Pinnacle International has paused its plans to tear down the former Toronto Star building at 1 Yonge Street, opting instead to pursue a conversion of the 25-storey tower into a hotel for an unspecified number of years. The developer’s recent zoning application outlines an interim retrofit that would keep the largely vacant office building in use, as long-term plans for the South Block continue to move through the approvals process. The news comes as construction continues on the ‘supertall’ 106-storey SkyTower on the North Block.
Completed in the early 1970s, the 1 Yonge tower served as the Toronto Star’s headquarters for more than five decades. The printing plant, originally housed in the podium to the lower left in the image below, moved to Vaughan in 1992. Pinnacle acquired the waterfront property from Torstar in 2012, the paper continuing to lease its offices until 2022, when the newsroom moved to The Well. Today, at least 87% of the building is vacant, and the systems are approaching the end of their mechanical life. Pinnacle sought and was granted a demolition permit in 2024 as part of its broader redevelopment plans for the site.
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