Toronto, that awkward adolescent of a city, is going through a growth spurt unlike any other in North America.

The question isn’t whether Toronto is growing, but what it’s growing into. That its future will be highrise is a foregone conclusion at this point. But how high will we go?

A decade ago, 35 or 40 storeys was considered tall; today that seems barely midrise. Now developers want double that and more. A multi-towered proposal for the site just north of 1 Yonge (where this newspaper is located) is a good example; Pinnacle International went to the city last week with a hugely ambitious scheme that would see six skyscrapers between 75 and 88 storeys on what’s now mostly parking lot.

Meanwhile, up at King and John, impresario David Mirvish has teamed up with architect Frank Gehry to build three 80-floor towers atop a six-storey base.

The city itself has also entered the fray with a site on which it hopes to build a condo tower that began at 75 storeys, but which has since been reduced to 65.

Though drivers will lament the passing of yet another parking lot, the 1 Yonge property could be a game-changer, and not just because of its height. Indeed, height is the least of it. To the north, Daniel Libeskind’s 58-storey L-Tower is nearing completion (minus the L). And already Pinnacle has altered the land (former parking lots) between Yonge and Bay, south of the Gardiner Expressway. With four towers, the Pinnacle Centre fills a lot of space competently but without a hint of architectural interest.

By contrast, 1 Yonge looks decidedly exciting. Though much will change, renderings show a sensuous glass atrium extending down Yonge and along Queens Quay west of Freeland St.

The rest of the property would become a thicket of towers, which at this stage are still looking self-consciously sculptural. Nevertheless, the plan, designed by Toronto architects Hariri Pontarini, represents an elegant attempt to turn a dreary but ideally situated site into a genuine waterfront destination. The most compelling part of the scheme is the glazed podium at street level. It would bring life — most likely in the form of eating and shopping — where there’s little more than asphalt and precast concrete.

Indeed, this stretch of Yonge, roughly from the Esplanade south to Lake Ontario, is only now coming back from the dead. Until recently, much of the area was relegated to parking or the shadows of the Gardiner and the railway underpass.

New condos on the west side and landscaping on the east have improved things marginally, but the need to reconnect lower Yonge with the city remains largely unaddressed.

It’s also worth pointing out that the scheme must go through the Waterfront Toronto Design Review Panel, which keeps a close eye on lakeside development. And let’s not forget that Hariri Pontarini ranks among the city’s most accomplished firms. In fact, just this week the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada gave it the 2013 Architectural Firm Award.

But before any work begins on the plan, Harbour St. and Lake Shore Blvd. must be reconfigured. The former, which serves as the exit ramp from the eastbound Gardiner, would be extended directly east through the 1Yonge site to Freeland and perhaps beyond. The connector that curves north to Lake Shore Blvd. E., east of Yonge, would disappear. Pinnacle would then have two parcels — north and south — for residential and commercial development, including a hotel. The plan also creates the opportunity for a public square and an expansive 17-metre promenade on Yonge.

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“It will be fantastic,” insists architect David Pontarini. “We’re just starting re-zoning, but it will be a legacy project for the whole city.”

Christopher Hume can be reached at chume@thestar.ca

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