The death of famed architect Frank Gehry won’t impact the completion of his last Canadian project, condos on Toronto’s King St. West.
However, market conditions have caused developers to press pause on the second tower, for now.
Gehry was born and raised in Toronto before going on to a long and successful career designing some of the world’s most well-known buildings, including the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
Forma condos was planned as two towers, one at 73 storeys and the other at 84, at 266 and 276 King St. W., with more than 2,000 units.
It’s a partnership between Great Gulf Group, Dream, and Westdale Properties.
The east tower has been under construction since 2023.
“We are saddened by the loss of a dear friend, a patriot. He loved Canada,” Mitchell Cohen, chief operating officer of Westdale Properties, told the Star.
“It won’t affect the completion of our project, except that we really wanted Frank to be there at various milestones,” he added.
Now it’s turned into, “not just an incredible condominium” but a “legacy for Frank Gehry.”
Gehry, who died Monday at his home in Santa Monica, Calif., at aged 96, had “four or five” other projects underway around the world, according to Cohen.
“Frank’s fingerprints are all over that building, all over it. So nothing will change, except we’re sad,” Cohen said of the Forma project.
From a “technical point of view everything is done.”
In November of 2022, the penthouse suite in the east tower, valued at over $20 million, was sold, according to Great Gulf.
Since then, the condo market has faced challenges, including a hike in interest rates from historic lows during the pandemic, and a dip in prices.
Developers, especially those in the pre-construction market trying to sell condos before they are built, have found it hard move units, and several buildings in the Toronto region have recently been cancelled.
Cohen said 86 per cent of the units in the east Forma tower have been sold.
Sales are on hold for now.
“We stopped sales after we started construction. We’re going to wait it out,” Cohen said of the market headwinds, noting they’ll open sales again in “maybe ‘28 or ‘29 when the building starts getting towards completion.”
As for the second tower, they have not started construction, a decision influenced “completely” by the current condo market.
“We’re going to wait for the market to show some rebound,” Cohen added.
But they will build it eventually, it’s all designed and has zoning approval.
Gehry always wanted an “ensemble” that would “dance together and be co-ordinated.”
Pauline Lierman, vice-president of market research at Canadian housing research company Zonda Urban, said it’s not uncommon, particularly with such a high-end luxury condos, to hold off on the final tranche of sales until buyers can see the finished product.
It’s been a tough year for condos overall, Lierman said, with about 4,000 apartment units cancelled in the GTA.
Forma is “in is own league” though.
“Obviously it needs its twin on the west side,” but the east tower “definitely sets a precedent for the core,” in terms of architecture, she added.
Workers have just begun putting on the “skin,” reflective panelling that will capture and reflect the light, on the east tower.
“I was told on one of his final days, (Gehry) did see a photograph of the skin being put onto the building. And he was so, so happy, so, so proud, ” Cohen said.
The architect loved visiting Toronto and “rediscovering his roots.”
Cohen took him around to see the home he grew up in, where he had his Bar Mitzvah, and where his grandfather was buried, he said.
Gehry also did the 2008 expansion of the Art Gallery of Ontario, which included the spiral staircase and Lawren Harris galleries.
He also designed art that will go in the lobby of the east Forma tower, Cohen said, including a “massive piece that’s being fabricated as we speak,” that will incorporate “billowing clouds” and hang from the ceiling.
Gehry was in Toronto for the groundbreaking on the east tower in 2023.
He told the Star in a brief interview at the time that the twisting panelling has an almost crystal quality.
Asked if he thought of Toronto’s architecture, known for concrete towers and brutalism, was ugly, Gehry demurred.
But he said a lot of it is “not exciting,” and that he hoped Forma would be different.
“The light is free,” he explained.
“So you can play with it, if you can manipulate the materials you can manipulate the light and you get beautiful patterns.”
