The One – Celebrating 30 Years

When construction on The One began in 2020, it wasn’t just another development. At a height greater than 300 metres, The One was poised to become Canada’s first super-tall building. But before a single storey could rise, the project faced controversy, political resistance, and regulatory barriers that jeopardized its future.

StrategyCorp was brought in by our partners at Dentons’ Municipal, Land Use Planning, and Development Law group at a critical moment. The client had demolished a structure some residents considered heritage, sparking public outcry and alienating local political leadership. From the outset, the project was not just ignored by city officials—it was actively opposed.

StrategyCorp’s approach was clear: reduce friction, stabilize relationships, and restore strategic direction. The team worked with the client’s legal team and other consultants to secure a precedent-setting consent to sever air rights—a locally novel maneuver that split ownership of the building horizontally before the building was built to what would be the new property line. This cleared the way for critical financing steps necessary to get construction underway.

StrategyCorp’s most impactful contribution was securing a building code amendment allowing for early or partial occupancy in super-tall towers while construction was underway, adding a new-to-Toronto move that bolstered early financial modelling, not only for The One, but for future developments of similar scale.

Next came delivering on a bold request: increase the super-tall’s height. With no room for political trade-offs, StrategyCorp worked hand-in-glove with the legal team, and consultants developed a proposal aligned with the City of Toronto’s planning policies by developing an innovative community benefit proposal—an artist-in-residence program that would have anchored 1 Bloor Street West as a hub of global creative artistic talent. Although that plan was ultimately not used to lift the super-tall even taller, the proposal showed how serious the proponent was to integrate the development into the local arts district. StrategyCorp demonstrated our capacity for policy fluency and creative negotiation to achieve strategic objectives.

With new municipal leadership insisting on community engagement and their sign-off for even minor permit requests, the StrategyCorp team reestablished a Construction Liaison Committee that transmitted neighbourhood communication directly into a collaborative forum with the construction team. Complaints turned into conversations, and issues morphed into creative solutions in real-time.

When a mid-project leadership shake-up saw the development enter receivership, StrategyCorp remained one of the few consultants to seamlessly transition to the new ownership and development teams. Our team was able to bring strategic knowledge learned during our long engagement on the project to bear for the new leadership. This knowledge and continuity helped keep the momentum going as the super-tall rose higher over the City.

In a project marked by public pressure, political and organizational turnover and regulatory barriers, StrategyCorp provided more than advice—we delivered creative solutions, adaptability, and results. As the tower nears completion and ascends toward a final height of 86 storeys, its progress demonstrates not just architectural ambition, but strategic negotiation.