Got to go up on a hard hat tour to the 49th floor of Aura today. Even though they hustled us quickly through, I was able to snap a few shots of the interior, exterior and some of the views to the south, west and east of the tower. This is the floor where the set-back occurs.

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Xray_Crystal_Junkie said:
Thanks, nice photos.

What was the purpose of the tour?
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They we hosting an agents-only event for the re-release of the 75th floor. Initially the 75th floor only had two units on it, but the builder couldn't sell them. So, instead, they reconfigured the floor into 6 units so they could sell faster (at least that's what the builder is hoping).

Plus, the builder still hasn't sold that $18M penthouse and 2 of the other subpenthouses either, so suffice it to say that they've still got a lot of dollars that need to get off their books. Hence the big agent event today with the hard hat tour and your usual sushi and crab cake hors d'oeuvres.
 
Who wants to spend that kind of money for a PH or sub-PH suite in an average condo development? The only real selling feature here is the downtown location and the height, but the height could also be a negative for a lot of people.
 
urbandreamer said:
You do realize that red brick Victorian architecture "defines" Toronto. \

So you want everywhere to look "new?"

You're living in the wrong city.
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Log telephone polls 'define' Toronto too, but that doesn't mean that's what we should be employing going forward. Those red Vics served Toronto well for a century, but their presence on Yonge is unworkable going forward. Sometimes it's wise to recognize when a clean slate is needed. Toronto has tens of thousands of Vics, we don't need them on our main high street.

My only worry is that Yonge will end up looking like Bay or the retail at the base of AURA. Both are a failure, but it doesn't need to be that way. One can easily have human scaled, beautiful retail with 60 floors above. Why Toronto seems to think that cheap glass fenestration we see on every condo base is the only option is beyond me.

Yonge is in trouble if our retail ends up looking like the base of AURA.
 
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How can you say a building is a failure when it is still in the process of being built? There's Marshals, BBB & a bank open, and maybe a nail salon and you've already declared the race lost. Don't you think you're jumping the gun just a tad?
 
Wonderful views. As for being a failure well the previous parking lot certainly added even less. A good addition once completed.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
As to the substandard retail in little shops, I see it as a transient presence that will be replaced - hopefully with more of an eye towards the Queen Street W model (as imperfect as it maybe). Tearing them down doesn't do the history of the street justice, nor the architecture, much less land use.
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I'm not sure I agree. Why do we need another Queen Street when we already have a Queen Street, and several other areas that are similar (Roncesvalles, Junction etc)? Yonge Street is the main 'big city' thoroughfare in Toronto and the stretch of it that runs north of Dundas to Bloor is prime for large-scale retail, connecting as it does to Yorkville, Bloor Street and an ever-developing and intensifying Yonge/Bloor node. With the Eaton Centre to the south this is the logical place for mid-level retail, and is indeed analogous in many ways to areas along 5th in NYC or Michigan in Chicago that segue into more exclusive higher-end retail.

5ive is an amazing project that I love and saving these buildings along with others that are exemplary adds character, diversity and interest to the area, no doubt, but fundamentally this stretch of Yonge needs to develop, and in so doing needs to change... heck, Yonge Street has already changed drastically from the Yonge Street of arcades, head shops and clubs we knew in the past, and continues to change thanks in part to the spread of Ryerson. Design and architecture is a concern of course but why not just facilitate the eventuality of change better with certain standards in mind?
 
nice photo ^ I definitely didn't expect the setback to be so dramatic when viewed from the right angle... it actually makes Aura look lob sided... but it's not a bad thing.
We've just about hit the second setback, no?

I also still can't get over how similar X and Couture in both height, overall form, and size in footprint. Gonna get even more awkward when X2 is built.
 
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