TORONTO, Ont. – Theatre producer David Mirvish and architect Frank Gehry unveiled plans, Monday, to tear down the Princess of Wales Theatre and replace it with a new condo complex.

The complex will feature three 85-storey residential towers, a 60,000 square-metre art gallery called the Mirvish Collection, a new campus for the OCAD University, and retail space.

It will stretch along the north side of King Street West from the corner of John Street, across Ed Mirvish Way and east to the edge of the Royal Alexandra Theatre.

“These towers can become a symbol of what Toronto can be. I am not building condominiums; I am building three sculptures for people to live in,” Mirvish said.

The three condo towers will create one of the tallest structures in North America.

Mirvish said the project will be done in three phases and will take up to seven years to complete.

Gehry said it’s time for a new vision of Toronto, and that the project will include many aspects he hopes will inspire the city.

“We hope to deliver a street-scale that is evocative of old Toronto, and creates excitement and activity,” Gehry said.

Over the weekend, Mirvish said in a letter: “The three iconic residential towers, each with a different form, façade and use of materials, will be: a slender and highly articulated tower beside the Royal Alex; and on the block bordered by King, Pearl, Ed Mirvish Way and John Street, a stacked, slatted L-shaped tower and a translucent tri-winged tower.”

The Mirvish Collection gallery will be a destination for viewing contemporary, abstract art, according to the letter.

Mirvish said demolishing the Princess of Wales Theatre makes economic sense since the theatre that isn’t full all the time is of less value than a building that creates two museums, and retail and living spaces.

City council has yet to consider the plan.

“It’s a very generous contribution to the fabric of the city being proposed here,” Coun. Adam Vaughan told 680News. “We have an obligation to look at it and understand it and make a decision.”

The Princess of Wales Theatre was built in 1993 and named after the late Princess Diana. Mirvish said there will be a memorial to Lady Diana in the new project.

“If there were a way of completing this project without removing the Princess of Wales Theatre, we would have followed it. But after careful consideration and many different plans, I decided not giving Gehry a full canvas on which to work would have meant compromises that would have lessened the power of the project,” Mirvish added in the letter.