Tracy Hanes – Toronto Star

They have raised the bar quite high: Aura at College Park, being built at Yonge St. and Gerrard St. W., holds the title of tallest residential skyscraper in Canada, soaring to 78 storeys once it’s finished in 2014. Aura also boasts Canada’s second largest penthouse, priced at $18.3 million, with 11,370 square feet of living space and unimpeded views of the city. (The L Tower has the biggest penthouse, at 11,600 square feet.)

The fully integrated real estate corporation, founded in 1975 with headquarters in Montreal, operates under the leadership of chairman Jonathan Wener.

Canderel has acquired, developed, managed or co-ventured more than 13 million square feet of property, including commercial, industrial and residential projects, and has created or has under construction more than 4,000 condo suites in the GTA.

Canderel’s philosophy is that a project has to be well located and constructed to provide the tenants or residents with a lifestyle they enjoy, says Wener, to the extent they will want to move to another Canderel project.

The company was a pioneer in the transformation of West King West from derelict industrial area to the vibrant, fast-growing neighbourhood it is today.

The company acquired the heritage 1883 building that had housed the Massey Harris tractor factory and created one of Toronto’s first authentic loft conversions in 2003, an innovative concept at the time. The original facade of the Georgian-style red brick building was meticulously restored and 46 stylish lofts constructed, with features such as exposed brick walls, timber columns and oversized windows.

DNA (Downtown’s Next Address) further established Canderel’s brand in the neighbourhood. The project, geared to first-time buyers and completed in 2005, offered distinctive architecture, providing high-quality finishes as standard (granite countertops, 9-foot ceilings, stainless steel appliances and gas cooktops) that other builders were offering as upgrades, and open-concept layouts.

Canderel Residential’s sales and marketing vice president Riz Dhanji created an innovative marketing campaign that included wrapping two Hummers in DNA colours and hiring young people to hand out “Rave Card” invitations to the sales centre. The centre was used an event space for fashion shows, a Toronto Indy party and several musical performances, which further built DNA’s profile.

The building was a hit with young professionals and so were the follow-up projects, DNA2 and DNA3, which included retail space at grade and a host of amenities.

For DNA3 — on the site of a former Chrysler dealership at King St. W. and Shaw St. — Canderel gathered feedback from existing buyers and included them into the plans. (All of the DNA buildings have sold out.)

“We were trying to create something different,” Dhanji says. “We wanted a unique condo brand and lifestyle associated with the building.”

Canderel had demonstrated its skill with areas in transition when it built Newport Beach townhouses and condominiums, the first towers on what had been a seedy motel strip along the Etobicoke lakeshore, now a desirable waterfront residential neighbourhood.

For, the Waterford, at 2101 Lake Shore Blvd. W., Canderel modelled the 10-storey building after some of the world’s finest hotels, adding luxurious hotel-like finishes and fine architectural details and floor-to-ceiling windows that provided commanding waterfront and city views. Directly behind it, the Waterford Towers offered smaller, yet still luxurious suites.

Canderel has also been instrumental in the revitalization of downtown with the Residences of College Park on Bay St., which is just to the west of the landmark Art Deco College Park, designed by the same architectural firm that designed the Royal York Hotel and Maple Leaf Gardens. The original heritage building with a limestone and granite facade houses 180,000 square feet of upscale retail and offers a direct link to Aura.

The Residences of College Park includes two towers, a retail podium and townhouses overlooking a three-acre park and Aura will be the third and final tower (not to mention the tallest).

Aura, at Yonge and Gerrard, is described as Canderel’s “master work” will have 985 units and four storeys of retail. Dhanji says only a handful of suites remain in Aura and the 11,370 square-feet penthouse is still up for grabs. The grandiose oval-shaped suite features five bedrooms and six bathrooms and has views in every direction.

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Contact Laurin Jeffrey for more information – 416-388-1960

Laurin Jeffrey is a Toronto Realtor with Century 21 Regal Realty. He did not
write these articles, he just reproduces them here for people who are
interested in Toronto real estate. He does not work for any builders.
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