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

[to_l]

The only signage that I see for the mall are the hanging ones above the escalators that bring you downstairs. Doesn't help that once you get down, all the stores are vacant but there's also no real interesting retail that would warrant a trip down there either. Mainly, I see a couple of dry cleaners, convenience stores, clothing, and hair and nail places; guess its convenient for the condo residents as the lifts go straight down there but not really for anyone else.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

If they had placed the food court on the second floor and had a big box store anchor the basement level instead, it might have helped bring in more traffic overall. As is, I'm surprised that the existing food vendors, other than the curry place, have survived as long as they have. The wayfinding down there is abysmal and it just feels so dreary and oppressive.

It is as if the architect/developer in question has no idea how to build retail properly. Of course, the icing on the cake has got to the BBB/Marshall wasting window space by having shelving units abutting it. What's the point?

The worst practices of big box retailing brought to the downtown core.

AoD

 

[Edward Skira]

It is as if the architect/developer in question has no idea how to build retail properly. Of course, the icing on the cake has got to the BBB/Marshall wasting window space by having shelving units abutting it. What's the point?

As @AndreaPalladio mentioned elsewhere the retailer wants you buying their stuff and not looking out the windows.

 

[LNahid2000]

As @AndreaPalladio mentioned elsewhere the retailer wants you buying their stuff and not looking out the windows.

I think AoD meant that the window space is wasted because it could be used to show off merchandise to people walking by on Yonge St rather than having shelves facing inwards.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

As @AndreaPalladio mentioned elsewhere the retailer wants you buying their stuff and not looking out the windows.

Of course but that space would be perfect for other purposes - be it circulation or food court usage - that denotes activity in the space.

I think AoD meant that the window space is wasted because it could be used to show off merchandise to people walking by on Yonge St rather than having shelves facing inwards.

Yes and no - I understand that not all types of retail will find window space desirable - but that's part and parcel of how the space is designed and used. Like - why not have the main entrance at the corner, for example? (and it brings to mind another offender with similarly atrocious arrangements and outcomes - 10 Dundas). The basement would have been perfect for retailers which doesn't want any distractions.

Toronto doesn't seem to have mastered the art of doing vertical malls yet.

AoD

 

[Skeezix]

Toronto doesn't seem to have mastered the art of doing vertical malls yet.

Agreed. Part of that problem is the Planning department, which doesn't pay enough attention to how these spaces might be used.

 

[ProjectEnd]

Of course but that space would be perfect for other purposes - be it circulation or food court usage - that denotes activity in the space.



Yes and no - I understand that not all types of retail will find window space desirable - but that's part and parcel of how the space is designed and used. Like - why not have the main entrance at the corner, for example? (and it brings to mind another offender with similarly atrocious arrangements and outcomes - 10 Dundas). The basement would have been perfect for retailers which doesn't want any distractions.

Toronto doesn't seem to have mastered the art of doing vertical malls yet.

AoD

I'm not sure if it's so much an 'art of mastery' issue so much as one of just 'cheap and lazy.' It is interesting that things continue to be so provincial when the results of something well thought out can not only be spectacular visually but also spectacularly profitable.

A particular favourite:

 

[to_l]

Yeah, when I saw how they set up the stores, I figured that they wanted to try the Asian mall thing but it was really going to be a struggel given how little need there is for people to go through the area.

 

[Torontovibe]

It is as if the architect/developer in question has no idea how to build retail properly. Of course, the icing on the cake has got to the BBB/Marshall wasting window space by having shelving units abutting it. What's the point?

The worst practices of big box retailing brought to the downtown core.

AoD

That is why both of those retailers could have gone into the basement. Dollarama locates their stores in basements and it seems to be working for them. A new Dollarama just opened at Yonge and Wellesley. It is located in a basement and it was crowded when I was there yesterday. All the big box stores and banks could do well in basements of condos, instead of taking up prime spots at street level. That should be saved for businesses that animate Yonge Street and destination retail that attracts large crowds of shoppers. Retail needs to be programmed and space not just rented to the first business that comes along.

 

[to_l]

For sure, they should have placed the BMO and RBC in the basement, and put the coffee place and one of the restaurants along the front; that would have livened up the space, especially during the summer when you have the musicians busking on the streets. You know, even if they only put the banks in the basement, that would have helped draw people down there.

 

[Jonny5]

If they had placed the food court on the second floor and had a big box store anchor the basement level instead, it might have helped bring in more traffic overall. As is, I'm surprised that the existing food vendors, other than the curry place, have survived as long as they have. The wayfinding down there is abysmal and it just feels so dreary and oppressive.

It would have been great to replicate the Longo's in the Maple Leaf Square basement, complete with the licensed bar. That would have been a hit and maybe finally put that Metro at College Park out of its misery.

 

[steveve]

They definitely should have put Marshalls or Bedbath in the basement or at least opened up the main floor to the public to a a more open-concept, atrium-style layout. I understand the project at its core was never mixed-use (although cleverly marketed as such) and thus, building a more complex shopping centre was out of the question, but what currently sits here is a terribly wasted opportunity.
The podium does not have a grand entrance either, and the one it does have is a pretty lacklustre experience treading up 2 different sets of long-escalators and oversized/empty common areas in between. The corner of Yonge-Gerrard is particularly awkward (where the curved LED screen was rumoured to go), as it would have made sense to put some sort of entrance there... but then again, RBC and BMO are the tenants fronting Yonge Street.
The restaurants on Gerrard (Scaddabush and the other one) and their patio's seem to be doing fairly well though.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

If I was a retail landlord with this property, I'd have a few ideas of how to fix it:

• Move the food court closer to the main entrance and improve the sightlines downstairs.
• Pay for GWL to improve the connection. Build better, glass doors and improve the lighting.
• Maybe turn the whole thing into a giant underground food court. Attract specialty restaurants and bakeries that could draw people in by word of mouth. There's one Japanese curry vendor that's quite popular down there. More of that could help.
  
• Convert it into nightclub space. It's separated enough from the residential areas so noise wouldn't affect residents.
• Or see if a big-box retailer would be interested in the space, like a furniture store (it'd complement BB&B/Marshall's).

But as a condominium development, any of these fixes are extremely difficult to implement.

Even if you're the retail landlord of this property,.... it's not what you would do,... it's what you're actually allowed to do. Due to Aura developer's purchase agreement of the site from CollegePark (wasn't this entire block all originally CollegePark land as the original CollegePark was supposed to be a huge pyramid structure!), there are exclusion clauses that would forbid the retail space of Aura to host a variety of establishment that would compete with those found in CollegePark itself,... such as Supermarket/Grocery stores, furniture store, big box retailers outside of TJX (Winners, Marshalls), night clubs, etc,... thus, while Longo's, Dollarama and night clubs might be good ideas for basement retail spaces, I'm sure they're excluded here since competing establishements are found in CollegePark. I'm guessing these restrictions would also limit the size of the Aura food court as well. Note: GWL Realty manages retail spaces of both CollegePark and Aura,... so they would essentially treat them both as one mall,... and give many of their tenants exclusive rights for being the only supermarket, drug store, dollar store, night club, urban market, or whatever in their mall,... standard practices within retail mall industry. Anyways, here's a little reminder,... an article from urbantoronto.ca:
"Below-grade retail spaces in high-traffic urban areas tend to be ideal locations for large supermarkets and small independent retailers. An exclusion clause in Canderel's purchase agreement of the site prohibited them from including a supermarket or grocery store at Aura, which resulted in the divided space underground. The decision was made to market the spaces as condominium retail units, not unlike those in Pacific Mall just over the Scarborough boundary in Markham. Some adjoining units are owned by the same unit, meaning that some could be combined into larger units."
http://urbantoronto.ca/news/2013/11/answering-your-questions-about-canderels-aura-college-park

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Apparently the connection to College Park is owned by GWL Realty, the owners of College Park. They're the ones who decided on the crash doors it seems.

42

The focus on the poor connection between the lower concourse level of College Park and this sub-basement level of Aura is misguided,... if folks are thinking "oh, it's just as simple as connecting the lower retail level of College Park with the lower retail level of Aura",.... they're on two totally different levels,.. as I recall 3-4 flights of stairs! Due to the topography of the area, as you go south from College Street the land slopes downwards towards the lake. College Park retail space has upper level (Winners) on College Street level and lower level (Metro, food court, etc,...),... as you go south along Yonge Street, you'll realize College Park lower level concourse level lines up with Aura street level retail space (main lobbies, Bank of Montreal, RBC and Reds),.. but there's an 100 feet wide laneway/entranceway to Barbara Ann Scott Park in between. Even Aura condo residents are better off leaving via condo their street-level lobby and walking a few steps outside to south end of College Park street-level entrance of their lower concourse on their way to College Park subway station,... so who would go to Aura lower level retail level?

I'm not even going to refer to the Aura lower level retail as basement,... I'm calling it what it is "sub-basement"! It is significantly deeper than just one retail level below the street level retail,..... Why??? Many moons ago when I was a university student, I worked part time as a courier and as such was quite familiar with the loading docks area of a number of downtown buildings,.... back then and still present, just west of Yonge Street north of Gerrard, CollegePark has a huge long and steep underground ramp leading to a huge network of loading docks areas (with very high ceilings that made 18 wheelers look small,... mainly directly under Barbara Ann Scott Park and newer CollegePark building,... remember before Eaton Centre, College Park was a high volume flagship Eaton store, then add huge office building at newer CollegePark 777 Bay Street with MacleanHunter, TD bank offices, government offices, etc,...),... I suspect Aura built their underground loading docks at the same level as the existing network of loading docks at the CollegePark complex,... since they're all managed by GWL reality,... http://www.gwlrealtyadvisors.com/Po...s - Quick Reference Guide - July 18, 2014.pdf
And in order for the Aura lower level retail level to align with the loading docks it was built at a much lower level below street level. Thus, the Aura lower level retailers might have a case if they could prove the developer were negligent in essentially burying them way below street level,... placing them much more lower than the usual one retail level down. The Aura developer basically sold loading dock level space as retail space!

Note: The only other underground loading docks that I could recall as being deeper are the 2 loading docks at the EatonCentre (North Mall and South Mall),... these loading docks are directly under the EatonCentre which has 2 levels of underground retail space! (deeper at north and middle VS south due to topography)

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

Thus, the Aura lower level retailers might have a case if they could prove the developer were negligent in essentially burying them way below street level,... placing them much more lower than the usual one retail level down. The Aura developer basically sold loading dock level space as retail space!

That is pretty terrible.