restaurateurs to fill the base of the building, likely with a sky-scraping condominium tower to rise above. Speculation is that the new tower would be in a similar height range to neighbouring One Bloor East, a 75-storey condominium tower by developer Great Gulf Homes, currently rising across Yonge Street from this site.
We can now add a little more information to what is known; Sam Mizrahi has told us that the architects involved are world-renowned Sir Norman Foster of London, England-based Foster + Partners partnered with multi-award winning Core Architects of Toronto. Mizrahi also revealed that three underground connections are planned to run from 'The One' under adjacent streets to the PATH pedestrian network and the Bloor and Yonge subway lines.
Much more is to come soon. We will be closely following the progress of The One, and will return with additional information as further details are revealed. In the meantime, you can join in on the discussion of the project in UrbanToronto's The One's Projects & Construction Forum thread, or leave your thoughts in the comment space on this page.
