On January 5, 2008, the Toronto Star ran an article that discusses the exodus of priced-out Torontonians, and in it, interviewee Kevin Bowers uses the Chateau Royale and a microcosm for positive urban growth in the city of Hamilton. "I think the fact that Chateau Royale (a large condo project) did get finished, and that the Core Lofts (a condo conversion of a Bell Canada building) sold out so quickly proves something. People see success."Reinwald, Kathy. "Ex-Torontonians Find Lip-smacking Real Estate Bargains Are Available in a Truly Urban Setting." The Toronto Star (Toronto), January 5, 2008. But while the condo was patronizingly lauded in Toronto as being a symbol of Hamilton's turnaround, local inhabitants saw it differently. The modernist glass towers were covered in bright yellow, beige, and orange stucco. Marble pillars and post-modernist vases in off-purple were added to embellish the square corners of the tower in an attempt to make it look like a French palace, when in fact it was nothing of the sort.
