The Story Behind Aura at College Park

Long, long ago, 15 years ago in fact (which is medieval history in modern downtown Toronto condo terms!), Bay and Yonge Streets between Wellesley to Gerrard were nothing like what they appear to be today. The start of the College Park towers were still only in the planning stages, and so much of the area was covered in surface level parking lots or very low-rise commercial space. Only a few brave condominium “newbies” started to slowly hit the area in the late 1980s and 1990s, when condos first began to crop up in Toronto, but the Bay Street Corridor was still far from being considered anything close to a residential community at that time.

The real Bay Street condo boom started with College Park Phase 1 at 763 Bay Street, which was the first to launch the 3-tower development of the College Park block. The pre-sales allowed for the construction to commence in the autumn of 2003, at what now seem like unheard-of prices. A 1 bedroom unit for just under $200,000! A 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom suite for the mid $300,000s! If only we could all predict the future of real estate prices back then!

Next to come up was College Park Phase 2 at 761 Bay Street, which after the success of Phase 1, launched sales in 2004 to much acclaim, The condo project subsequently broke ground on construction the following year.

With the success of the first two towers, the builder, Canderel, had amassed a very loyal list of happy purchasers, which made the launch of Aura at College Park for pre-construction sales in 2008 a resounding hit. Most memorable are the line ups that wrapped outside of the sales office just to get in to purchase on the launch day. Some people felt like they had won the lottery in just being able to pay full price for a unit at Aura. 

With the help of Google Street View’s history tool, here’s what the site of the current Aura at College Park looked like in 2007, before construction began. Just another surface parking lot with 761 Bay Street topping off construction with a crane on top of its tower in the distance.

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For more information about buying, selling or renting at Aura Condos, check out our Aura Condo guide page right here. If you’re looking for more information about how our hyper-local approach to real estate can help you with buying, selling or renting, you can learn more about The Condo Lounge right here.