Sapphire Tower

The Sapphire Tower was a proposed luxury hotel and condominium skyscraper in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to be built by developer Harry Stinson. It was so named because all plans for it had deep blue glass curtain walls. This site had been involved in numerous other proposals, including Stinson's own Downtown Plaza concept, and an earlier proposal that would have incorporated the neighbouring Graphic Arts Building.

The first iteration of Sapphire Tower would have stood at 196 metres (643 feet) or 62 floors. Scheduled to begin construction in Spring 2007, the previous 90-storey proposal on Temperance Street, which would have stood at 342 metres (1,122 feet), was rejected because of shadow and height concerns.

According to the Globe and Mail newspaper (February 16, 2007), after acquiring the property in 2003, high-profile Toronto developer Harry Stinson toyed with a skyscraper condo-hotel project for about a year, then withdrew it because, "It was not sufficiently sexy [in concept] to carry the sales."

On November 15, 2005, the Toronto and East York Community Council, a committee of Toronto City Council, refused permission for the tower to be built on its proposed site. At issue was the thin shadow that would have been cast by the building over Nathan Phillips Square, site of Toronto's City Hall. The Council argued that it needed to "protect City Hall's public square". Stinson planned to appeal the decision to the Ontario Municipal Board.

The design evolved to its proposed height in response to the approval of the Trump International Hotel & Tower by the city council. Stinson intended to create a friendly rivalry for the tallest residential building in Canada. Sapphire Tower would have been 17 metres taller.

In early January 2006, Stinson announced his intent to compromise with city council. Instead of a more than 90-storey building, the focus shifted to designing a shorter building of approximately 70 storeys, with a slanted roof that would further minimize the shadow concerns.

Sapphire Tower was to be operated much like Stinson's earlier hotel project 1 King West. Each of the over 1,000 suites was to be individually owned by its purchaser, with the opportunity of generating revenue through enrolment in a central management system.

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Wikipedia