christiesplits
Senior Member
For me the building in a nutshell: Great from afar, mediocre up close.
Toronto Aura at College Park | 271.87m | 78s | Canderel | Graziani + Corazza
LowPolygon
Senior Member
Aura: Urbanism at its finest!
Exodus
Active Member
metroTO
Active Member
Aura: Urbanism at its finest!
Are those two ladies watching the "20% off all the waxing" special being performed in that miniscule nail salon?
Or is that chair outside the waiting area?
I am not sure this Pacific Mall kiosk-sized shop concept will really work here. It may end up just like the Chinatown Centre which is downright depressing.
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syn
Senior Member
That looks awful.
kicked it in the sun
New Member
wow, that's a real shame. like the classic, street-facing retail spaces are huge format massive corporations and the traditional yonge street type shops are in the little mall/arcade thing inside. i have this feeling like this will be an era in toronto planning that will prompt an enormous backlash and lead to very significant changes down the road, eg. smaller storefronts, serious limitations on formula retail in certain zones, the works. it's actually one thing that you notice right off coming in from montreal or san francisco or nyc - the vastly higher proportion of retail that's owned by chains.
dt_toronto_geek
Superstar
It's the shops of Yonge Street that some dislike so much, tossed into tiny spaces in a cavern below the street - out of view, out of mind.
Xray_Crystal_Junkie
Senior Member
Meh, dump on the materials and architecture all you want. I don't mind small independent businesses, even if they are just barbershops and nail salons.
DtTO
Active Member
What's wrong with those tiny shops? I'd rather have them there than littering Yonge St. Also, It looks like they've already begun cluttering Aura's basement, which should make all the Yonge St. supporters excited. With the "tiny shop bring the pedestrians" argument out of the way, maybe we can start tearing down the townhouses on Yonge. They look 100 times more awful Aura's basement.
ProjectEnd
Superstar
Might it be possible not to troll the 'tear down Yonge St.' so much? You've derailed too many threads with that nonsense already.
hawc
Senior Member
Haha that's amazing. Not one but two cliché nail shops at the bottom of this dreadful tower.
urbandreamer
recession proof
^Maybe there ought to be a boutique hammer shop to join them? Hammering the point home....
Eastside
Active Member
I'm withholding opinion on the tower until it tops off, but that retail area in the basement is beyond redemption. I could see those storefronts being part of some adaptive reuse project in an older, low-rent building, but the fact that those pictures are of a brand new high profile downtown development is unfathomable. It's as if Dr. Flea's has opened a downtown location.
buildup
Senior Member
I seriously believe Walmart or some equivalent could buy out all these business units and take the hole space. Upstairs there's already something similar. Could work quite well.
christiesplits
Senior Member
It's a sad day when Wal-Mart is an antidote to a mediocre retail area.