Toronto's hottest new skyscraper hints at future showstopper status

A hotly anticipated skyscraper is starting to make its presence known over Toronto's bustling King West strip, and the first high-rise commission for locally-raised world-renowned architect Frank Gehry is shaping up to be something truly special.

The first in a two-tower complex designed by the 96-year-old architectural titan, known as Forma, the 73-storey condominium tower under construction just next door to the Royal Alexandra Theatre is quickly gaining steam as it climbs higher into the skyline.

Spearheaded by developers Great Gulf, Dream Unlimited and Westdale Properties, Forma is well on its way to becoming one of Toronto's most photogenic landmarks. 

Forma's 73-storey first phase tower, pictured on the right. Great Gulf/Dream Unlimited/Westdale Properties

Under construction since mid-2023, the tower's ascent has accelerated in recent months as work crews cleared the podium levels and moved on to the repeating floorplates above.

But the tower's quick ascent hasn't even been the biggest development here in recent months, and one blink-and-you'll-miss-it detail has skyscraper geeks salivating over what's to come.

In what has become a signature of Frank Gehry's Deconstructivist style of architecture, the building's facades will stand as an artistic statement with its bold and unconventional exterior treatment.

Unlike the rigid, cold skyscraper facades Toronto is known for, Gehry spins the local glass-box vernacular with an exterior clad in a flowing metal that takes on an almost Dalí-esque form, resembling a melting, folded texture.

Forma will eventually be finished in stainless steel panels imported from a manufacturer in Italy.

Great Gulf/Dream Unlimited/Westdale Properties

However, the tower's initial panel of this cladding — installed in late summer 2025 — still stands alone on the tower's emerging west facade along Ed Mirvish Way.

It's hard to picture in today's collapsing condo market, but just a few years ago, this sought-after development managed to fetch over $20 million for a penthouse unit back in 2022.

And while this new landmark is now all but guaranteed with construction in full swing, the future is not quite as clear for Forma's 84-storey second phase to the west. Amid the current market downturn, there is no firm construction date announced for the complex's tallest tower.

Market conditions could even extend Forma's saga past the 15-year mark if the decline in condo sales continues in this direction.

At 308 metres high, Forma's yet-to-begin west tower would be Canada's tallest building if completed today, though the far-taller SkyTower development at Pinnacle One Yonge is now on the cusp of cementing this title.

Even before shovels hit the ground, Forma had been a long time in the making.

First announced in 2012, when Gehry was a comparatively youthful 84 years old, the vision for the project has evolved through the years, from a daring three-tower plan with heights of 90 storeys to a scaled-back two-tower scheme with heights of 84 and 73 storeys. 

Despite these downsizings and simplified designs, the Forma development is still promising to shape up unlike anything else in Toronto once all is said and done.

Toronto will mark just the second city in the world with a towering Gehry landmark, following New York City's 8 Spruce tower, completed in 2011.