Category Archives: Aura condos

Snow day! Photos of some downtown construction sites after a light morning snowfall dusts Toronto

The vast construction zone for the new West Don Lands Community is seen in this image taken by a Waterfront Toronto webcam this afternoon. The 80-acre site was blanketed with light snow this morning, less than 24 hours after Waterfront Toronto and Infrastructure Ontario announced that long-awaited construction is finally commencing on the new mixed-use residential community a short distance east of the downtown business district. The highrise under construction at upper left is the 40-storey Clear Spirit condo tower in the nearby Distillery District.

Construction progress on the 75-storey Aura at College Park condo tower is seen in this image captured from a webcam on the Aura website.

Excavation activity at the Nicholas Residences condo site near Yonge & Bloor

Shoring work continues on the FIVE Condos site at Yonge & St Joseph Streets

Snow-covered steel I-beams and construction equipment on the FIVE Condos site

A worker directs traffic past the ETFO office building site on Isabella Street

Another view of progress on the 4-storey ETFO office headquarters

Overlooking the long, rectangular excavation for the 49-storey X2 Condos tower under construction at the southwest corner of Jarvis & Charles Streets

Crews have nearly completed digging the deep excavaton for the X2 Condos tower. The construction crane is expected to be installed soon

Interior demolition work continues on the eight-storey office building at 45 Charles Street East, future site of the Chaz.Yorkville condo tower.

Despite the light snow cover, a drilling rig (rear right) was busy jackhammering a concrete pad at the northwest corner of the Chaz.Yorkville site

Two major construction projects at the southwest corner of Bay & Grosvenor Streets: Burano Condos, left, and the Women’s College Hospital redevelopment.

The new Women’s College Hospital building has risen five floors so far on what was formerly the site of the hospital’s multi-level parking garage

The soaring glass atrium on the north (Grosvenor Street) side of Burano Condos

A view of the atrium from the north side of Grosvenor Street

A publicly-accessible piazza, designed by landscape architects Janet Rosenberg + Associates, will be constructed next to the atrium

The sharply angled glass panels of the atrium provide a striking contrast to the condo tower that soars 50 storeys straight up above it

A Harbourfront Centre webcam image of progress on the new underground parking garage for York Quay Centre. Concrete floor slabs have been poured for the 3 below-grade levels, and work will start soon on the ground-level roof over the structure. New outdoor public spaces will be created on top.

Aura condo podium gradually getting glassed in

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December 12 2011: Glass cladding on the Aura podium’s northeast corner

December 12 2011: A closer view of the northeast corner cladding

Imposing podium: Only a fraction of the 75-storey Aura at College Park condo tower has been constructed so far, but sections of the building’s massive podium along Yonge and Gerrard Streets are already being enclosed in glass panels. Below are photos I shot at lunchtime today showing some of the cladding as well as views of the condo tower’s construction progress from three sides. There’s also a link to a short videoclip showing views of Aura’s podium from the corner of Yonge & Gerrard.

December 12 2011: White tarps cover some of the newly-installed windows along the Yonge and Gerrard Street sides of Aura’s mammoth podium

December 12 2011: Passersby get a peek at some of the windows through this gap in tarps along the podium’s Yonge Street facade

December 12 2011: Another view of the glass cladding on the Yonge Street side of the podium, near Gerrard Street

December 12 2011: Two Toronto police constables on horseback pass the Aura condo construction site as they head north along Yonge Street

December 12 2011: Cladding at the northeast corner near the College Park complex

December 12 2011: An Aura construction worker looks out over Yonge Street while taking his lunch break on the podium’s fourth floor

December 12 2011: The Aura podium’s south side along Gerrard Street

December 12 2011: A section of cladding on the podium’s south side

December 12 2011: Windows above the construction site entrance near the building’s southeast corner at Yonge & Gerrard Streets

December 12 2011: Looking up the south side of the Aura podium from Gerrard Street, outside the Delta Chelsea Inn

December 12 2011: The Aura podium is so huge it poses an almost overwhelming presence along Gerrard Street

December 12 2011: The south side of Aura’s enormous podium viewed from the Gerrard Street entrance to the Chelsea Inn, looking east toward Yonge Street

December 12 2011: Construction platforms cantilever five and six storeys above Gerrard Street

December 12 2011: A view of the podium’s northwest corner, looking towards the Delta Chelsea Inn on Gerrard Street

December 12 2011: The north side of the Aura podium, viewed from Barbara Ann Scott Park at College Park

December 12 2011: Construction progress at the northwest corner of the podium, overlooking Barbara Ann Scott Park

December 12 2011: The north side of the Aura podium, facing the College Park retail, office and apartment complex

City Scenes: Snowy Bay Street building sites

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Snow day: The calendar says it’s spring, but Toronto is getting another blast of winter with 5 cm. of snow falling throughout the day today. This photo, looking north from Queen Street on another snowy day earlier this winter, shows three major building sites on Bay Street. The orange construction crane is building the Sick Kids Research & Learning Tower at Elm Street; the crane in the middle of the photo is atop the Burano condo tower between Grenville and Grosvenor Streets; and the crane at the rear of the picture, on the east side of Bay, is atop the Four Seasons Toronto hotel and condo tower.

Snow motion: This photo was taken on the same day as the one above, a few blocks further north up Bay Street. It shows the Motion on Bay highrise apartment building construction site at left, along with the Sick Kids and Burano towers to the north.

Ice view: This was a view this afternoon of the Sick Kids Research and Learning Tower construction site from an ice-covered webcam high above the building.

Snowy Aura: Although it’s not on Bay Street itself, Aura condos is part of the College Park complex that occupies the entire eastern block of Bay between Gerrard and College Streets. This is a webcam view of the Aura condos construction site earlier this afternoon.

Aura condo tower foundation reaching street level

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The Aura webcam captured this view of the construction site this morning

This February 15 photo shows construction workers atop foundation forms level with Yonge Street near the north end of the condo tower construction site…

…while this February 20 photo shows street-level forms in the middle of the site

Street view: Foundation construction activity for the 75-storey Aura at College Park condo tower has reached street level at the north end of the project site, while underground floors continue to take shape at a slower pace on the southern two-thirds of the property. When I passed Aura on February 15, construction crews were working atop street-level foundation forms between the north (orange) construction crane and the hoarding that protects the pedestrian entrance to the College Park mall. On February 20, forms extended farther south, creeping toward the white construction crane near the Gerrard Street side of the Aura property. Meanwhile, the southwest construction zone — on the west side of the truck ramp leading from Gerrard Street into the underground College Park loading docks — has considerable catching up to do. This area, where a third construction crane operates, is basically still a deep pit with just one underground level poured, far behind the progress achieved elsewhere on the Aura building site. Below are some of my recent photos of construction progress on the tower foundation.

February 15: Street-level foundation work at the north end of the site

February 15: Street-level foundation forms extend to the first crane

February 15: Northeast corner of site viewed from Yonge Street

February 15: Another north view of the site from Yonge St.

February 15: Foundation work is still below grade south of the orange crane

February 15: Foundation forms begin filling in the south half of the tower site

February 15 : Workers on top of foundation forms at the north end of the site

February 18: Yonge-Gerrard view of the three cranes at the Aura site

February 20: Gerrard Street view of the east side of the construction site

February 20: Basement level construction beneath the truck ramp that leads from Gerrard Street into the underground loading docks for the College Park complex

February 20: Underground levels on the east side of the site

February 20: Gerrard Street view toward the elevator block construction

February 20: The elevator block takes shape below the orange crane

February 20: Gerrard Street view of the south half of the construction site

February 20: Construction progress along the Gerrard Street flank of the site

February 20: Gerrard Street view of the southwest corner of the project site

February 20: Foundation work at the southwest corner of the site

February 20: North view of the site from corner of Gerrard and Yonge

February 20: Street-level foundation work viewed from Yonge Street

February 20: Northwest section of the site, looking toward Yonge Street

Keeping tabs on … Aura Condos at College Park

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Night and day: condo tower renderings from Aura’s website

Filling in fast: The giant excavation for Aura condos has been filling in fast, with considerable progress being made on the building’s underground levels since my last Aura construction update 10 days ago. Below are several site photos from January 29, along with some renderings of the tower from Aura’s website.

Aura condo construction approaches grade level along Yonge Street

Once an enormous excavation, the site is filling in fast

In fine form: Underground floors and walls take shape

Construction approaches the site’s north side observation windows

Website rendering of Aura condos retail levels

Website rendering of Aura condos lobby exterior

Keeping tabs on … Aura at College Park condos

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Aura at College Park condo tower foundation progress on January 18 2011

Gaining ground: The last time I posted progress pics of construction at Aura at College Park was January 7. These latest two photos, from this past week, show work on the underground levels for the 75-storey tower quickly approaching street level.

Work crews laying a solid foundation for Aura

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January 7 2011 webcam view of construction progress at Aura

Growing closer to ground level: The huge hole in the ground at the northwest corner of Yonge and Gerrard Streets is filling in nicely. The foundation for Aura at College Park is rapidly taking shape as work crews continuing pouring concrete for the 75-storey condo tower’s extensive underground levels.

Work crews were easy to observe from the sidewalk on Yonge Street when I walked past the site’s entrance for concrete mixing trucks earlier this week. Last time I passed by, I couldn’t see any of the construction workers from the Yonge Street sidewalk because they were still too far down in the deep excavation.

Won’t be long before passersby get a clear view of the construction activity from the street. For now, they have to be content peering through the small observation windows in the hoarding along the north side of the site.

Below are several of my recent photos of the site, including a shot from the CN Tower which shows the top of one of the three construction cranes at Aura poking above the nearby Delta Chelsea hotel. That same view will look markedly different a year from now, at which point the tower’s frame will have an impressive presence on the city skyline.

Tracking Downtown Toronto's Amazing
Building Boom.

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Tracking Downtown Toronto's Amazing Building Boom.

Category Archives: Aura condos

Snow day! Photos of some downtown construction sites after a light morning snowfall dusts Toronto

Aura condo podium gradually getting glassed in

City Scenes: Snowy Bay Street building sites

Aura condo tower foundation reaching street level

Keeping tabs on … Aura Condos at College Park

Keeping tabs on … Aura at College Park condos

Work crews laying a solid foundation for Aura

Tracking Downtown Toronto's AmazingBuilding Boom.

Tracking Downtown Toronto's Amazing
Building Boom.