Topping Off August 2012: What's Hot On UrbanToronto

In the real estate and development industry, August tends to pass by at a crawl. Construction slows down amidst the city's scorching temperatures, and those lucky enough head off to a lakeside escape. While on the surface it appeared slow, there was still plenty of activity happening on the UrbanToronto forums, and we came up with a number of news stories that explored a variety of developments occurring throughout the GTA. As the month comes to a close we can already see the September rush gaining momentum; we've got a number of interesting developments to share with you following the long weekend that you won't want to miss.

News

Topping out our Top 10 news stories was a pretty impressive Then and Now, contrasting Bay and Front in 1929 to 2012. Following closely behind was an examination of the current state of the Pearson airRail link, with an in depth look at the Union Station revitalization rounding out the top three.

Bay Street south of Front looking north, 1929

1. Then and Now: Bay Street South of Front

2. Pearson AirRail Link: Construction Underway

3. CityRail In Depth: Union Station

4. Back to Trump: A Peek at the Model Suites and Amenities

5. Distillery Penthouse: An Ever-Changing View of Toronto

6. A Breath of Fresh Air for the Historic Dineen Building on Yonge

7. Rob Ford Tests the Equipment at Underpass Park

8. Brookfield Prepares to Clear Way for Bay Adelaide Centre East

9. $60 Million "Icepark" Proposed for Mississauga

10. Trump Toronto has Truly Urban Views

Threads

Our threads buzzed with debate regarding the architectural merit of a number of the city's most prominent towers, the majority of which are currently under construction. L Tower made the number one position, followed by Aura and the Trump Tower, a trio of developments that's captivated forum members for the past year.

North facade of the L Tower, image by Jack Landau

1. L Tower + Sony Centre (Castlepoint/Fernbrook/Cityzen, 58s, Libeskind/P+S)

2. Aura: Residences of College Park III (Canderel, 78s, G+C)

3. Trump Tower Toronto (Talon, 57s, Zeidler)

4. Emerald Park Condos (NYCC, Bazis/Metropia/Plazacorp, 42 + 32s, Varacalli)

5. Ïce Condos (Lanterra, 57 + 67s, aA)

6. Southcore Financial Ctr: Bremner Tower & Delta (GWL/bcIMC, 30 + 47s, KPMB & P+S/IBI)

7. Casa II (42 Charles St East - YMCA property, Cresford, seeking 57, aA)

8. Hullmark Centre (NYCC, Tridel/Hullmark, 44 + 35s, Kirkor)

9. Aquarium of Canada & CN Tower Retail Pavillion (Canada Lands/Ripley, 3s, B+H)

10. Upside Down + Fuse Condos (Channington/Brownstone, 14s x2, 26s x2, Burka)

DataBase

Of particular interest to the city this August was the news regarding Ripley's Aquarium of Canada following a damning report released concerning Marineland. The dataBase page for this project lit up following the publication of the report, with people eager to see just what was going on at the bottom of the CN Tower. In second place was E Condos, followed by 88 Scott; both are projects that we expect will remain prominent over the coming year as sales ramp up and construction begins.

Construction earlier this month, image courtesy of forum member Jack Landau