In the 80s and 90s Montreal real estate fortune hopefuls would obsess over what was "the next Plateau." That meant, a semi-dilapidated area that would turn lovely and cool under your nose, thereby massively increasing the value of your real estate investment.
It has become a bit of a pathetic cliche for those desperate to push The Point or Verdun as great up-and-coming neighbourhoods and doesn't really work because the lack of building has pushed up prices in those areas.
However, there is one strategy that might have replaced it. Tenants and owners are fleeing areas afflicted by construction. This is most notably occurring in the blocks surrounding the French superhospital. (specifically the blocks just east of the Main near Chinatown) I have heard of landlords offering several hundred dollars per month discounts just to get people to stay. Others are selling their condos are much lower than they would otherwise, still with no buyers, as the spectre of trucks and jackhammers is scaring many away.
Other areas where similar firesales will likely take place include the St.Raymond's Parish of NDG and anything near that Turcot remake thingy and maybe even the blocks next to Westmount arena.
The upside of buying an underpriced unit in a construction-adjacent neighbourhood is likely significant though, so those who can sleep through the sound of backhoes grinding gears, time to start sniffing out the market.
However, there is one strategy that might have replaced it. Tenants and owners are fleeing areas afflicted by construction. This is most notably occurring in the blocks surrounding the French superhospital. (specifically the blocks just east of the Main near Chinatown) I have heard of landlords offering several hundred dollars per month discounts just to get people to stay. Others are selling their condos are much lower than they would otherwise, still with no buyers, as the spectre of trucks and jackhammers is scaring many away.
Other areas where similar firesales will likely take place include the St.Raymond's Parish of NDG and anything near that Turcot remake thingy and maybe even the blocks next to Westmount arena.
The upside of buying an underpriced unit in a construction-adjacent neighbourhood is likely significant though, so those who can sleep through the sound of backhoes grinding gears, time to start sniffing out the market.
Under the guise of "gentrification", rabid speculators (many from overseas) snap up run-down properties and empty lots relatively cheaply to feed their greedy machinations, thus driving up prices and forcing out long-time residents--many on fixed incomes.
ReplyDeleteOne only has to look at the real estate values in Vancouver and San Francisco to realize how virtually impossible it has become for anyone on an average income to live there. Will this be Montreal's fate over the next several decades?
Our newer, better neighbourhoods were generally planned from scratch with of all the necessary facilities included, but older districts like the Plateau and Griffintown were never built with any intelligent plan in mind: functional but narrow street grids, a few churches (many now demolished), but few trees or shrubs, too few if any nearby parks or playgrounds, etc.--which is why the original residents moved out of there as soon as they could afford to do so.
Cold-water flats with coal or kerosene self-heating, outdoor toilets, rats, cockroaches, etc,, created the perfect environment for serious life-threatening childhood diseases like diptheria and polio.
"Fixing up" the Plateau or Griffintown with superficial "renovation" and placing a condo here or there will likely not make any significant difference to the quality of life for the existing residents. Furthermore, the ancient infrastructure of too-narrow sewer pipes and water mains, inadequate or defective hydro-electric distribution, etc. remains to be upgraded--which naturally takes time and several municipal elections before anything substantial is done.
Cycling through Pointe-St.-Charles and Little Burgundy, one witnesses the incongruity of row after row of ancient dwellings, right next door to a blatantly modern condo or townhouse.
One can only imagine what it must be like to live in one of those out-of-place condos and to look across the street at a run-down apartment building or triplex where drug-dealing might be taking place--your affluent children at risk of being affected by it all.
Could you ever feel safe walking those streets at night? Or are these deep-pocketed interlopers "getting off" on some kind of twisted schadenfreude?
"Slumming" with the neighbourhood local thugs--while perhaps initially attempted as a "noble gesture", is more likely a pre-emptive act of self-preservation which can only end badly with envy and hate emerging from those less-fortunates surrounding you. Smiling faces tell lies, so the song went.
How many movies have we seen, how many stories have we read about the rich kid who hangs out with the street gang, vicariously enjoying the thrill of it all, or about the milketoast who associated with Chicago's Bugs Moran's gang, tragically happening to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when Al Capone's hitmen brutally machine-gunned them to death in a garage on St. Valentine's Day, or author Hunter S. Thompson being beaten to a pulp by a drugged-up Hell's Angel suspicious and annoyed by the inquisitive hanger-on writing his book about them.
Weren't we told never to play with fire?
Wow, Kristian! You do have a knack for spinning a nightmarish scenario. Never again will I be able to walk down those fascinating streets without fear of being mugged or buried in rubble from the collapse of some long-neglected, sagging triplex...or are you just trying to stop the rents from rising any further?
ReplyDeleteKeep looking on the gloomy side of the street!
WHOOPS! Sorry Kristian...my remark was for Urban Legend.
ReplyDelete