sub-URBAN
New Member
"Canada's tallest residential building" does not deserve such a pathetic and lifeless mall. I don't even know if it qualifies as a mall.
Toronto Aura at College Park | 271.87m | 78s | Canderel | Graziani + Corazza
KA1
Senior Member
I read it somewhere a few years ago that hotel had refused permission to connect AURA to their building. It is a private property and the city has no legal means to force a connection.
TwoDogs_39
Active Member
I agree that the downstairs retail shop area is pretty horrific. Not only is it difficult to access from College Park (up and down flights of stairs and through how many sets of doors?), but it's very much like a flea-market. It's sort of sad seeing the retailers standing outside or in the hallways handing out pamphlets and practically begging people to buy their stuff. I don't see how all those tiny units can be filled with sustainable retail/commercial outlets.
retailestate
Active Member
It is completely moronic that nobody figured out how to connect Aura to College Park with a set of escalators.
Ryan_T
Senior Member
A retail area underneath a 70+ storey building has an automatic potential customer-base of...the entire building..?
Open some basic daily necessities: grocery shops, shopper's drug mart, food, etc, and it can't be dead.
Open some basic daily necessities: grocery shops, shopper's drug mart, food, etc, and it can't be dead.
officedweller
Senior Member
... Just not when they're at the office during the day.
Residential use provides a lot less customer traffic than office use.
Think of 10-20 residents on a floor versus 100 employees on a floor.
(That's why most retail stores in Vancouver's Yaletown have closed and have been replaced by destination restaurants which are open and active at night - also when residents are around.)
Basements are a tough sell regardless - look at 10 Dundas East - in a higher traffic area.
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Larissa Doherty
New Member
I beg to differ on the traffic flow during the daytime hours at The Shops At Aura: The major demographic at the moment in the building is comprised of students, young professionals with or without small families and older (retired?) couples. This keeps steady traffic flowing throughout the mall at all hours. Had this been a typical condo full of 9-5ers, then yes, it would be a tough battle, however, I still think in time that the mall will fill. It's just going to take a couple of years for the stronger businesses to succeed and those that aren't as strong to be weeded out. Also some ingenuity with business ideas that come forward and some neighbouring store mergers that will need to happen.
There are definite disappointments from the retail owners on how things turned out (quality of materials, accessibility/visibility, currently no cell phone reception, etc.) but a lot of this will be worked on by the Board of Directors there who have a mighty job ahead of them in turning things around there. Give it time and see how things look in 1-2 years. That will be a better time to judge.
taal
Senior Member
The 10 Dundas east example was the sole reason I argued this would fail, a much much busier basement with essentially 'forced' traffic yet most of the smaller shops came and went.
In terms of a grocery store someone mentioned earlier they weren't allowed to due that for some reason (the owners of the nearby metro / sobeys ...).
I'm fairly confident ALL the restaurants (not the food court) will do very very well ... and again 10 Dundas east is a good precedence as well, with all the restaurants doing very well
In terms of a grocery store someone mentioned earlier they weren't allowed to due that for some reason (the owners of the nearby metro / sobeys ...).
I'm fairly confident ALL the restaurants (not the food court) will do very very well ... and again 10 Dundas east is a good precedence as well, with all the restaurants doing very well
innsertnamehere
Superstar
all it takes is a popular restaurant to make the place busier really..
taal
Senior Member
Regardless, office use drive way more traffic, that is still a very valid point, you could be right that this particular building will be better off then a typical 100% residential setup due to the demographics ... but still ...
taal
Senior Member
But their wont be any in the basement, unless you mean popular food court restaurant, but generally these never drive that much traffic on their own.
The restaurants on the higher floors really won't drive any traffic at all, but yes these will be busy !
Conrad Black
Senior Member
Someone seriously messed up if you need to do this in a brand new building.
Not exactly what I would want to hear if I'd bought a unit down here. I suspect most that bought down here are small family owned type businesses. They just spent a lot buying a unit and need the cash-flow to pay for it. I don't imagine most can afford to wait a few years for it to succeed. Sounds bad to me.
buildup
Senior Member
The same charge could have (and probably was) leveled against any sort of "neo" style. Neo-classic, neo-Tudor (Tudor City in NY), neo-gothic Tribune Tower in Chicago. People love that stuff now. Stern's stuff it great. So is M+G. This is obvious.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
The whole retail concept is messed up - stores like Marshall (or other biggish format retail like SDM) should arguably be placed at the basement level intended for such - they have enough draw on their own. As it stands right now, said stores are basically wasting their windowed space with shelving facing against the exterior (same can be said of 10 Dundas). What a freaking mess. And let's not even get me started on BMO.
AoD
AoD
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officedweller
Senior Member
Agreed that the big box should have been in the basement (as they often are).
The food fair might be able to develop a niche market among Ryerson students, but there's probably still a lot of more visible competition on Yonge itself.
The food fair might be able to develop a niche market among Ryerson students, but there's probably still a lot of more visible competition on Yonge itself.
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