Tower looks about as nice as the current Hotel X...barffffff

Not a fabrication issue, its a contractor challenge. A mass timber building like this should be full enclosed by now with curtain wall installed and the interiors underway. No experienced and knowledgeable contractor would miss these vital milestones unless they don't know what they're doing.

Why should it look like wood? Because the structure is wood? Most concrete structured buildings don't look like concrete, similarly most steel structured buildings don't look like steel. Institutional buildings in Ontario, per the building code cannot be clad in timber due to fire risk, unless...