Looking south from the 90th floor of the SkyTower, you can trace the perimeter of the Toronto Islands and Tommy Thompson Park to the east.
At the 100th floor, you’re near eye level with the CN tower’s observation deck. Cars on the Gardiner are minuscule; even 25-storey structures look tiny.
On Friday, Vancouver-based luxury developer Pinnacle International celebrated the construction of the 100th floor of the building, which will soar to 106 storeys upon completion.
The skyscraper, already Canada’s tallest, will form part of Pinnacle’s One Yonge “master-plan” development, located by the waterfront east of Yonge Street and set to include residences, hotels, retail and outdoor space.
The SkyTower itself will have 958 residential units ranging in price from about $1 million to, on the higher levels, $10 million, and $30 million for the penthouse, said Anson Kwok, vice-president of sales and marketing at Pinnacle.
The lower levels will make up the Marriott’s Le Meridien Toronto Pinnacle Hotel, with 223 suites.
The 106th floor, which will line up with the CN Tower’s observation level, will have a restaurant, the developer announced Friday.
Kwok said Pinnacle hopes to welcome residents and hotel guests next spring or summer.
Most floors of the tower, designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects, will have 12 residential units, but roughly the top 20 floors will have seven, six, or four units, Kwok said, while the penthouse and restaurant will each have their own floor.
Units up to the 88th floor will have balconies.
On Friday, the top 15 floors still looked like a construction site, with concrete, empty spaces for windows, dust and the sounds of hammering.
Pinnacle executives, their family and friends, project consultants, and members of the press reached the top of the building as construction workers laid concrete on parts of the 100th floor. A large crane with Pinnacle’s logo lingered overhead.
The two-block, mixed-use development planned for 1-7 Yonge St. will include three towers on the north block — of 106, 95, and 65 storeys.
The future of the south block is less clear.
While the developer in October submitted an application to the City of Toronto to build two towers on the south block, it later submitted a zoning application to the convert the Toronto Star’s old headquarters at the site into a luxury hotel.
The application said it hoped to “extend the lifespan” of the office building, which is 87 per cent vacant, while it continues to plan the towers.
The SkyTower is set to be completed in 2026.
