Toronto Aura at College Park | 271.87m | 78s | Canderel | Graziani + Corazza

^^Actually, it probably won't, judging by the cancellation of proposed Asian theme malls. Canadian-born Asians aren't as enthusiastic about these malls as developers assumed, which may explain the failure of Aura's retail if catering to Asians was the reason for the small unit sizes.
 
It's interesting that this bears so much resemblance to Pacific Mall.

Many real asian mall bear more resemblance to grandiose airy spaces such as Yorkdale. I'm hoping this is not the trend for condo retail elements downtown.
 
The difference is pacific mall is a success simply in terms of how busy it is, this place will never ever be a success .. and no I'm sure developers will learn better.

Still predicting years from now someone will buy all the properties and build a large format something or another.
 
I pass by this tower every day and while I've gotten used to it my opinion has only cemented regarding Aura: it's good from afar, but far from good. Yes, it's tall, but that doesn't excuse the mediocre mishmash. Could have been so much better looking. And we're stuck with it. Oh well, that's life.

As for the mini-mall in the basement, it's sad; those poor shopowners have learned an expensive lesson.

I will concede that the views looking down are pretty sweet. e.g. http://instagram.com/p/t9JTNko6Gd/
 
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that mini mall is a complete disaster. it should have just been a few larger retail units. theres also no reception in any of the restaurants. its like the walls are made from lead.
 
I also pass by this every day, the height is great the crown is great, the podium is not so great. I feel like I like it less each day. That being said the last time they tested the lights I fell in love again.
As far as the retail layout goes its pretty suiting for college park. Not making excuses for it, but I didn't expect better. Its kind of fun that the fitness centre HARDCANDY is Owned by Madonna, that gives it a little edge, hopefully the rest of the retail will improve, though i suspect it will be the kind of stuff you find in PATH. Tailors, dentists, smoke shop, florist.
 
I think I agree with the majority of the comments here. It's not bad from afar, but when viewed from up close, it kind of falls apart. That retail space is dreadful and I really have no desire to see it in person, which is a shame because this is the tallest condominium in Canada. On the plus side, it looks amazing at night and I like how it almost acts as a second CN Tower in the way that it can be used for wayfinding.
 
I've noticed an upper floor near the top has it's lights on all the time. Looks like lots of pot lights. Maybe they're building a model unit?
 
Those photos pretty much depict how aesthetically bad this building is. It looks as though a decision couldn't be made as to which design was the most uninspired, so they smashed the five most middling ideas together and got Aura. And then they added some LED lights.
 
dorna_g said:
Those photos pretty much depict how aesthetically bad this building is. It looks as though a decision couldn't be made as to which design was the most uninspired, so they smashed the five most middling ideas together and got Aura. And then they added some LED lights.
Click to expand...

Even the HDR touchups couldn't make this building look pretty in these photos.
 
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