Huge Toronto skyscraper will soon be one of the tallest in Canada

Toronto's Yonge and Gerrard intersection is in the process of being transformed by a monolithic new skyscraper that will soon rank among the tallest buildings in the country.

The Concord Sky development at 383 Yonge St. is quickly ascending towards a planned 85-storey height (that skips several floor numbers and is marketed as 98 storeys), and will soon become Canada's third skyscraper to reach the "supertall" classification reserved for towers reaching 300 metres or taller.

But it took many years of ups and downs to get where we are today.

Concord Sky has a complicated history dating back to 2017, when now-defunct developer Cresford proposed a slender skyscraper rising from integrated heritage building facades, known as YSL (Yonge Street Living) Residences.

Cresford ultimately buckled under what was described at the time as a "cash crisis," and YSL, along with other plans from the developer, were later placed in receivership.

Early construction work at the YSL site was halted in 2020, and its excavated pit sat abandoned until Vancouver-based developer Concord stepped in to take over in fall 2021, modifying plans and renaming the project Concord Sky.

Concord wasted little time resuming construction, with work kicking back into gear just three months later, in early 2022.

Approaching the four-year anniversary of the project's resumption, Concord Sky is making significant headway on its march towards a final height of just over 300 metres. One Bloor West and the SkyTower — both expected to wrap construction next year — will be the only buildings in Canada taller than Concord Sky.

The building has encountered challenges along the way, most notably a mid-2023 City-ordered work stoppage that briefly delayed the build-out of the project's cavernous six-level underground parking garage.

With 2025 drawing to a close, Concord Sky is now beginning to make its impact felt from the surrounding neighbourhood, and it's still got a long way to go for the top.

Standing roughly 24 storeys tall as of late November, the Kohn Pederson Fox-designed tower's signature tapering feature will soon begin to appear along the north face. Successively smaller tower floorplates will add to this effect as the building rises taller above its base.

Exterior cladding installation has progressed to cover much of the podium, with the glazing's mirror-finish aesthetic sharply contrasting against the preserved heritage base below.

The tower incorporates the preserved facades of the Gerrard Building at 385-391 Yonge, the Richard S. Williams Block at 363-365 Yonge, 367 Yonge, and the former Yonge Street Mission building.

Concord Sky is part of a transformational wave of skyscrapers reshaping the traditional focal points of the skyline, reorienting the densest and tallest buildings along a spine of Yonge Street stretching from Bloor to the waterfront.

Soon to be the third-tallest in Canada, Concord Sky will help change the way the Toronto skyline is viewed and photographed for generations to come.