The tallest approved building in all of Canada is under construction at the sprawling One Yonge site on Toronto's waterfront, but developer Pinnacle International has even grander plans for the megacomplex at the foot of Yonge Street.

As they should: The developer bought the Toronto Star headquarters, printing facility, and surrounding parking lot back in 2012 for a mind-boggling price tag exceeding a quarter billion dollars.

The multi-phased complex has always included plans to massively expand the existing Toronto Star building — a tower known for its minimalist grid of concrete and glowing blue roof signage — but the latest renderings are revealing a change in course that would retain the building's signature look, while adding a curvaceous new vertical extension above.

Looking north towards the Pinnacle One Yonge complex, the fourth and fifth phases partially obscured by the Pier 27 community in the foreground.

Designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects, the complex will bring three condo towers with heights of 95, 80, 65 storeys to the north. A future easterly extension of Harbour Street will divide this first trio of skyline-altering towers from a commercial component planned to the south.

The latest plans for the complex's fourth and fifth phases were submitted with the city in December, planned as a 22-storey office tower to the east and a 40-storey office and hotel tower to the west.

Much remains the same as an earlier plan for the site, including a sky bridge soaring almost two dozen levels above Queens Quay, and a hotel/office tower wrapping around the north and east sides of the existing 25-storey Toronto Star building, with 15 new levels added above.

A sky bridge will link the two towers 22 storeys above street level.

And while the existing landmark would remain, it would no longer be concrete cladding the exterior.

A metal panel finish would retain the tower's grid-like aesthetic, but the distinctive concrete surfaces would be covered up for good.

New levels will be added above the Toronto Star building, while its concrete exterior is to be covered up in metal panels.

This is still a welcome departure from earlier plans, which would have encased the tower's concrete exterior in the blue glass that makes up so much of Toronto's modern skyline.

Now in its Site Plan Approval phase, the application is drawing closer to the final approval conditions that will allow shovels to go in the ground when the developer sees fit.