Amenities :

• 24/7 Concierge
• Lobby
• Party room
• Media centre
• BBQ
• Fitness centre with yoga

Come home to Canyon Ranch Living® in Miami Beach, Lenox or Tucson – luxury residences in all-healthy, invigorating environments for people who want to feel great for life. In spectacular locales, you’ll find your dream home plus every amenity, fitness choice and wellness opportunity of Canyon Ranch, the world’s leader in Optimal Living®. An extraordinary choice of residences awaits you.

In all three locations, Canyon Ranch Living offers:

• Beautifully appointed, luxury residences
• Superb spa facilities and treatments
• Fully equipped fitness centers
• Dozens of complimentary fitness classes and activities every day
• Unequalled health & wellness opportunities
• Nutritious, award-winning cuisine
• Inspiring natural settings

Aura condos with its undisputable amenities, also has a direct and indoor access to the College Park subway and shops.

The use of exceptionally high quality glass has made the windows of Aura condos look mysteriously transparent from the street and consequently, ‘Aura’ makes the perfect sense for this state of the art monument.

Living in Aura condos gives you a second to none experience to easily change the concept of living in downtown Toronto for you.

The record breaking height of the Aura condominiums offers you a supernatural view from above the city that has given a new definition to Toronto’s skyline. While this is a unique opportunity for investment in downtown Toronto, you can literally touch the sky at Aura!

The Florian – The Residences of Upper Yorkville Offering the very best of both worlds between Yorkville and Rosedale : sophistication, style and elegance. Or has Diamante likes to put it – where the world’s most priviliged enjoy the best Toronto has to offer.

Exclusive podium and tower residences each with an impressive balcony. The architecture is distinguished by an original combination of expansive glass and accent museum quality rare brick. The 4th floor podium features a roof top garden with summer bar.

A stunning Party Room at The Florian is equipped with a full service catering kitchen. The indoor swimming pool is sized and designed for a range of uses from relaxation, exercise to
serious lap runs. The fully equipped state-of-the-art exercise facilities will face the gardens and have direct access to the large balcony in a green setting. There are well-appointed His and Hers change rooms with lockers, steam showers
and saunas and a quiet stretch yoga room.

A 24-hour concierge and valet will ensure that residents of The Florian residences in upper Yorkville are always treated to the highest level of service imaginable.

Luxurious suite flnishes at The Florian in Yorkville include but are not limited to 10′ ceilings on floors 5 through 21 with 9′ ceilings for suites on the podium level. Choice of pre-flnished engineered hardwood flooring, large format marble, or limestone tiles in foyer and coat closet. Hand crafted signature kitchen cabinetry designed by Brian Gluckstein made by Marana Kitchens. Sub-zero refrigerator, Viking 4-burner gas cooktop, Viking wall oven, warming drawer and microwave, Asko dishwasher and Kitchen Aid under the counter wine cooler, all as per plan. Front loading energy efflcient Energy Star rated washer and dryer.

Your choice of pre-flnished engineered hardwood flooring or 100% cut pile wool carpet in principal rooms. Master bathroom includes four mounted IZohler showerheads and an acrylic 6′ soaker tub only at The Florian in Yorkville, Toronto.

Luxurious Tower Residences, from 6th floor:

Two Bedroom, 1,476sq.ft. from $1,200,000.00
Two Bedroom and Den, 1,941 sq.ft. from $1,575,000.00
Two Bedroom and Den, 2,197 sq. ft. from $1,800,000.00
Two Bedroom and Den, 2,709 sq. ft. from: $2,275,000.00

Unique Podium Residences:

One Bedroom and One Bedroom and Den, from $650,000.00
Two Bedroom and Larger, from $850,000.00
Promotion offering one parking spot and one locker with each purchase, limited time only. Maintenance Fees
estimated at $0.69 per square foot plus individually metered hydro. Property taxes estimated at 1.25% of the market value at the time of assessment by the City of Toronto. G.S.T. included in the purchase price.
Deposit Schedule

$25,000.00 with the offer
Balance to 5% in 30 days
A further 5% on 90 days
A further 5% on 180 days
A further 5% on 360 days
5% on Occupancy
All prices and specifications and materials are approximate and subject to change without notice. All finishes are as per plan from Vendors samples.

Located at the intersections of Bay St, Davenport Rd, and McAlpine St, The Florian will be easily accessible by car. While it is still a short walk to the action, hustle, and bustle of the shops and restaurants of the Bloor-Yorkville core, this superb condo building will also offer residents a quieter and more serene alternative to the other luxury residences of Yorkville. The building will also have more unobstructed views with many units overlooking the large green spaces surrounding the nieghbourhood.

The Star

Is the curtain set to come down on the traditional, aluminum-framed condo window? Is a new industrial style about to eliminate condominium owners’ two biggest pains in the glass – moisture and mould?

Toronto is about to find out as several highrise project designers have decided that ultra-expensive curtain wall glass is the chic way to let light in and keep water out.

Windows come in many tints, shapes and sizes but almost all are installed using what builders call a window wall system: Glass goes into an aluminum frame which, in turn, is attached to the inside of a building’s outer walls. Although relatively cheap to build, mount and repair, a poorly installed window wall can allow damaging moisture into a condo unit.

For residential projects where money is not a significant concern, floor-to-ceiling suite windows appear ready to make concrete outer walls obsolete.

Four soon-to-be-built projects – the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton, the Yann Weymouth-designed 77 Charles St. West project, The Florian and the Four Seasons Residences in Yorkville– will hang their windows onto the frames of their buildings using an industrial glass system known as the curtain wall.

“Up to this point, almost every condo in the city has used some form of the tried-and-true window wall,” says Darius Rybak, the project manager for 77 Charles St. West. “But when you look at the office towers in Toronto’s downtown core, you see that glass is everything. Those 10- and 12-foot-tall windows look strikingly different than what you get in a condo residence. That is because the office towers don’t put their windows inside a wall, they use glass to become the wall … hence the term curtain-wall system. We are taking that industrial concept and using it in our next downtown project.”

The 77 Charles St. condos, designed by architect Weymouth who made a name for himself designing the Paris Louvre’s glass pyramid, are an artsy venture in waiting. Once the existing four-storey Lycée Français private school has been shut down and the site cleared, Rybak will oversee the construction of the 16-storey multi-use structure for Aspen Ridge Homes.

At street level, the new building will blend in with the University of Toronto neighbourhood. The first three floors are limestone, with understated doors and traditional windows. This will be home to Kintore College, a small religious residence and educational centre.

On top of this heavy-looking structure will be a stacked, seemingly transparent 13-storey all-glass tower. The condos inside will range from 1,200-square-feet lower-level suites, to 6,000-square-feet penthouse units. No price has been announced for the top floor, but the rest range from a reported $1.2 million to $6 million.

This will be a radically different-looking glass-wrapped condo in a part of Toronto where windows are making an exotic statement. Just a half a block away is Daniel Libeskind’s controversial Crystal at the Royal Ontario Museum.

“Our curtain wall will use large sections of glass which will give total vision to each floor,” Rybak says. “The individual units of glass will be five-feet-wide by four-feet-high. The suites we have are 10 feet from floor to ceiling, while the penthouse will have 12-foot ceilings.”

Because the glass is not supporting any weight (aside from its own dead load) the height and width of the glass is considerably larger than traditional windows.

“This type of system is probably about three times more expensive than a window wall. The thing is we aren’t making more money on this – we are providing a high-end product – we call it our jewel.”

Ignoring the cost of the curtain wall, the system will save money for homeowners over time. It is designed to block air and water from being pushed inside by heavy winds. It also puts a stop to outward air leakage, saving on heating and cooling costs.

“Water, be it windblown rain or snow, can get into a suite through the window. It could take years, but when there is moisture behind drywall the danger of mould is real,” says Richard Tucker, director of construction for Graywood Developments Ltd, the company building the 53-storey Residence of the Ritz-Carlton. “From a practical sense, a curtain wall eliminates the worry of warranty claims that other buildings face because of mould and moisture damage.”

Window-washing firms are probably already in an advanced frenzied stage of salvation as they impatiently wait for the new Ritz-Carlton hotel and condominium tower on Wellington St. (kitty-corner from Roy Thomson Hall) to be completed. The structure will use a curtain wall system that might, at first glance, make one think of a giant terrarium turned on its side.

“The benefit of the curtain wall is that the residents and hotel guests get a superior product,” Tucker says. “We won’t start hanging the windows until well on in the building process, but once we start the glass will go on rather quickly – I think we can do a floor a day.”

The Ritz is working with Sota Glass in Brampton. The company, owned by Juan Speck, designs and exports the Canadian-designed curtain walls to large-scale projects worldwide. Most of the customers are builders of large office towers, but already in other cities developers are finding that the market for high-end condos will bear the added cost of the curtain wall.

“There isn’t (an) off-the-rack curtain wall. They have to be custom-built to take into account (the shape and slope of the building)” Tucker says. “We will, of course, order extras in case of breakage.”

Earlier reports said the Ritz-Carlton would use a tinted glass. That apparently is not the case; the hotel and condo is going au natural.

“Tinted windows are so very much a look of the ’90s,” Tucker says. “Even a slight colour clouds the view. The Ritz-Carlton will be installing haze-free, crystal-clear glass.”

Living hundreds of feet above the city with only two sheets of glass between you and the pavement, does one have to worry about accidentally banging into a window and falling out?

“This is tough glass, similar to what is already in place at the new Four Seasons (Centre for the Performing Arts) opera house. It might be transparent, but it is double-paned and industrial strength. (It is built to withstand gale-force winds.),” Tucker says.

Of greater concern for many, likely, will be getting used to living in a glass home. Standing in front of a window that doesn’t even appear to be there, 40 storeys above a city that never sleeps, may make condo owners feel on display. But that is why designers invented curtains in the first place.

There’s a grand piano sitting in the living room at Julie Di Lorenzo’s downtown house – a surprisingly impulsive purchase by a woman with “almost excessive” self-discipline.

“I was walking back from architect’s appointment and spotted it in a store window,” says Di Lorenzo, 45, with a husky laugh. “It was my midlife crisis purchase. It was this or a fancy car. I thought it was an intellectual challenge.”

Her piano lessons, her tae kwon do practice, her family life with two young children and her community involvement (she sits on at least four boards), are counterpoints to Di Lorenzo’s professional life as partner in Diamante Development Corp., which is currently constructing the Florian, a luxury 90-unit condominium in upper Yorkville.

Her father was a large Toronto-area contractor in the 1960s and ’70s who invented the “flying form” method of highrise construction – a type of concrete forming for supporting cast-in-place concrete slabs. “It was a bit of an up-and-down business,” Di Lorenzo recalls. “In those days when things were big, they were huge, just like men’s collars and the big ties. People dreamed huge – that era was very much about open landscapes figuratively, because it was dreaming about new buildings, new architecture, new technology, new immigrants.”

Every summer, Di Lorenzo worked in her dad’s office at Di Lorenzo Construction.

“I liked to do the petty cash shopping or business management things,” she says. “I was watching the office dynamics. Some of those people (like innovative builder Harold Green) were mentors. It wasn’t an active mentorship … I watched them. I watch people I like, their ethics, their resilience … like case studies.”

Her father was an influence, of course.

“Dad was a great inventor and innovator. He was always more of an inventor than a businessman. I’m the opposite. I have almost obsessive discipline that comes from watching a man being constantly creative.”

Her father spent a lot of time with Di Lorenzo and her three siblings at the family cottage in Parry Sound, which had no running water and was heated by a wood stove. The kids had to draw buckets of water from the lake and if they had to cut down a living tree, he’d have them apologize to it.

“As a kid in the ’70s, we were so much more aware of environmental issues,” says Di Lorenzo. “The discussion has been around 40 years. We’ve let it ride and no one dealt with it. I was reawakened to it and started to see things that bothered me, like leaves that are sick or quality-of-life issues.”

As well as incorporating “green” features into Diamante condo projects, Di Lorenzo has become an avid recycler and has installed solar panels at her home and her cottage in the Georgian Bay area. When a Monarch butterfly landed in her hair a couple of summers ago, it inspired her to donate $500,000 to the Nature Conservancy of Canada, to preserve a piece of Pelee Island land integral to butterfly migration. It’s been named the Florian Diamante Nature Preserve.

Di Lorenzo has also written manufacturers of products like cosmetics, taking them to task for the amount of packaging they use.

In her teens, Di Lorenzo aspired to be a lawyer.

“I loved the idea of law and debate. I was always a pretty good debater.”

She attended York University, studying medieval history and religious studies but as a downturn in the economy took its toll on the family business, she left before completing her studies.

On a trip to Italy to visit her grandmother, she met Paolo Palamara, who was training to be an architect. They, along with Joe Foti, started a contracting company in Canada, Devon International, which became the genesis for Diamante Developments, formed in 1990.

“We did any little jobs – footings, foundation walls – and along the way we met extraordinarily good people. That was a very tough time, but we got good at what we did,” recalls Di Lorenzo. “I’d look for jobs, Paolo and Joe would do the work; we’d have great stories. I’ll never forget the three of us hanging out talking about the future, working really hard.”

Palamara and Di Lorenzo married; though their marriage didn’t last, they continue to work together as partners in Diamante, along with restaurateur Franco Prevedello.

Di Lorenzo’s first foray into condo building came in 1989 when Devon launched a project on Kingston Rd., which opened just as the market took a nosedive.

“We opened on a day the Toronto Star said prices were going to drop. A hundred people came in and only three bought,” Di Lorenzo recalls.

Before then, the market had been so crazy, Di Lorenzo said condos were being sold just from plans and marketing campaigns, even before sites had been found.

“The mistake was falling into what everybody else was doing. We redesigned the project (as a non-profit) and sold it to City Homes.”

In 1991, Diamante bought a site at Balmoral and Yonge that nobody else wanted, says Di Lorenzo.

“What slow periods do is allow for extraordinary opportunity … what a great site it was and hugely fulfilling.”

To keep the cash flow coming in, the company accepted contracting work in Taiwan.

“If we weren’t contractors, we wouldn’t have cash flow to be developers,” Di Lorenzo says.

She still gets emotional when she talks about how her co-workers left their families to travel across the world to keep the company going.

One Balmoral opened in 1995 and helped cement the Diamante vision.

“From then on, we knew we loved the city, and being of European background, we believe people like to live close together and share services and say hello to each other,” says Di Lorenzo.

Since then, Diamante has created a string of award-winning Toronto condos, including Domus, One City Hall, Phoebe on Queen, the Royalton and Two Roxborough. What all share are original designs that complement their neighbourhoods.

Di Lorenzo and her partners have never been afraid to break from convention. For example, there was an office building at the Royalton site at Bay and College Sts. While the easiest route was to convert the building into residential units, “the structure wasn’t perfect enough, so we pulled it down, which shocked everybody,” according to Di Lorenzo. “It was very expensive, but we preferred to build from scratch.”

Then there’s Domus, an eclectic and unusual – some said weird – loft project near Bay and Davenport with Moorish windows, which architect Attila Burka described as his “Swiss Watch.” The suites, of which no two are alike, have no hallways to maximize space.

“It was very complex, as Attila was creating from the inside out, based on client needs,” says Di Lorenzo, saying that every suite offers nice views. “A lot of time buildings are judged from the outside in.”

“When we did Balmoral, people made fun of us – ‘The design is too elaborate or you’re not going to make money’ – but I’m so intent, almost fanatical about the business plan that I’m good at mitigating any uncertainty that comes from any flamboyance that comes from design,” says Di Lorenzo.

“I don’t think people will want all these glass buildings – I don’t think they age that well, but romance is not applauded by reviewers in design.”

Sometimes Di Lorenzo’s intense focus on business collides with partner Palamara’s creative architectural vision.

“I’m a floor plan junkie, I will look at floor plans over and over again and Paolo and I will argue – ‘I can’t do it!’ ‘Yes, you can do it!’” she says. “The Florian’s four-bedroom design is a perfect example of teamwork. We never say ‘you don’t know what you’re talking about.’ I wanted four bedrooms, he didn’t, then we agreed to offer it as an option. After, a broker told me there’s a shortage of four-bedroom units in the city.”

The Florian model suite features Palamara’s idea for the bathroom, with glass shower tucked behind the tub; buyers can opt for Di Lorenzo’s more conventional layout.

“I’m a business person. It’s business in an old-world, entrepreneurial way. It’s also about understanding the psyche, making the team work, finding the sites,” says Di Lorenzo. “I think I’ve been successful at bringing really great teams together. That’s something I am really proud of.”

Since the birth of her daughter four years ago and her son a year ago, Di Lorenzo – “I’m a late mother, I feel totally blessed” – juggles her professional and personal lives, working often from the home she shares with husband Rob Graham, a former city budget analyst, now an investment and venture capital consultant. When she became president of the Greater Toronto Home Builders’ Association while pregnant with her first child, she didn’t miss a single meeting, and after the baby was born, Di Lorenzo brought her to the office.

For all her dealings in bricks and mortar, Di Lorenzo has a passion for cultural pursuits.

“The problem with this era is that you can only be one thing,” she laments. “I used to write a lot of poetry and had some published. I actually find it an act of meditation.”

She celebrated her 45th birthday by staying home and listening to an audio recording of poet T.S. Eliot as her daughter danced in the living room. “It was one of my best birthdays. It was magical.”

She sits on the boards of St. Michael’s Hospital, Canadian Club, Harbourfront, Tarion (until April) and a few special issues boards.

“It’s not enough for me, the day-to-day work I do. It fulfills me to have things like the poetry or meet different people from different disciplines,” she says. “I do have one defining criterion – the people have to really love what they’re doing. I’m not really good at people who don’t really care about things – I don’t have a tolerance for that.”

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A dramatic 31-storey tower, your private residence will glow with a rare exterior of coloured fins contrasted by cool shimmering reflecting sunrises and sunsets.

The fins terminate in a strongly articulated horizontal overhang destined to be a beacon on the skyline. A variety of projecting boxes surrounded by dark metal and infilled with glass climb the tower and will be a playful hallmark of The Yorkville.

Here is a fashion-forward design unlike anything before in Yorkville, a visually stunning contrast with black-on-black floors and brilliant white walls, accented with draped archways. The centerpiece is a three-sided fireplace clad in onyx creating an inviting focal point to gather, underneath the striking chandeliers.

For simply relaxing or your personal entertainment, Club Yorkville’s lounge opens onto a piano bar and billiards room. For special occasions and gatherings, the Club also features an elegant dining room with full gourmet kitchen and catering facilities, available for your personal chefs and their creations, with your own rare vintages accessed from your locker in The Yorkville’s private wine cellar.

Fitness Centre:

Also included are separate His and Her change rooms with full-sized showers and steam rooms, both leading to a central plunge pool for relaxation.

Rooftop Terrace:

Here is a modern take on a French parterre. The terrace features a pattern of planters that divide it into a series of separate areas that allow for privacy. The pattern sculpts the terrace, almost like an art piece, when viewed from the suites above, and complements the elegance and style of The Yorkville.

The Neighbourhood:

Canada’s most celebrated area of shopping, museums, restaurants, fashion and culture, Yorkville is filled with eclectic and exciting activity by day and by night. The pace and pulse of Bloor Street, one of the top ten shopping streets in the world.

The secret gems found in Hazelton Lanes, or in the small shops of Victorian splendor along Cumberland, Bellair or Yorkville Avenue. The indulgent spas, secluded cocktail bars and intriguing lobbies of some of the world’s finest and most famous hotels.

Suites:

An impressive wood and stainless steel entry door opens onto marble tiled foyers and then sumptuous hardwood floors throughout.

The Yorkville features a Signature Kitchen in every suite including a choice of natural stone or quartz countertops, plus a selection of backsplash options including designer selected mini-glass mosaic tiles. A Signature dining island and fully integrated slim-line Miele appliance package marry form with function, accented by leatherette panels for upper cabinets.

Bathrooms will be a cool oasis of marble flooring and marble vanity countertops, accented by polished chrome fixtures in a contemporary profile.

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Image Gallery and Floor Plans:

FEATURES AND FINISHES

Ktchens with rich granite countertops, custom-designed cabinets, and a ceramic tile backsplash plus four stainless steel appliances; laminate flooring in the kitchen, living and dining area, hallways, media and den, 40-ounce broadloom in the bedrooms; choice of granite or Caesar Stone bathroom countertops with white undermount sink; an individually controlled heating and air conditioning system; stacked washer/dryer; and generous balcony, terrace or patio, all as per plan.

PROJECT AMENITIES

• 24-hour concierge
• Fitness Centre
• Indoor Pool
• Movie Screen Room
• Party Room with Kitchen Facilities
• Bar

Exclusive, discrete lobbies to office space above and to condominium residences stepped back will add to the distinctly urbane experience. Theatrical lighting and beautiful masonry will provide high drama to a MontgomeryHigh Street shopping experience.

The north end of street will be anchored by a signature boutique hotel and spa setting the new standard for those with discerning taste. The south end of Montgomery High Street leads into The Piazza, the defining feature of Downtown Markham.

The Piazza, is everyone’s outdoor living room, the heart and soul of the community and a social nucleus for all Markham residents.

Framed by picturesque architecture lined with shops and restaurants, The Piazza will host memorable events and performances throughout the year, including impromptu entertainment and music, farmers’ markets, fashion shows, fairs, festivals, seasonal celebrations and civic events.

Simcoe Promenade is a grand allée that provides pedestrian and transit access to all parts of Downtown Markham. Lined with shops, offices, residences and restaurants, from Warden Avenue east to the Unionville GO Station, it will accommodate a rapid transit route in the future, linking Downtown Markham with the rest of the Greater Toronto Area.

In addition to daytime shopping, it offers plenty of choice for café and bistro dining, picnicking and people watching. A vibrant gathering place after hours, Simcoe Promenade is the place for being entertained after work, when the sun sets.

The Entertainment District, located in the central portion along Simcoe Promenade is directly connected to the shopping district and The Piazza by the evocative Gallery. Cinemas, restaurants, cafés, bars and nightclubs set the stage here for see-and-be-seen style, day and night.

The central park, still in design development, is a 10-acre urban park that completes the downtown core. Home to varied and impressive public art and cultural activities, the park is the gateway to visit and explore the Rouge River valley. Enjoy the exceptional view from your brownstone living room bay window, should you choose to live in old world elegance along its manicured edge.

Neighbourhood Parks located throughout Downtown Markham are interconnected and lead to The Piazza and the downtown core. A rousing October evening soccer game or a sunny spring morning tai chi class in a nearby parkette beckon just beyond your front door.

Downtown Markham offers a variety of parks – some that offer naturally planted areas and some that transition to the nearby valley; some that feature ornamental gardens and some offering children’s playgrounds; some paved and some landscaped; some for people-watching and some for settling down with the latest best-selling novel.

Fashion House will consist of 360 units and rise 14 storeys high. A five-storey curtain wall of glass hits the sidewalk hard. Above the lower glistening slab, there is a one-storey horizontal notch. Over this reveal ascends another block of glass, three storeys thick and arrayed parallel to the street. At the tenth storey, the powerful compression of the design is suddenly released, and an elevated garden, with large trees and a swimming pool, opens to the sky. The backdrop of this park, in turn, is formed by yet another slab that carries the structure up to its full 14 storeys.

Fashion House Condos located at 560 King St West he project includes retail and commercial space, work lofts, regular condo suites and must incorporate the historical 160-year-old Silver Plate Building, one of the oldest surviving factories in the King-Spadina neighbourhood. Special lighting effects will add to the dramatic silhouette after dark.

A sky-park complete with a swimming pool promises to be the height of fashion. Dashing lipstick-red window coverings on the building’s exteriors (all of which shine a crisp, clean white inside) complete the fashion-forward design statement.

Please contact us for details and latest prices.