The developer who had been clinging to control of the once-lauded One Bloor Street East condo development announced last night that the project has been sold.
The One Bloor tower has been mired in a struggle after its developer, Bazis International Inc., defaulted on the loan it used to buy the land. The tower, planned for the southeast corner of Yonge and Bloor streets, had once been billed as Canada's tallest residential structure, with about 80 storeys.
The developer has been fighting an effort to be pushed into bankruptcy proceedings, and last month announced the project would go ahead at 68 storeys.
Yesterday, news came of a reported deal, though details were scarce.
The original plan for 1 Bloor, seen above, has now been scrapped and doubt now lingers over the entire project.
"A well-established Toronto developer has entered into a binding agreement with Bazis International for the One Bloor property with closing in mid-September," the statement said.
"It is too early to discuss future development plans, however, further details will be made available at the appropriate time after closing. Due to the confidentiality agreement, we cannot comment any further at this time."
The cryptic statement leaves the condo's potential tenants wondering what will happen next.
The average buyer has $80,000 to $120,000 invested in the building already.
"Nobody really knows anything. That's the bottom line," said Garth Juriansz, a real-estate agent who bought a unit on the 39th floor, and sold numerous others, including some above the 68th floor.
"If [the sale] actually had happened and there was a binding agreement between them, they would have been thrilled to let people know that," he said.
"The fact that there's no name, no details, no date, that's what makes my buyers nervous again."
One of his clients, who had bought on now-cancelled floors, signed a document this week that Mr. Juriansz said guarantees him his money back, but he remains skeptical. Mr. Juriansz had been told to expect news yesterday.
"What do we have? We have a broken promise again. A broken date," he said last night.
"We don't know."
