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

[Tewder]

Somewhat reminiscent of those walkways that lead off of 5th Avenue to Rockefeller Center. Could be a nice touch to showcase one of the best examples of deco in Toronto. Hopefully Aura will do better justice to the area than RoCP.

 

[cdr108]

Somewhat reminiscent of those walkways that lead off of 5th Avenue to Rockefeller Center. Could be a nice touch to showcase one of the best examples of deco in Toronto. Hopefully Aura will do better justice to the area than RoCP.

Are the arches Aura's public arts contribution and made to mimic the one across the street?

 

[greenleaf]

Hopefully Aura will do better justice to the area than RoCP.

Looking at the Cosburn site, it looks like they also did RoCP.

It looks like this may be their first venture outside of the suburbs/exurbs.

 

[wyliepoon]

Somewhat reminiscent of those walkways that lead off of 5th Avenue to Rockefeller Center.

 

[khris]

So in a development such as Aura, who bears the cost of the tunnel. Is it split between Aura & College Park?

My best guess would be the city? The owners of the development are only responsible for their property.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

Matches the arch across the street, though it'd work better if the College Park laneway was aligned with Granby and not archless McGill. They're close enough that the reference makes sense, though.

 

[whatever]

You've got it reversed; that arch is at McGill, and will line up perfectly with the new ones across the street.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

I'm gonna say that my memory was working perfectly but the erroneous Flickr caption threw me off. Yep

 

[barrytron3030]

good call on the nyc pics wylie

this looks very interesting. i'm all for enhancing public space and this corridor looks attractive. some new art, brick walks, trees, and most importantly, a prominent connection between the park and yonge.

the park itself still needs some cleaning up though. the pond looks pretty dirty when the fountains aren't on. also, there's too much concrete/sidewalk in this park. needs more grass, trees and flowers.

u of t has done a great job of creating new stone pathways all over its campus. particularly impressive was the immense sidewalk work just north of university and college in front of the school's pharmacy and medical science buildings.

 

[Sir Novelty Fashion]

I think this is fantastic. The render makes it look like a successor to the poor, departed Roy Square. And it would be nice to see the disembodied arch across the road - whose history is still a mystery to passers-by, in absence of a plaque - get recognized by some kind of urban context, rather than remain stranded, mysterious and out of place.

 

[Mike in TO]

My best guess would be the city? The owners of the development are only responsible for their property.

The city secures funds from the developer in the site plan agreement to make improvements to the public realm on land immediately adjacent to the development site (typically this includes all utilities, PATH connections, sidewalks, traffic light signals, trees & irrigation systems etc). The "public" walkway pictured in the rendering is actually private land - the Haytar street allowance was transferred to Canderal in the agreements with the city - all costs to improve this laneway will be covered by the developer. Furthermore there are millions of dollars collected in development charges from this project that will pay for 'downstream' infrastructure improvements off-site.

the park itself still needs some cleaning up though. the pond looks pretty dirty when the fountains aren't on. also, there's too much concrete/sidewalk in this park. needs more grass, trees and flowers.

Additional funds have been secured through section 37 agreements with the applicant to make improvements to the park - I can't remember all of them, but they included lighting, paving and greenspace improvements - there is also another public walkway on the west side of the development that will connect the park to Gerrard Street - I would suspect it will have a similar treatment to the rendering posted above. Also part of the additional application to increase the height from 75 to 85 floors included a few million dollars to make further improvements to the park & skating rink & skating rink change rooms and some other items. Given current market conditions I wouldn't cross my fingers about the additional height.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Excellent info. MiTO, thanks! I scrolled endlessly yesterday looking for a planning doc. to read about park improvements but couldn't find one.

 

[Automation Gallery]

. Also part of the additional application to increase the height from 75 to 85 floors included a few million dollars to make further improvements to the park & skating rink & skating rink change rooms and some other items. Given current market conditions I wouldn't cross my fingers about the additional height.

Either this thing gets build or not.I dont think the current market conditions is going to be a factor on the additional floors.

Even in these doom and gloom times real estate is still a good investment in Toronto. Build them taller and more investors will buy.

 

[Mike in TO]

Either this thing gets build or not.I dont think the current market conditions is going to be a factor on the additional floors.

Even in these doom and gloom times real estate is still a good investment in Toronto. Build them taller and more investors will buy.

Sales haven't so much slowed the last 6 weeks... they've basically stopped, additional units spread through 10 floors will be difficult to sell and the added construction costs would have implications on both financing and the equity share that Canderel would have to contribute to the project... I'm not suggesting that it won't happen - but that there are market conditions that have a direct impact on the decisions made by development proponents and lending institutions.

 

[maestro]

Even in these doom and gloom times real estate is still a good investment in Toronto.

For your sake, I hope you don't take this to heart especially when inner space and not land is at concern.