A few years ago Verdun decided to tackle its empty storefront woes by zoning 
Wellington and Church (between Wellington and Verdun) commercial and everything else residential. This means that if you had a little store anywhere other than these places and it went empty for a bit, you lost the right to run 
a store there. Thus you'll see plenty of weird looking ground floor homes with huge storefront windows such as these. However if you had an empty storefront on the commercially-zoned places, you do not have the right to switch it to a home, unless you pay the borough $5,000 and hope nobody objects. If a single person opposes, then there's a mandatory local referendum on the proposed zoning 
change. A few years ago Wellington was hurting, getting killed by the big boxes, it full of empty storefronts and shitty little dollars stores. It bounced back with a few high 
profile posh joints like Naked Lunch, however it seems that
the urban rot might be making its bitter return. Stroll down Wellington, Verdun's homey high street and you'll find that it's not been a kind summer for commerces along the strip. The empty shops include a 
Videoself, last year's hot-new thing, apparently those 
machine-operated video joints cost $100,000 for a franchise, so you know there were tears shed - or bankruptcy papers filed - when that one went belly up. In fairness Wellington is a very long street with tons of little shops so the vacancy rate i
sn't necessarily all that bad but these photos might suggest some cause for concern. Coolopolis believes Wellington needs a gimmick, some sort of beautiful attraction, perhaps a massive waterfeature or something to make some jaws drop. If someone has an idea, pop it in the comments section and we'll lobby for it.
Wellington and Church (between Wellington and Verdun) commercial and everything else residential. This means that if you had a little store anywhere other than these places and it went empty for a bit, you lost the right to run 
a store there. Thus you'll see plenty of weird looking ground floor homes with huge storefront windows such as these. However if you had an empty storefront on the commercially-zoned places, you do not have the right to switch it to a home, unless you pay the borough $5,000 and hope nobody objects. If a single person opposes, then there's a mandatory local referendum on the proposed zoning 
change. A few years ago Wellington was hurting, getting killed by the big boxes, it full of empty storefronts and shitty little dollars stores. It bounced back with a few high 
profile posh joints like Naked Lunch, however it seems that
the urban rot might be making its bitter return. Stroll down Wellington, Verdun's homey high street and you'll find that it's not been a kind summer for commerces along the strip. The empty shops include a 
Videoself, last year's hot-new thing, apparently those 
machine-operated video joints cost $100,000 for a franchise, so you know there were tears shed - or bankruptcy papers filed - when that one went belly up. In fairness Wellington is a very long street with tons of little shops so the vacancy rate i
sn't necessarily all that bad but these photos might suggest some cause for concern. Coolopolis believes Wellington needs a gimmick, some sort of beautiful attraction, perhaps a massive waterfeature or something to make some jaws drop. If someone has an idea, pop it in the comments section and we'll lobby for it.
There's a Videoself on Notre Dame near Peel. We have a few dollars on our card but can't be bothered to rent anything. They've got Hollywood garbage (a redundant term if ever there was one) and nothing more. If you take your time, it takes about four minutes to scroll through every Adam Sandler-loving title.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the town of Verdun can rent a few of the shops and offer recreational activities in there, like yoga or fencing, etcetera. The teachers and coaches can work freelance.
ReplyDeleteI personally like the commercial stretch of rue Verdun that runs from the Verdun Metro station to about Egan much more than Wellington Street. The stores are better and more interesting, the architecture is more diverse and and just feels homier. Wellington feels very drab and kind of depressing for some reason-more like a shitty mall than a local main street.
ReplyDeleteThey should try to encourage as many massage parlours as possible to relocate to that "strip" (pun intended). Make it easy for punters to comparison shop. Add in a few patates frites eateries, make sure there are some ATMs nearby (CBA-member units, not the Russian Mob variety), and the proximity to the metro added in, this could be a true "hands-on" economic redevelopment story.
ReplyDeleteOnce CIQC moved out in Dec.1999, the area started to go downhill even faster than it had been...the old Harvey's on Wellington (now a Subway) had to be the dirtiest one in the chain, with the rudest and most incompetent grill monkeys in all of the Cara Foods empire.
I like the plan. There's one legit massage-Tai Chi place on Wellington and 2nd or so, run by Anthony "Tony Pants" Pantzopolous, we've featured it on Coolopolis.
ReplyDeleteThe Oriental happy ending massage parlour phenomenon has been exploding - pardon the pun - without anybody noticing complaining at all. I predict, sometime in the future, a 50 room joint where Asian women sit behind a one way glass as customers pick their faves, such as already exists in Thailand. I'm not recommending this, but musing that it could possibly arrive here in our city before you know it. Remind me to write up a post on this as an official prediction.
I don't remember the Harvey's on Wellington. Where was it? I'm sure it couldn't been any ruder than the one on St. James Street West across from the Motel Chablis, where a single consistently surly Iranian pissed everybody off who ever walked through those doors.
Wow, am I the only one here that actually likes Wellington and thinks it's doing great? It's one of the most well-rounded main streets in Montreal: it has supermarkets, fruiteries, drug stores, two good bookstores and all sorts of good cafes and restos. There are also a lot of mainland Chinese immigrants who live around there and the number of Chinese businesses has been expanding like crazy. In just the past few months a new Chinese supermarket has opened up on Wellington.
ReplyDeleteChris, you think Wellington is like a "shitty mall"? Yeah, the muzak is kind of creepy but it must have been awhile since you've been to Wellington... either that or you haven't been to a really shitty mall.
The Harvey's was on the west side of Wellington, just north of Gordon Avenue, between Gordon and the Metro.
ReplyDeleteWalk up from CIQC, cross the street, and then in to the 1970s retro Harvey's with the orange seats and dark brown tile interior. It hadn't been thoroughly cleaned since the 70s either.
Board op Lonny Dubrofsky, who has since gone on to become an L.A.-based movie producer, working with Anthony Edwards, ex-of ER, would be able to run from the 3rd floor of 211 Gordon, to the Harvey's, get his meal, and be back in time for the next commercial break. Of course, anybody who would want to call in and speak with the guest on-air would be SOL, since Lonny was grabbing a burger.
Ok, so maybe the "shitty mall" comparison was a little harsh. I don't hate Wellington, but in comparison to ave Verdun, it's just really missing something. I feel a soul, a community on ave Verdun that I jsut don't feel on Wellington. And, yeah, the muzak really kills things. I heard Jimmy Ray once. Jimmy Ray??
ReplyDeleteAnyone remember the Rock Machine? Wellington hit it's low peak in the mid 90's or so and especially as the biker wars got bad. But Wellington today is pure boomtown compared to then, it's like upscale tres chic yuppie paradise compared to 10-15 years ago.
ReplyDeleteFor a good account of Wellington during the biker war check out Peter Pardis' book Risky Business, which recounts in detail how he was shot right on the street down there.
ReplyDelete