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An artist's rendering shows Eaton’s original plan in the 1920s for a tower at College and Yonge Sts. On a block once meant to be Toronto's retail epicentre, a 75-storey condo is poised to rise November 08, 2008 Toronto Daily Star. Saturday Condo Section. 3-page Cover Story Stephen Weir Special to the Star College Park is on the upswing of a roller-coaster ride of boom, bust and boom all over again. A revitalized Eaton's College Park building, with its iconic, five-star Carlu Hall, has reignited an economic fascination for one of downtown Toronto's most prestigious and historic blocks, bounded by College, Gerrard, Bay and Yonge Sts. Canderel Stoneridge is poised to begin construction of Aura, a 75-storey condominium tower just south of College Park at the corner of Yonge and Gerrard. The residential skyscraper will cover the last street level parking lot along Yonge St. downtown. It will create a vertical community of close to 3,000 people on a block that was once suppos

* On Saturday November 8th, the Toronto Star ran a major feature I wrote about the downtown Toronto city block of College Park. The 3-page story appeared on the cover of the Condo section. There was no room to place the attached sidebar. The actual article appears above (scroll up) 7 Things To Do At the College Park Block • Renew your driver’s license in the giant ServiceOntario Centre -- basement of 777 Bay • Witness people loose their driver’s licenses in provincial criminal court. Justice system at work on the 2nd Floor College Park • Photograph the Three Watchmen Totem Poles carved by Haida artist Robert Davidson in 1984 to mark the city’s Sesquicentennial year. The work is made up a 50 foot and two 30 foot totem poles – center mall 777 Bay Street • Do something nice – dig deep and take in a charity event at Carlu • Get off the subway buy dinner in the College Park Dominion Store (soon to be Metro store) and get onto the College streetcar before your transfer times out • Dangl

* Who Lives Where 777 Bay Street • Retail, service and office building, built in 1983 • 30 floors. 898,060 sq. ft. College Park • Built between 1928 and 1930 • 7 floors of offices, Provincial Courts, retail stores, rental apartments • linked to College Park subway station • 1979 – reconstruction completed, 210 rental apartments added Approximately 400 residents Residences of College Park • Two buildings -- 51 and 46 storeys high • 10-parkside townhouses. • Approximately 2,600 residents The Liberties • The complex has two 20-storey towers and one 19-storey tower. • Two towers are on Bay (711 and 717) and the third is on Gerrard. • Approximately 1,000 residents. Similar Sized Communities There are an estimated 4,000 people living in the College Park Block. When the Aura skyscrapper is completed the Block population will be an estimated 7,000 people. According to StatsCan, Ontario towns with similar population include: • Alymer 7,126 • Crystal Beach 6,686 • Essex 7,002 • Kincardine 6