Toronto developer Danny Salvatore helped make architectural headlines a couple of years ago when he picked a romantic, bazoomy design - instantly dubbed "Marilyn" in the press - by Beijing architect Yansong Ma for a new condominium tower he and Cityzen Development Group were aiming to put up in central Mississauga. It was a decision that seemed to come out of nowhere. For decades, Mr. Salvatore had been just one among many suppliers of routine tract housing in the GTA sprawl. (His firm: Fernbrook Homes.) Then suddenly, he became a backer of one of the most avant-garde high-rise designs ever picked for a place in the Toronto area. Developers are rarely surprising. Danny Salvatore, we discovered, is one who can be. With hoardings up around Marilyn's site on Hurontario Street at Burnhamthorpe Road, and with construction scheduled to begin shortly, I decided it was high time to catch up again with Mr. Salvatore, to find out what's currently on the mind of the man behind the tower. (Or towers: Because of heavy buyer demand, a sister building, also by Yansong Ma, will rise on the site.)
