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." .
The design evolved to its proposed height in response to the approval of the Trump International Hotel & Tower by the city council.