vini007
Active Member
thank you beautiful pictures.. and up close..
Toronto Aura at College Park | 271.87m | 78s | Canderel | Graziani + Corazza
androiduk
Senior Member
^^ Thanks for the pix macookie. Did you shoot through a window or are the balconies now open?
macookie
Active Member
My room actually didn't have a door to the balcony, but someone who rented the room before me had knocked out the window screen from the window... so I accidently... lol... fell out the window, I opened onto the balcony with my camera in hand... and took a few pictures. I'm not sure if the balconies are actually opened or not... but if Delta didn't want me or others out there on their balconies they should have welded the windows and balcony doors shut.
kwokrealty
New Member
To be honest, I don't know I just heard there is a coffee shop downstairs (possibly Tim hortons? - not confirmed) Retail stores in the PATH level are sold individually to the public back 3-4 years ago, whereas ground floor to 5th wasn't available for purchase. When I purchased there was a list of restrictions of stores you can't operate. My unit is small aprox 120 sq ft on the inside (one of the smallest available). Going to try to rent it out. If not I will open either a silver jewery store or maybe a nails shop, dry cleaners? I'm open to suggestions, anyone?
Also I believe with all this residential/ Offices around, and so many units right above at AURA + College park 1 &2, I think retail here will do fine.
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savevp
Active Member
At that size a convenience store might work...
whatever
Senior Member
Satellite location of a cupcake shop. Seriously. You should see the line at Prairie Girl. And there's nothing comparable in the area.
androiduk
Senior Member
Can you give us an idea about what kind of rent you'll be asking?
Kraylin
Active Member
is 120sqft a typo ? One room that is 12x10? I would say that alone severely limits what you could do in there. A convenience store someone said, I doubt it... Would they allow a gold buying kiosk? If so PM me.
steveve
Senior Member
oh awesome photos macookie,
College park is gonna be crazy when it's finally closed off on all sides. the park is gonna look much better/well placed/less out of place... that huge parking lot that ended the park was unacceptable!
this is gonna be a mini Bryant Park!
College park is gonna be crazy when it's finally closed off on all sides. the park is gonna look much better/well placed/less out of place... that huge parking lot that ended the park was unacceptable!
this is gonna be a mini Bryant Park!
agoraflaneur
Active Member
Regarding the park, does anyone know whether there will be any work done to improve it? Is the building going to be rebuilt? It could be a gem, but the whole park needs to be redone IMO.
Automation Gallery
Superstar
Yes...I believe that was the deal with the developer upon city approvals of the complex.
vegeta_skyline
Senior Member
Vote update;
Seems Aura(22) has twice as many votes as the next nearest competitor(11) and more votes than all aA buildings combined!(20- ICE, Four Seasons, Theater Park & Pier 27).
Quite interesting indeed...
Seems Aura(22) has twice as many votes as the next nearest competitor(11) and more votes than all aA buildings combined!(20- ICE, Four Seasons, Theater Park & Pier 27).
Quite interesting indeed...
bengaijin
Active Member
Have there been any design drawings/construction schedule released for this? I couldn't agree more that this park needs a major rebuilding in it's new context.
agoraflaneur
Active Member
There were a number of reasons for which I chose Aura, not all of which have to do with design. So I wouldn't leap to any conclusions regarding the aA buildings, at least for myself personally.
First, Aura will make the largest impact on the Toronto skyline. If an aA building was doing that (which I suppose 4S and 1 Bloor are doing as well, but there are quite a few tallish buildings in that area already) I would have been more excited. Simply put, this building will create a vastly different experience of the city, enlarging the downtown by magnitudes and connecting the two nodes of Yonge/Bloor and the financial district.
Second, this building will change the area of College park more than the other buildings. It will add retail and people to this stretch, reinvigorating it in a way unlike most of the other buildings (or just slightly more for me than the others). College Park, with its historic retail and proximity to everything, has a lot of potential, while I already like Yorkville and King West (though I am really looking forward to L + Pier 27 as well).
Third, we have had a lot of boxes in Toronto, and I like the Skidmore, Owings and Merrill feel that Aura has, adding some diversity and a real landmark to the middle section of downtown. It feels big city; it reminds me of SOM's Sears tower (echos of their Burj Dubai as well). There will simply be some diversity that I don't think other towers really add, though maybe L will be similar - yet muted next to our tallest towers.
Strictly in terms of architectural quality, all of the aA buildings that you mention are very good in my opinion, and much better than the average tower in many places. Pier 27 is a personal favorite, but its impact will be better appreciated only on the waterfront. 1 Bloor was disappointing to me, as most of its sophistication comes from balcony undulation, while Theatre Park could be very good if executed well and not so good if done poorly.
vegeta_skyline
Senior Member
I'm not leaping to any conclusions about the above mentioned aA buildings at all. In fact I think ICE the 4 Seasons & Pier 27 are/will be some of Toronto's best buildings.
Also, whether or not Aura is the best designed building in the city was not my point. However, I think we can all agree that regardless of what else it brings to the table, no one would consider a building to be their favorite if they didn't actually like the design.
From that its very easy to conclude that contrary to the very vocal belief of a few UT members, clearly a very substantial number of UT forum members approve of Aura's design.
I think you put it best yourself;
You hit the nail on its head when you said Diversity.
Diversity is important to me and clearly to many other forum members here yourself included. Which is supported by the 3 'outside the box' buildings accounting for more than 58% of the vote (Aura, L, ICE - 41 out of 71). But at the same time we're not ignoring quality, which is a large part of why a building like Trump has no votes.