Montreal's top 6 vacant lots: how they've survived in their bountiful glory

 For decades a few choice vacant lots have had property developers slobbering like a soccer mom at a male strip club.
   But the price is apparently not right and as a result nothing ever sprouts up on these vacant lands.
  The landowners are undoubtedly playing a speculation game on the properties, no doubt hoping that holding on to the properties for a future resale will earn a bundle for them
  But simply holding such properties is anything but cheap as the owners of these vacant lots are routinely saddled with bills of $100,000 to $350,000 annually, depending on their size and location.
   Owners long built parking lots on such vacant sites but that is no longer an option as city has strongly discouraged that sort of thing. A parking lot would be hard pressed to cover the tax bill anyway.
   So here are some of the properties we'd like to see turned into parks or green spaces, or failing that, at least developed tastefully.


 Guy and Dorch  The land spanning the south side of Dorch to Mackay has been totally vacant since the Hotel Dorchester which lasted just over 20 years, was knocked down in the early 80s. It had become a welfare hotel in its final days. A parking lot sat on the property for several decades but now seems to have disappeared, likely due to a crackdown on such outdoor lots.
  Prior to that, the land was occupied by a number of buildings knocked down when Dorchester was widened around 1954.
  Buildings that used to occupy the site before the mid-50s included the 10-unit Marlin Apartments, something called Tally Ho, Queen Printing, N. York Tailors, Petersen Food Market, PTR Auto Service and First Baptist Church and the earlier version of the Desjardins fish restaurant (whose well-loved founder was killed crossing the street, check out my upcoming book for the full story).


Dorch and the Main to St. Dominique Once again a bunch of structures were demolished for the widening of Dorchester and were never rebuilt.
  The massive size of the vacant lot suggests fire or other disaster befell some of the other structures behind. The property seems to be forever for sale so it's a mystery why this massive property hasn't been built upon.


Ontario, south side St. Christophe to St. Andre This site is now overgrown with trees and various plants but in the 1950s was full of lively spots such as Blink of an Eye Repairs, Ontario
Refrigeration, Veteran Shoe Hospital Lepage Radio Service and Cadieux Valet (tailors) as well as many residential units. All but a couple were gone by 1989 and we're not sure why or how they disappeared. The SE corner of St. Christopher and Ontario once had a pharmacy busted for selling cocaine in 1913, you'll be happy to note.

Viger and the Main  NE corner  Both ends of the Gates of Chinatown are flanked by vacant properties, as the old buildings at spot were presumably ravaged by fires over the years. The parking lot that currently sits on the site has seen its taxes rise from $197,000 to $252,000 between 2013 and 2015 so they are under pressure. They must be doing some good coin with those cars but something more alluring might be in order and those cars might find a spot elsewhere, perhaps on a new covered-roof section of the adjacent Ville Marie Expressway.


St Laurent metro  Upon a time you could pop a metro down and a shopping mall would mysteriously get built upstairs. What one would consider a slam-dunk for some sort of commercial complex has curiously resisted all daydreams of development, even as the spot sits adjacent to many new and exciting things, including the spot where they hold festivals. There's even a place across the street that's going to be developed soon. There had been some talk of some sort of building here a few years back that seems to have been forgotten. The metro is the only one along the line that does not sit at St. Catherine, which may or may not affect something.


Clark and St. Catherine H The bald spot housed the first Northeastern Lunch, which became a chain around Montreal. I discuss that restaurant in some detail in my book Montreal: 375 Tales.