Maybe they're predicting a comet will be heading this way, or be close enough and bright enough to throw shade of its own.
I can see the worry about the off-white, but if done well this could be a really nice building.
We do have way less particulate pollution downtown now -- diesel buses were probably the worst culprit for that in the last few decades, fewer trains go down the CP corridor, cars are far and away much cleaner than they were up until the 1980s, and while the explained-as-accidental steel "burps" still happen they tend to be confined to the north end. How often does
this beauty need a wash?