(This story is sponsored by Mizrahi Developments)

Toronto has been home to forward-thinking businessman Sam Mizrahi ever since his parents immigrated to Canada from Iran in 1977, but if he learned one thing early it was to appreciate the entire country. 

The Mizrahi family’s first visit to the Great White North came in ’76. It included stops not only in Toronto but Montreal (which was hosting the summer Olympics), and Vancouver, known at the time as a sleepy port city on the wild West Coast. 

For Mizrahi’s parents, Canada’s beauty started with its value system and the way that newcomers have not only always been greeted with open arms, but welcomed to a land that proudly sees itself as a cultural mosaic. But as Mizrahi would come to learn later in life, there was also something else that would make the country home.

“When my parents picked Canada we also had the permanent residency status requirements to move to the United States or the U.K.,” the noted Toronto philanthropist, real-estate developer, and successful entrepreneur recalls. “My mother and father picked Canada after being here a few months in ’76. I remember asking my father a year and a half ago, before he passed away, ‘Why did you pick Canada? What imprint did it make on you?’ And he said it was because it was so green—so beautiful to see all the trees in Canada versus Iran. It made it really magical for him.”

One of Mizrahi’s biggest motivators today is to leave his mark on his home country—not just in Toronto where he’s a regular on the city’s most-influential-citizens lists, but over the next few years on the West Coast. As much as he loves Eastern Canada, he can’t rave enough about Vancouver and its beauty. 

“I think Vancouver is majestic,” Mizrahi says glowingly. “You’ve got some of the most incredible topography in the country—Whistler and Blackcomb for skiing, the ocean for swimming. You’ve got everything from that standpoint.”

Vancouver is also a city that has, starting with the now-famous Colosseum-inspired Central Library building in the ’90s, become more and more comfortable with innovative architecture that pushes boundaries. 

That couldn’t be more appealing to Mizrahi. He first made his mark as a teenage businessman selling blank cassette tapes, later launching the wildly successful boutique dry-cleaning business Dove as an adult. But it’s real estate that’s been his biggest passion since 2007, and today Mizrahi is changing the face of the Toronto skyline with his big and bold project The One. 

The 80-storey luxury skyscraper, designed by famed British architect Norman Foster, is currently being built at Toronto’s fabled Yonge and Bloor intersection. 

When finished it will be the tallest building in the country, making it instantly iconic not just in Toronto but—like the CN tower—an instantly recognizable touchstone for all Canadians. 

Going big and bold on the architecture front is something that Mizrahi first learned the beauty and rewards of when he was a small child. He remembers arriving in Montreal for the Olympics at age six, and being mesmerized by what he saw. 

“The Montreal Olympic Stadium was basically this UFO, saucer-shaped architecture that was just ‘Wow’,” he reflects. “You had that in contrast with old Montreal—nobody had really done that at the time. Today, you can look at the Louvre museum in Paris and see modern and old coming together with the glass. The Montreal Olympic stadium was kind of the first of that.”

Once The One is finished—hopefully some time in 2024—Mizrahi will shift his focus to branching out West. 

Having spent time here on the coast, he’s well aware that things are done differently in this part of Canada. Toronto, he correctly observes, is like New York in terms of its energy, whereas Vancouver has more in common with San Francisco.

“Vancouver has a much more relaxed atmosphere,” he opines. “It’s not only more relaxed, I would say it’s also more comfortable. I almost want to say you can take very deep breaths in Vancouver. So what we want to do is a different kind of architecture—not what we’ve done with The One, but instead an architecture that celebrates the topography and nature and the lifestyle of the city.” 

Whether we’re talking about acting, music, sports, or architecture, some of us are luckier than others when it comes to leaving a legacy. Mizrahi’s father chose Canada for its beauty when he moved the family from Tehran. Mizrahi wants a major part of his legacy to be making great cities like Vancouver even greater through standout buildings. 

“The legacy that I want is to have made the world a better place for everyone because I was here,” he says. “Long after I’m gone, I’d hope that someone might go ‘What did Sam do?’ Hopefully they’ll feel that we enriched people’s lives—anywhere from the philanthropy we do through to the buildings we build.”

Travelling constantly with his family as a kid taught Mizrahi that, with a big world to explore, few things are more rewarding than taking a chance on new experiences. Ultimately, his goal is to inspire by taking chances. And that couldn’t have him more excited about what lays ahead in Vancouver. 

Toronto might be home to Mizrahi, but he sees Vancouver not only as green and beautiful, but just as importantly a canvas in one of the world’s most gorgeous settings. And the way to honour that setting is with buildings that will leave a mark not just on the West Coast, but across the country. 

“We do everything with the thought of a legacy that we want to create something that nobody has done before,” Mizrahi says. “Nothing we do is formula-built. We move boundaries as pioneers that will allow others to point at things we’ve done and go ‘That’s what success looks like.’ It’s important to take leaps of faith and do things that most people are afraid of doing because they are scared to fail. To do something bold is to bring confidence to others to reach higher.”