Luxury Italian fashion brand Missoni is finally making its entrance in Toronto — but not in the way you might think. The over 70-year-old fashion house has opted for real estate over shopping with the launch of a luxury residential tower that purports to blend high fashion with urban living.
Towering 68 storeys above the Garden District, the condo and hotel building is set to be built at 225 Jarvis St., the site of the since-demolished Grand Hotel. Missoni announced the new development, Missoni Sky, in partnership with Toronto’s Amexon Development Corporation, vowing to create a “fashion-inspired” tower that will set a new “global benchmark” for developments with creative influence.
If you’re wondering how a condo tower can take its design cues from a fashion house, Missoni said there will be elements of the brand’s signature style throughout the interior and exterior of the property. Fans of the Italian fashion house will know its designs are immediately recognizable by its signature zigzag pattern and bright colours, and the new tower will feature those elements in everything from the lobbies and rooftop terraces to the amenities and interiors of the residences.
Mock-ups of the new tower show the zigzag pattern and Missoni-inspired textiles on everything from the furniture to the art in the lobby and restaurant spaces to the interior design of the residences.
Missoni Sky is set to house 795 condominium units, which will emerge from an eight-storey brick podium featuring a boutique hotel with 177 units, restaurants and retail spaces. The residential tower, which narrows as the building rises, features a glass and steel exterior with panoramic views of Lake Ontario. Future residents can expect floor-to-ceiling windows, quartz countertops and sprawling terraces, along with amenities that include zen gardens, rooftop terraces, indoor and outdoor saltwater pools, playgrounds, fitness clubs and even a juice bar.
With this ambitious proposal in mind, Missoni still has to cross one major hurdle — currently, the building only has zoning approval for 49 storeys. The team behind the project will be preparing an application to the City to increase the height approval to 68 storeys.