Why Monk street is the next hot strip..or not

   Here are some of the reasons that Monk might kick some butt as a local high street in the future.
   1-Subsidies for commercial enterprises are on the table: up to $33,000 freebie bucks on renos of $100,000 or more and that includes signage, awnings, bricks, windows and so forth. Monkees, Sports Rock bar are on board and others might soon as well.
2-Pharmaprix is supposedly opening where the beleaguered empty Dunkin Donuts slash still-operational Videotron rental place was.
3-Plenty o bars: Monkees, Sports Rock, Shenanigans, RV, Terrace Mirabel, Shooters, Universite de Ville Emard, another bistro type place which is expected to be upscale, is opening. Apparently the local politicos have banned any future bars.
4-Not too many empty storefronts in the main section, the vacuum cleaner repair shop (always an indicator of a bullshit strip) is gone, while there are gritty pseudo-subversive low rent joints cherished by slummers such as tat parlours, rug`n`tug palaces, although that advantage is offset somewhat but the slightly thuggish feel of the area, my friend Vincent once told me where he was beaten up in the bathroom at Monkees by a stranger for absolutely no reason.
5-Sylvios restaurant, by far the worst I have ever gone to in the city, is closed, just waiting for you and a little $29,000 to reopen it.
6-You can get a brand new condo 5 minutes by foot from the strip for $138,000.

Why it might not be so hot.
1-The big ol Chinese restaurant has moved out down the street into a smaller equivalent, leaving a gaping hole on the strip.
2-The demographic is so old and poor that many locals spend three hours a day rooting through the sofa for lost quarters.
3-The north end of the strip, from St. Patrick down to Jacques Hertel hasnt seen legitimate successful commerce for about 50 years, and plywood windows are not rare. Some dream of buying up that whole area, and bulldozing it for one big condo project but its unlikely that will ever happen.
4-Like every other part of the city, vendors are asking too much for their property. One triplex (two units upstairs, an empty camera store below) was asking $398,000. Another is asking $379,000 for a small shop thats chronically vacated. Way too expensive, although an 18 unit building for $1.3 million isn`t quite as bad.