HOMES CONDOSN

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IN

EA ON2 SATURDAY, APRIL 26, 2014 SECTION H

Man cave makeoverA pool table and ‘wine bar’?

Yes, says Glen Peloso, H11

Aura is changing the way we view our city.The 78-storey megatower, nearing com-

pletion on the northwest corner of Yongeand Gerrard Sts., has fast become one ofToronto most recognizable landmarks.

“You notice it from the 401and Dufferin,or coming down the DVP,” notes BarryGraziani, the architect whose firm Grazia-ni & Corraza designed Aura, Canada’s tall-est residential building.

“It reorients you — there’s the financialdistrict and then there’s Aura farthernorth. It’s expanding our sense of the cityand the downtown core.”

Visible from across the GTA, the buildingalso proudly signals that the once-gloomystretch of Yonge between Gerrard andCollege Sts. has suddenly become a bigdeal. Indeed, Aura, developed by CanderelResidential, has helped spur a transforma-tion of the area, a historic part of the citythat had fallen into disrepair over theyears.

Before the arrival of Canderel in the early2000s — and its construction of the two-tower Residences of College Park devel-opment on Bay St., followed several yearslater by Aura — the block bound by Yonge,College, Gerrard and Bay Sts. mostly con-sisted of a bland office complex backingonto forlorn Barbara Ann Scott skatingrink park, itself stranded between two sur-face parking lots.

“It was pretty dreary,” recalls Riz Dhanji,vice-president of sales and marketing forCanderel. “There wasn’t much retail andthere wasn’t much happening. I remem-ber in 2001walking down Yonge thinking,‘Why am I selling this project? Even Iwouldn’t want to walk down here.’ ”

Over the past decade, Canderel’s resi-dential developments have brought thou-sands of new residents to the area. Theprojects have also added an array of newshops, services and eateries to cater to thesizeable new market. (Canderel owns theadjacent office complex at 777 Bay and hasrevamped the retail offerings there, in-cluding adding a Sobeys supermarket torelieve pressure on the existing Metro.)

“(Aura) has been a great catalyst project,”says Mark Garner, executive director ofthe Downtown Yonge BIA. “It’s createdmomentum for change in that area, thatblock specifically. And you’re starting tosee the ripple effect going down Yonge.”

Canderel’s developments are improvingthe public realm in and around CollegePark, as well. Aura’s base has been set backfrom the street, creating a wider sidewalkon Yonge. The builder is also sprucing up

Barbara Ann Scott Park, contributing $3million to give the valuable green spacebetween its buildings a much-neededmakeover.

“To have a three-acre park in the middleof an urban condition in a big city is rare,”notes Graziani. “We have this jewel in therough that everybody has been walking byand ignoring.”

The development also will involve re-storing a forgotten midblock thorough-

fare, Hayter St., which once connectedYonge to Laplante St., west of Bay.

“Back in the ’70s when they did the rede-velopment of the entire block, they closedoff Hayter,” Graziani explains.

“But there was still this stub of it, openingonto Yonge, which we saw as an opportu-nity to announce the park on Yonge andcreate a new main entrance into the park.”

Breathing life back into Yonge St.

“It reorients you,” says Barry Graziani, architect of Canada’s largest condo Aura, left. Graziani and Julie Robinson, senior project manager for CanderelResidential, have helped the builder revive a stretch of stagnant Yonge St. with mixed-use projects Aura, YC Condos and Residences of College Park.

BERNARD WEIL/TORONTO STAR

Canada’s tallest condo among projects revitalizing Toronto’s main, historic street

“You notice itfrom the 401and Dufferin . . .It’s expandingour sense of thecity.”BARRY GRAZIANAARCHITECT AURA continued on H14

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H14⎮TORONTO STAR SATURDAY, APRIL 26, 2014 ON ON2

>>HOMES & CONDOS

The developments have openedother opportunities, particularly fornew retail in the area. Aura’s heftypodium houses a Bed Bath & Beyondand Marshalls stores, as well as thenewest and largest location of Ma-donna’s Hard Candy Fitness chain.

Three restaurants recently openedalong Gerrard St.: Reds MidtownTavern, Scaddabush and Duke’s Re-fresher + Bar. “We’re seeing peoplefrom the Ontario courts and Service-Ontario and Ryerson faculty mem-bers coming over,” notes AmandaLee, local marketing co-ordinator forSIR Corp., which operates all threeestablishments. “So we’re alreadygetting some loyal customers in theneighbourhood.”

Jeffrey Roick, who co-owns TheCarlu event space in the neighbour-ing art deco College Park building —once home to Eaton’s College Street— sees the changes taking place inthe area as a huge positive.

He’s looking to include more livemusic events on the venue’s calendarand condo dwellers represent an ob-vious target market. “There’s a wholenew group of people moving in,” hesays, “and that’s good for everybodyon the block.”

Just north of Aura, at Yonge andGrenville Sts., Canderel is buildingon its momentum with YC Condos, a66-storey glass tower. (Penthouses,ranging from 1,000 to 1,500 squarefeet, are available starting at$930,000.)

The slender, building, which willhave a pool on its top floor, promisesto add architectural interest to anarea that hasn’t seen much throughthe years.

“This building is very New York,with a modern look and feel,” saysCanderel’s Dhanji. “We think it’s go-ing to be a great architectural anddesign addition to the area.”

Like its developments at CollegePark, Canderel’s YC Condos will helprejuvenate that stretch of Yonge St.,he adds, with new retail at the groundfloor and a focus on enhancing thepublic realm. “This is going to bringlots of people onto the street, whichwill help change and improve thingsalong Yonge,” says Dhanji.

Canderel is in good company in theTLC it’s showing Toronto’s maindrag. Up and down Yonge, new pro-jects are playing a part in its rebirth.Just north of Wellesley St., an entireblock of 19th-century buildings onYonge is being restored as part of anew condo project, Five Condos at 5St. Joseph.

“We wanted to restore the fabric ofthe city, put it back the way it shouldbe, and get good retailers in there,”says Gary Switzer, whose firm MODDevelopments is co-developing theproject with Graywood Develop-ments. Farther south on Yonge nearQueen St., MOD is developing TheMassey Tower, a 60-storey buildingthat will incorporate at its base arestored beaux arts-style bank build-

ing that for years sat deterioratingbehind a chain-link fence.

Up at Yonge and Bloor Sts., GreatGulf Homes is building its 75-storeyOne Bloor mixed-use condo. DownYonge St., a few blocks south of Aura,construction is under way on thenew Ryerson Student Living Centreat Yonge and Gould Sts.

All of these projects are payinghomage to Yonge St.’s rich historywhile also helping rejuvenate thecity’s spine for another century.

“When you talk about the culturalmemory for most Torontonians,Yonge St. has always been the mainstreet,” Switzer says. “It’s where youwent on a Saturday night, it was themain shopping street. And it’s be-cause of that that people feel veryemotionally tied to it.”

For Dhanji, the change in atmo-sphere on Yonge St. between Collegeand Gerrard since his company be-gan work there has been dramatic.

“I used to be able to walk downYonge and I could run back and forthalong the sidewalk and never hitsomebody,” he says. “Today you haveto actually dodge people — it’s such adifferent feeling from what it was inthe past.

“I think it’s great that the devel-opment we’ve been doing has reallybrought this animation back toYonge that wasn’t there when westarted back in 2001.”

Projects keep area ‘Yonge’ and aliveY/C Condosá Developer: Canderel Residentiaá Location: 460 Yonge St., Yongeand Grenville Sts.á Size: 66 storeys; á Status: Pre-construction;yccondos.comAuraá Developer: Canderel Residentialá Location: 388 Yonge St., Yongeand Gerrard Sts.á Size: 78 storeysá Status: Nearing completion;canderel.com/residential/aura-condominiums-college-parkThe Massey Towerá Developer: MOD Developmentsá Location: 197 Yonge St.á Size: 60 storeysá Status: Pre-construction; themasseytower.comFive at 5 St. Josephá Developers: MOD Develop-ments/Graywoodá Location: Yonge and Joseph Sts.á Size: 48-storey tower with five,1870s brick buildings along Yongeá Status: Pre-construction; fivecondos.comOne Bloorá Developer: Great Gulf Homesá Location: 1 Bloor St. E.á Size: 75 storeysá Status: Construction; onebloor.com

> FOREVER YONGE

YC Condos will rise at Yonge and Grenville Sts., and will feature aninfinity-edge pool on the top, 66th floor.

AURA from H1

WELLESLEY

COLLEGE

DUNDAS

QUEEN

BAYYONGE/BLOOR

QUEEN ST. E.

BLOOR ST. W.One Bloor

Aura

The Massey Tower

YC Condos

Five at 5 St. Joseph

BLOOR ST. E.

WELLESLEY ST. W.

GERRARD ST.

COLLEGE ST.CARLTON ST.

DUNDAS ST. W.

SHUTER ST.

BAY

ST.BA

Y ST.

YO

NG

E ST.

CH

URC

H ST.

TORONTO STAR GRAPHIC

“We wanted to restore thefabric of the city, put it backthe way it should be, and getgood retailers in there.” GARY SWITZER MOD DEVELOPMENTS

Homes

Now

Under

Construction