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

Now that it has been approved, I wonder when construction will start?

What an odd, and storied, city block this is. I wonder, did the Eaton family ever actually intend to finish the huge deco building originally planned for the site? The promise that they'd do so would have gotten it approved, but I've always been sceptical about the reality - even if the Depression hadn't come along - because it was so vast. And thank goodness for today's design review process, though what a shame it hadn't been in place a few years ago when those two large, timid, quasi-deco apartment buildings on the Bay Street side were mere proposals - perhaps the view corridor up Bay Street from south of Old City Hall would have been taken into account as a result.
 
Indeed. But is the design review process automatically applied to all downtown proposals? Not yet, I think - though one hopes it will be. I think it certainly should be applied to the tower phase of One City Hall.
 
Indeed. But is the design review process automatically applied to all downtown proposals? Not yet, I think - though one hopes it will be. I think it certainly should be applied to the tower phase of One City Hall.


The design review process for this project was voluntarily entered into by the applicant - it had nothing to do with the City.

The City of Toronto cannot mandate design review as of yet (some powers were granted in the City of Toronto Act, Bill 53). The City is piloting the design review in a couple select locations before rolling it out. All aspects of design review must be included in the Official Plan - we are still a few years away from that. Be careful what you wish for, design review could create as many problems as advocates think it will solve.
 
What was the approved height?

Any word when the sales office opens?

I've heard 75 floors, 245 meters, but I could be wrong (did not see it in writing). I've also heard that sales will possibly open in February, but there are still a lot of variables that could alter that timeline.
 
I'm hoping they do a great job on that little Parkette in College Park after Aura. With all the standard rules: no pidgeons, no gangs, no-one without a T4Standard innocuos stuff.
 
Me too. It's one of my favorate spots to meet friends for a coffee in the summer. I've never seen any trouble there. The pigeons & seagulls suck but that's life.
 
There was a plan to build a 42 storey condo Yonge and Gerrard in 1969. I don't know which corner, or indeed how near to the corner it was to be, but the photo files that I have access to show it as a sleek Modernist box, apparently without balconies, with strong horizontal definition for the floors and plenty of glass. Rather ManuLife-like, very typical for the time in our town, set back from the street with landscaping consisting of trees and open grassy areas, and the main floor entrances set back under an overhang with piloti at the perimeter supporting the building.

Correction: This luxury concrete and glass condo was approved by the City and was to have gone on the east side of Yonge, not on the site we're discussing. The two and three bedroom apartments were priced at $27,000 - $65,000! Central air, individually controlled electrical heating, fitness and health club, indoor and outdoor pools, squash and tennis courts, saunas, supervised recreation facilities and no incinerator on the premises as an anti-air pollution aid. Shagadelic baby!
 

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