Life at the city’s highest home address
Penthouses at Aura at College Park make the claim to fame of being the tallest of the tall
On foggy nights, the lights atop downtown Toronto skyscraper condo Aura seem to hover in space like extra-terrestrial visitors.
The distinctive pattern, using 1.24 kilometres of LED lights that shine through the night’s dark hours, ensures that North America’s tallest residential tower is recognizable from the edges of the GTA. And further.
“I’ve had friends call me from Victoria Park to say, ‘Hey, I can see your building from here,’ ” said Nicolas Lin, 33, who bought his 870-square-foot condo on the ninth floor for $570,000.
Aura is the final building in the College Park development, at the northwest corner of Gerrard and Yonge Sts., and the last of its 994 condos — the 79th-floor penthouses — are now for sale, ranging in price up to $3.7 million. The building’s record height was not part of the original planning, said Berardo Graziani, principal at Graziani + Corazza Architects Inc. of Mississauga. The site was initially slated to be home to two towers, but after examining the feasibility, the impact and the marketing of two towers, the architects and developers, Canderel Residential, decided that a single tower would have less impact
“It’s exciting to have the tallest residential building, but I’m most satisfied by the positive things it has done for the city by opening up Yonge St.,” Graziani said. “Now, Yonge St. is full of development and is being revitalized. Who knows how long this will be the tallest residential building?”
The projects have also brought new retail life to a failing stretch of what was once listed as the world’s longest street (until 1999, when it was separated from Hwy. 11 at Barrie) with shops and cafés, plus an additional supermarket to meet the needs of the influx of new residents.
Canderel, the building’s developer, broke ground for the project in 2010, and the five-storey retail podium opened in 2012. The first residents moved into the building in August 2013. Aura’s 994 units, covering a million square feet of living space, touch all sectors of the market, Graziani said, with studios, lofts and twostorey units among the other offerings.
The construction of the building, the fourth tallest building in Canada — with only First Canadian Place, Trump International Hotel and Tower, and Scotia Plaza ahead of it — was an exercise in problem-solving since it was done in three phases. Essentially, Aura is three buildings stacked one on top of another. The retail podium was built first, followed by floors six to 58; the upper stories formed the third building. Each phase has separate elevators.
“It was interesting, exciting and challenging,” said Julie Robinson, the director of project management and construction for Canderel’s residential group.
“The retail podium had a different end user than the residential floors, and the commercial tenants were very sensitive to the need for the storefronts to appear open during construction. Instead of ground-level hoardings, we had overhead protection to achieve that open-for-business look.
“We had many structural challenges, including rebuilding and maintaining a ramp to service the entire block and providing 24-hour access and using a transfer slab eight-feet deep that allowed us to continue construction despite the podium being open. We were essentially building a vertical world.”
Graziani said the team was regularly breaking new ground, figuratively speaking.
“What had been done in the past had to be thrown out the window,” Graziani said. “Everything was reinvented and rethought.”
The effort has paid off, if satisfied residents are any measuring stick. Lorraine Manryk, who lives on the 28th floor, and Lin each bought condominium units at Aura before construction began.
Lin was among the first occupants of the building, while Manryk had to wait 12 months, since her unit was located near an elevator.
“I’m a second-time buyer with Canderel,” Manryk said. “I lived in College Park II previously and buying here is the best thing I ever did.”
While she enjoyed the views from the model penthouse suite during an open house late last year, she’s very happy with her home’s view.
Both owners were drawn to the building largely because of its location.
“It’s five minutes to the subway, and I work at Ryerson University, which is also five minutes away,” Lin said. “Living on Yonge St. also means we get to see all the action there.”
Also nearby is Barbara Ann Scott Park, a forgotten expanse of green space between buildings that line Yonge, Gerrard, Bay and College Sts. The three-acre park is the focus of a $3-million re-make by the developer.
Aura connects to the TTC’s subway system. “I’ve worn heels in a snowstorm to go to a concert at Roy Thomson Hall,” Manryk said, refer- ring to the building’s underground connection to College subway station, which allows residents to take the TTC without walking outdoors.
But a proposed link to the city’s underground PATH system is in dispute and a lawsuit has been launched after retail condo owners in the lower level say they were misled by promises of a PATH connection that would give them access to shoppers. The allegations have not been proven in court.
Aura’s five-storey podium includes retailers Marshall’s, Bed Bath & Beyond. As well, it has the largest location of Madonna’s Hard Candy Fitness chain where all Aura residents receive free memberships.
“I love the fitness centre,” Lin said. “It’s amazing.”
Manryk agreed. “The equipment is amazing and there’s anything you want: a Booster Juice bar, hot yoga, and it’s all included.”
Aura’s own amenities appeal to buyers and owners: a cyber café; a mini-theatre that can be rented for private events; party rooms; guest suites; and a fifth-floor outdoor patio with barbecues and a waterfall.
Online forums allow Aura residents to leave notes for the concierge and report repairs online; as well it’s a marketplace to sell unwanted possessions. Residents’ key fobs give them access to common areas and their own residential floors — an added layer of security.
“The amenities make a big difference, a very prestigious difference,” Manryk said. “I like the luxury, too.”