AURA
IS MY BET FOR HOTTEST NEW CONDO
Charles Hanes
November 19, 2007
 Well now, after the blitzkrieg over 1 Bloor East has subsided
hopefully we’ll all get back onto focusing on quality condo investing in Toronto.
I’ve been telling you about the upcoming third phase of College Park “Aura at College Park” for
some time now and after watching the fiasco known as 1 Bloor East (don’t
worry I’ll be publishing ongoing editorials showing availability or lack thereof in
this development) I remain absolutely convinced that the investment rests here at the
crossroads of College Street and Yonge.
One of the key strengths of Aura at
College Park is although it’s eastern farceur is on Yonge Street (I’m not
thrilled about Yonge Street either now or in the immediate future due to it’s rather
patched combination of old buildings and rather questionable foot traffic) what is being
touted as the city’s highest residential development is actually the final corner
stone to what is quickly amounting to one of the best residential niche markets in the
city.
Frequently referred to these days as “Yorkville South” and anchored by the
historic Eaton’s Center (when I first came to Toronto Eatons was both a dynasty and a
central venue for shopping and meeting friends) the city quadrant comprised of Yonge
Street on the east, College on the north, Bay St. (Canada’s “Wall Street”)
on it’s west and Gerrard on its south border had been allowed to decay ever since the
building of the Eaton Center.
In the past couple years Canderel Stoneridge a well known local (they are actually out of
Montreal but have built a solid reputation here in Toronto ever since introducing
it’s Humber Bay Shores development of Newport Beach) residential condo
developer known for not only Newport Beach, but Waterford (which really set the
Standard in Humber Bay Shores) the very successful DNA in King West Village and of
course College Park I and College Park II.
Having occupied College Park I and just now capping off College Park II Aura delivers the
crowning glory to this excellent downtown location. The quadrant is centered with a
historic park with a beautiful fountain in the summer time that converts to a quaint
skating rink in the winter months.
Aura aims to be the tallest condo tower in the city but recently the promoters of 1 Bloor
East announced their intentions to apply to the city for additional height. With so much
hype being thrown around by the developers of 1 Bloor East it is difficult to weed through
the volumes of announcements and promotions to hope to know fact from fiction I’d
prefer to ride with that which is known.
What I do know is that Aura has been approved at 75 storeys which is 243 metres in height.
Michael Lqa Brier, president of Canderel Stoneridge has said that his company could add up
to 10 more floors providing the city blesses the plan. This would make Aura the highest
condo building at 280 metres. Cityplace’s
last building designed to be built on the sale site may well dwarf both of these. When
first launched (many many moons ago - so long ago in fact that I anticipated another
nightmare scenario like 1 King
West to evolve) Trump
International Hotel and Residences) on the southeast corner of Bay and Adelaide in the
Financial District was represented as Canada’s tallest residential tower but it was
recently scaled back to approximately 274 metres.
Aura will boast 960 residential units (more if the additional floors are approved). With
two skyscrapers forming the western wall of the quadrant and twelve of the most unique
town homes in the city overlooking the park, and three older condos forming it’s
southern perimeter (Liberties on
Bay I, II, III) Aura will round off the
exclusive enclave in the centre as a pleasant natural setting amidst the cement and
blacktop of the downtown core. Canderel Stoneridge is much more end user oriented than 1
Bloor East who set up their entire marketing and sales strategy to attract speculators. I
would think that you can expect a more respectable approach of offering these homes for
sale. |
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Depending on your
investment strategy and objectives Aura may or may not be your ideal opportunity to get
rid of those hundreds of thousands of dollars that you are trying to invest. Myself
I’m known to more target low density buildings for both my investor clients as well
as  my end user clients. If you recall, I
put a great number of my clients into The
Hudson at King St. and Spadina at the same time that College Park I & II were
selling.
The reasons for this was that The Hudson offered one bedroom and den suites with two
bathrooms (the second was a 3 piece) and College Park’s one plus dens came with only
one bathroom. Once you’ve lived in a one plus den with only one bathroom and had
guests come over and stay on that convenient roll out in the den but had to share your
shower in the morning you will know what I’m saying here.
The Hudson was also a much smaller scale development which I felt delivered better
“value” to my clients. Even for my investor clients, The Hudson offered what I
felt to be better value as there would be less competition for those choosing to hold and
rent out but also for those who intended to sell at registration (“flip”). Great
Gulf Homes is also a top notch developer and offered a property that had all ceiling
heights at nine feet as opposed to the varied ceiling heights in College Park. You will
find in developments with staggered ceiling heights that later, once the building has been
sold and occupied, Realtors will not know the ceiling heights on units other than those
which they have physically visited so if they show a few units on the lower (8
foot ceiling height) floors they conclude that the entire building has low ceilings so
those who invested up higher and paid the lofty premium increase per floor to get up to
the nine foot ceilings may not necessarily have their units shown when the time comes.
We’ll have to see where Canderel Stoneridge comes down on price per square foot but I
couldn’t imagine them jerking buyers around like the developers a 1 Bloor East did.
It’s amusing as I Bloor East jerked everyone around with a lesser location, lesser
reputation and track record, and obviously questionable ethics of the developer.
Other prominent developments in the immediate College Park area are The Met I and The Met II, two  excellent glass skyscrapers by Edilcan at the
corner of Yonge and Carlton (College becomes Carlton on the east side of Yonge). Edilcan
also included a couple dozen stacked two story townhouses on Granby. Menkes developed
Lumiere on Bay Street immediately across the street from College Park I & II.
Immediately north of College and Bay you will kind a couple of mid market condos (Murano I and Murano II) and another across the
street from them, The Burano. All
of these developments are highrise skyscrapers introducing hundred of new residents to the
area so you can see why this area is being called the “hotspot” in the city
right now.
The bottom line is price so we’ll all have to wait to see just how resounding a story
Aura will bring. I like the location and I like the proven developer. We’ll have to
wait to see the floor plans and correlate the price per square foot but I can tell you at
this early stage of the game, I’m a whole lot more comfortable with Canderel
Stoneridge than with the shell game I observed at 1 Bloor East.
That’s it for now. Remember, your best bet is to get in early with a reputable
Realtors who can be of real value to you. Even with a triple A developer like Canderel you
are strongly advised to always (and I mean always) use an experienced and knowledgeable
Buyer’s Agent to represent your interests. My services are FREE to you so please
Register with me right away. Please, be sure to tell me what you are specifically looking
for. Once I receive your registration form I’ll keep you informed every step along
the way.
That’s it for today folks. Keeping you up with the latest on the market is not easy
work and I do not burden you with pop ups or any other such callous advertising
impositions while you are on my site. The only way I get paid for all of this is by you registering with me and having me
represent you when purchasing a condo (whether resale or presale) so please, register with
me and allow me to represent your best interests. You won’t be disappointed.
I’m Charles Hanes. |
