Toronto One Bloor West | 308.6m | 85s | Tridel | Foster + Partners

[thaivic]

It seems that the scale of this project was above Sam's ability from the beginning. When you start building without the proper permits and the project comes to a standstill for months on end due to not having permits in place is not the way to build a project on time or on budget.
I have been in the building industry for more then 40 years and a project of this scale and complexity has to be run by a seasoned GC that can organize and deliver on time and unfortunately he thought that he could accomplish this.
I give him credit for the vision of creating an incredible building.

 

[LoMein]

Many were surprised when Mizrahi, a relatively inexperienced developer, revealed plans for what was supposed to be the second-tallest man-made structure in the country almost 10 years ago.
In the decade since, the project has lurched through a series of mishaps and pitfalls, including noise complaints, permitting failures, financing woes, cost overruns and partnership breakdowns.

 

[Tuscani01]

Tl,dr: Seems like Sam was getting in the way and therefore, was sent a packing...

...didn't help he was trying to sue the receivership hand that was helping him from what I gather from that TorStar article. That's kinda embarrassing really. /sigh


I'm pretty sure that was a misquote on the writer's part.

Though the height increase is tied to additional benefits the city secured. If the receivership doesn’t want to commit to that deal, there’s no height increase. This could be the impasse.

 

[Northern Light]

Mizrahi pushed out of The One skyscraper development — inside details of what he told employees

“For me, it’s just mind boggling,” Mizrahi Developments founder Sam Mizrahi said in recording obtained by the Star. “I don’t see how somebody else is going to do it better than we are.”

www.thestar.com

Excerpts from the article:
“We just have a difference of opinion on how to build this building,” he continued. “I like to build stuff that's the top quality and the best there is … and they want take it in a different direction.”

And

Mizrahi confirmed the news to the Star late afternoon on Monday. “We just have a different vision for how I want to finish the building versus what's going to happen,” he said. “That created an impasse.”

This sounds like there is going to be cheapening going forward . I hope the cladding at least stays the same. They can’t put up cheeper material on the top part at this stage right?

I do not foresee any change in exterior cladding. That wouldn't make any sense.

There isn't likely a huge savings to be had with 'internal' cheapening either, given that there are contracted units which will have a fair bit of specificity on finish.

I suppose one could lower the fit and finish of interior common areas, but it really doesn't seem likely.

I think @Tuscani01 is more likely to be on point. I can think of one or two other things that could come up, but his is the best explanation, I think. But we'll have to see!

 

[Collingwoodbuildinglover]

Though the height increase is tied to additional benefits the city secured. If the receivership doesn’t want to commit to that deal, there’s no height increase. This could be the impasse.

It would kind of be funny if the building ended up only be built to the 75 stories that was proposed when the project first broke ground

 

[khaldoon]

Though the height increase is tied to additional benefits the city secured. If the receivership doesn’t want to commit to that deal, there’s no height increase. This could be the impasse.

More floors means more units to sell with disproportionately lower cost. This is why all developers lobby for more floors. The way I read this is that that the receiver wants to cut costs by using cheaper interiors while Mizrahi thinks that will cheapen the building and thus you can’t expect to charge “luxury” prices.

 

[Northern Light]

It seems that the scale of this project was above Sam's ability from the beginning. When you start building without the proper permits and the project comes to a standstill for months on end due to not having permits in place is not the way to build a project on time or on budget.
I have been in the building industry for more then 40 years and a project of this scale and complexity has to be run by a seasoned GC that can organize and deliver on time and unfortunately he thought that he could accomplish this.
I give him credit for the vision of creating an incredible building.

What? With all your early mornings and the odd weekend in the office, I had you pegged for still being 'new'ish' LOL Who gets into the office before 8am, when you've got 40 years under your belt? What kind of example is that setting for the young people? "Work really hard, and you get to keep working hard" ? LOL

 

[Collingwoodbuildinglover]

More floors means more units to sell with disproportionately lower cost. This is why all developers lobby for more floors. The way I read this is that that the receiver wants to cut costs by using cheaper interiors while Mizrahi thinks that will cheapen the building and thus you can’t expect to charge “luxury” prices.

I kind of read it with the cost and overruns thing that it's possible that materials were back ordered or delayed and that Sam was not willing or could not source new materials to fill the void causing delays. Just kind of how I read it

 

[A Torontonian Now]

I do not foresee any change in exterior cladding. That wouldn't make any sense.

There isn't likely a huge savings to be had with 'internal' cheapening either, given that there are contracted units which will have a fair bit of specificity on finish.

I suppose one could lower the fit and finish of interior common areas, but it really doesn't seem likely.

I think @Tuscani01 is more likely to be on point. I can think of one or two other things that could come up, but his is the best explanation, I think. But we'll have to see!

My read on the article was that they were contemplating exactly this (what I bolded), to cheapen the fit and finish of interior common areas. Mizrahi is opposed because even if he won't be making money from the building (or at least the amount he wanted - I expect there might be some backdoor ways he still will such as flipping units he may have obtained rights to early on) he wants it to be a legacy project with everything high end.

That said, I agree with your skepticism in the sense that I doubt there will be much savings to be had there. It would be an unfortunate value engineering exercise for insignificant savings.

Actually, another, much larger, potential value engineering measure that just occurred to me (and I really, really hope will not be the case) would be to alter the crown element above the top occupied floor of the building, where the supercolumns will meet. If the supercolumns just ended rather than having that horizontal crown element, I expect that would result in significant savings.

 

[Blovertis]

The way I read this is that that the receiver wants to cut costs by using cheaper interiors while Mizrahi thinks that will cheapen the building and thus you can’t expect to charge “luxury” prices.

SkyGrid this morning

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

Though the height increase is tied to additional benefits the city secured. If the receivership doesn’t want to commit to that deal, there’s no height increase. This could be the impasse.

...but that's speculating a bit as the receivership had indicated before that all arrangements would be honoured. Nor does this rule out that the article misquoted the storage count from a previous agreement...that is, it was 85 for a long time before they got their height increase. And they got that height increase before receivership butter hit the fan.

To be clear, I am not dismissing this could be the case here...rather, I have my factual doubts on the storage count claimed for this article. People misspeak things...even in writing.

Edit/Erratum: Due my lack of confidence in what what I've posted on the occasion, I edit/delete my post out. However, due to said respective post being quoted, I am now restoring it for the context of the conversation: My apologies for any confusion and inconvenience this may have caused. Silly me... >.<

-----
Tl,dr: Seems like Sam was getting in the way and therefore, was sent a packing...

...didn't help he was trying to sue the receivership hand that was helping him from what I gather from that TorStar article. That's kinda embarrassing really. /sigh

It's interesting how in the article it still has the one being placed at 85 stories. Wondering if possibly the receiver is only going to go to this height instead of the 91 that was approved

I'm pretty sure that was a misquote on the writer's part.

 

[Tormick]

Mizrahi pushed out of The One skyscraper development — inside details of what he told employees

“For me, it’s just mind boggling,” Mizrahi Developments founder Sam Mizrahi said in recording obtained by the Star. “I don’t see how somebody else is going to do it better than we are.”

www.thestar.com

Love his quote about the timing:

And while it was originally supposed to be completed by the end of 2022, workers had, by late 2023, only poured the concrete for about 40 of The One’s scheduled 85 stories. Mizrahi told the Star Monday that he fully expects the building to be completed, likely sometime in the next three years.

Better be finished by 2027...

 

[3Dementia]

SKYGRiD.... the construction company behind a number of Gupta landmarks like Dundas Square Gardens. Yippee.

Link

 

[thaivic]

What? With all your early mornings and the odd weekend in the office, I had you pegged for still being 'new'ish' LOL Who gets into the office before 8am, when you've got 40 years under your belt? What kind of example is that setting for the young people? "Work really hard, and you get to keep working hard" ? LOL

I will be done in a couple of years

 

[Collingwoodbuildinglover]

Wonder if we will see a pause in building while skygrid figures all they're logistics out