Soaring high above College Park at Yonge and Gerrard, Aura Condos by Canderel has made its mark on Toronto’s skyline as Canada’s tallest residential tower. The complex houses 985 suites, a 42,000 square foot fitness centre, and 190,000 square feet of prime retail space within its podium.
BuzzBuzzHome News was invited to the 79th floor of the skyscraper to tour the impressive new penthouse suites and to hear more about the project from Riz Dhanji, VP Sales and Marketing at Canderel, Julie Robinson, Director Project Management and Construction and project architect Barry Graziani of Graziani + Corazza Architects.
At 273 meters (895 feet) Aura has literally reached new heights in the city of Toronto, but the tower’s sky high dimensions weren’t the only first for the city.
“Before the city had a formal design review process, Aura went through a design review of its own headed by a panel of five esteemed architects across Canada and the US,” explained Graziani. “It was also the first development to implement an approval process of construction and occupancy based on three individually stacked buildings — the podium as one building, the tower up to the 58th floor as the second, and the tower to the 78th floor as the third.”
Construction at Aura from start to end required approximately four and a half years, and being such an ambitious project required a great deal of coordination.
“We had over 55 different trades on this project, 400 workers at the site at peak times so it took an enormous amount of coordination to bring every element together,” said Robinson. “We had unique challenges to deal with but we stood up to those challenges and we’re very proud of it.”
With the development now complete and many residences occupied, Canderel has released the remaining penthouse suites on the 79th floor. The top penthouse level consists of a total of four suites with one of them already sold. The remaining penthouses are priced from $2.4 million and range in size from 2,201 square feet to over 3,000 square feet.
Two of the suites, 7910 and 7907, have been fully furnished and decorated by Canderel’s in-house team of stylists and designers, led by Kathy Chow.
“We find that buyers looking for penthouse residences still need some help visualizing the luxurious lifestyle available to them,” said Dhanji. “The results are two of the city’s most luxurious penthouse suites anywhere on the market.”
Clad in an elegant mix of neutral paints, metallic accents, and distinctive furnishings and art pieces, Chow and her team have brought an elevated sense of style and sophistication to the expansive living spaces.
Each suite also comes with 12 foot ceilings, Sub Zero and Miele appliances in the kitchen and marble-clad bathrooms with Kohler fixtures and freestanding bathtubs.
“Topping off at over 80 storeys, this is really an iconic building,” said Dhanji. “We have always been committed with Aura taking the Toronto condominium market to new heights, and we believe that the new penthouses will define for the market what life can be like, when you’re on top.”
Photos: James Bombales
