SINCE 1996 SAM MIZRAHI’S BILLION-DOLLAR BUILDING WHAT THE WELL-DRESSED DESIGN ADDICTS WOMAN GET READY: WILL BE WEARING IDS15 IS COMING THIS SPRING TO TOWN MICHAEL WE ROCK WEKERLE ON WITH THE WINTER 2014/15 U.S. / CAN $5.95 BAD BOY OF BAY STREET DISPLAY IN FASHION / LIFESTYLE UNTIL MARCH 27 34 Publications Mail Agreement # 40026675 Publications Mail 0874470 94926 THE ONE-BILLION DOLLARBUILDING Developer Sam Mizrahi has landed what is arguably the most prestigious address in Toronto, 1 Bloor Street West. What he plans on doing with it could be a game-changer for the city WRITTEN BY MICHAEL HILL “One Bloor Street West, it doesn’t get any better than that,” says Mizrahi from his company’s offi ce on Hazelton Avenue. For Mizrahi, the Yonge-Bloor intersection is the most important real estate corner in the city — if not the pools, restaurants and be connected to country — and he has good reason to the underground PATH network for believe so. Over 51,000 pedestrians cross easy access to the subway. It’s too early one seems to notice those streets every day, making it not to say what its height will be, and he Sam Mizrahi as he only the busiest corner of the Mink Mile, won’t get into the specifi cs, but Mizrahi stands in the middle the heart of upscale shopping in Toronto, notes that The One will be comparable of the intersection but one of the busiest in the city. Mizrahi in scale and context to surrounding of Bloor and Yonge fully appreciates its signifi cance. developments. Great Gulf Homes’ One Nostreets, posing for the camera during the The building he envisions is both Bloor East climbs skyward right across scramble crosswalk on a misty autumn “epic and iconic,” a landmark on par the street and will peak at 75 storeys. afternoon. It’s ironic that nobody pays with renowned structures of other One wonders if Mizrahi will dare to any mind to the 43-year-old developer, world cities. “We wanted this to be go higher. because, in a few years, it’s going to be the Rockefeller Center or the Chrysler Being a cornerstone of the Mink Mile, impossible to miss what he’s done. Building or the Empire State Building retail will also be a crucial component Back in October, the president of for Toronto. And this is the corner to of the building’s street presence. Mizrahi Mizrahi Developments acquired a do it in,” he explains. The project will explains that retail space is being custom number of contiguous properties on the be the fi rst billion-dollar residential/ designed with no columns or pillars corner of Yonge and Bloor, including commercial building in the country obstructing the line of sight to house long-standing Toronto menswear and he’s already dubbed the new fl agship stores from top international retailer Stollery’s, for over $200 million. development “The One” to match both brands. He can’t say which retailers he’s The plan for the site is to build a luxury the address and his grand vision. in talks with, only that they’re “the ones” condominium high-rise — a standard While the project is still in the initial in their respective sectors. practice for developers in this condo- planning stage, Mizrahi explains that “When I picked the name for the rich, modern T.O. But Mizrahi’s vision The One will feature amenities such building, The One, it really spoke to so is anything but standard, and it would as a rooftop terrace, underground many different elements,” he says. “It not certainly have to be when you consider parking for residents and the public, only spoke to the address being 1 Bloor the address that comes with it. doormen and valet service, gardens, Street West, it also spoke to how this is 56 DOLCE VITA MAGAZINE | www.dolcemag.com WINTER 2014/15 President of Mizrahi Developments Sam Mizrahi stands at the corner of Yonge and Bloor with long-standing menswear retailer Stollery’s behind him. Mizrahi recently purchased Stollery’s and several adjacent properties for over $200 million and plans to erect a landmark mixed-used skyscraper on the site PHOTO BY JESSE BY PHOTO MILNS WINTER 2014/15 www.dolcemag.com | DOLCE VITA MAGAZINE 57 “WE WANTED THIS TO BE THE ROCKEFELLER CENTER OR THE CHRYSLER BUILDING OR THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING FOR TORONTO” — Sam Mizrahi 133 Hazelton and 181 Davenport, and one that won over Stollery’s co-owner the one location — a once-in-a-lifetime Edwin Whaley. Whaley explains he’s opportunity to do something special — had offers to buy Stollery’s prestigious but more importantly, the retailers that address since 1968, but in the past fi ve Perhaps one of the most interesting are coming in are really the ones of their years interest has intensifi ed. Nearly aspects of the project is the choice industry. So you’re getting the best-of- every day he was getting calls from over of architect. Mizrahi has brought in breed in each sector.” 30 developers from around the world Norman Foster of Foster + Partners, Mizrahi certainly isn’t the fi rst trying to convince him to sell. Near who will be collaborating with CORE developer to propose a project with the end of 2013, Mizrahi approached Architects here in Toronto. Foster is these types of lofty ambitions. For the Whaley to do the same. The two found one of the world’s leading and most past several years, Toronto has been the an instant chemistry and over the next famous architects as well as a Pritzker leader of under-construction high-rise 10 months built a rapport that became Prize winner, so his talent is undeniable. projects in North America, and there the foundation of the sale. But he’s also known as a practitioner of are many aiming to make their mark. “He’s a real gentleman,” says Whaley. high-tech architecture and his oeuvre is Canderel Residential’s Aura skyscraper “This man has vision and he likes the fi lled with sleek, highly modern work, on the corner of Yonge and Gerrard is old-world type buildings where it’s got such as 30 St. Mary Axe in London, currently Canada’s tallest residential history and character and stability and England, the Hearst Tower in New York tower at 78 storeys. David Mirvish has looks like it’s going to be around for a City and the London City Hall. Much of gone back and forth with the city since while. So that’s basically what caught his work is far more future-forward than 2012 about the colossal Frank Gehry- my eye in the fi rst place.” the classic style of Mizrahi’s previous designed towers he wants to erect on Whaley was reluctant to sell, but he developments, so it will be interesting King Street West. When One Bloor saw how the city was changing. “You to see what Foster brings to the table in East is fi nished, the wavy, ultramodern, look at what’s happening on this street terms of design. mixed-used high-rise will be Toronto’s and it’s time,” he says. “It’s time for it When asked how he will measure the second tallest residential tower. to be replaced with a nice building.” He success of the building, Mizrahi explains The contemporary glass-and-steel appreciated the use of cut limestone it will be how The One embraces the template for high-rises has become the and enduring European style of 133 community and those that use it. A norm for virtually every developer in Hazelton and 181 Davenport and is building, he says, needs to have a soul, the city. While eye-catching, that type confi dent Mizrahi will build something it needs to make people feel welcome of design also carries risk: they may beautiful that will stand the test of time, and lift their moods when they enter. “It be trendy and fashionable, but fashion adding, “It will do justice for the corner needs to make you feel like you want to becomes dated, goes out of style, and of Bloor and Yonge.” belong there and you want to be there,” trends fade. Mizrahi isn’t in the fashion For Mizrahi, there is a “signifi cant he says. “And you want to be able to game. He wants timeless. moral responsibility” attached to the look around and be wowed by all the “We want to make something that corner. The One is easily the biggest details and the experience that you have. we would be proud of long after we’re project the company has ever taken That’s the way we’re going to measure gone,” says Mizrahi. “We want to build on, and he feels the pressure. “But it’s success on this building: does it do that? something that you would see on Fifth good pressure,” he says. “It’s constructive Can you feel the soul of the building?” Avenue, that you would see on Avenue pressure.” It’s the type of pressure that And as work begins on The One in Montaigne in Paris, something that you elevates you to perform at a higher level, the coming months and years, that’s would see in London in Knightsbridge.” “forcing you to expand your own vision something that will be impossible This mindset was a cornerstone of and your horizons and do something to miss. his last two boutique developments, with really no limits.” www.mizrahidevelopments.com 58 DOLCE VITA MAGAZINE | www.dolcemag.com WINTER 2014/15.