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| Ragueneau and Lindy |
Crescent St might never been the same since a precious chunk on the east side between the alleys, including Thursdays and several other bars and eateries, went up for demolition to be replaced by we're-not-sure-what-exactly.
The Ogilvy's project, guided by Selfridges, ie: the Weston family (of Loblaw's fame and fortune) is a massive project that also entails knocking down the other property owned by Bernard Rageuneau, the beloved Hotel de la Montagne.
So why the owner Bernard Ragueneau sell out?
I'm told he got an offer that he couldn't refuse: $160 million.
It didn't all go into Ragueneau's pocket however, after paying off debts (mortgage, former partner Herman "Sonny" Lindy's share, and $1,000 per year for each worker). Ragueneau is expected to have about $50 million clinking around his bank account.
Ragueneau and Lindy, two former longtime partners who united rose from mere bar/restauranteurs to big time hoteliers, didn't always see eye-to-eye but remain on good terms. Both gained by being patient and there's a lesson in that because they had ample chances to screw each other over but always took the high road, an example for others in business.
A lot of Ragueneau's $160 million surely went to paying off a provincial capital gains taxes.
You will recall that both the PQ and slightly surprisingly, the CAQ, proposed big hikes to the tax. It was not hiked, however, in the new PQ budget.
But I overhead a guy on the 80 bus saying that he was going to sell his $3 million of property and that his bank instructed him to establish residency in Ontario first, a process that takes about two or three years to credibly do, he was told.
Such a move would save him around $70,000, the bank advised.
So when Montreal banks are advising you to move to Ontario, you wonder how many are already doing precisely that, taking their capital gains and all other money out of the province with them.
I mentioned this to my accountant and he chortled, "If you really want to save money, move to Alberta!"
Ragueneau ! A very smart man. Bernard always knew the best way to go, and the right way to go, about doing business. Very satisfying to see him succeed so well. He’s come a long way since serving the best endives you could ever imagine. Never the least bit bitter. (I mean the “endives”, but the same would apply to his ever pleasant attitude and temperament).
ReplyDeleteTrès gentil.
If you really want to save, move to Alberta as they say. For Albertans, move to Hong Kong. For Hong Kong, well move to Nauru island. Its fine to establish residency but once the cost of life hits you after you left Montreal for Alberta or Hong Kong, then what you saved in taxe gets eaten up very fast...I laugh when I see Depardieu leaving the country he spent his life and career in to get residency in a remote area filled with labor camps in Russia.
ReplyDeleteWasn't there some background on this story in various media when the long-lamented closure came down?
ReplyDeleteRagueneau had always wanted to pass on his business to his son. Son intends to keep legacy alive~just elsewhere. Also, their generosity to long-term employees. And something like an auctioning-off of certain furnishings from their establishments.Good memories for many no doubt. Haven't heard of any new developments.
Stunning, in a way, that in an economic climate such as Mtl's, we can accommodate the likes of Tiffany's, Selfridges & their ilk.
As a former employee of Hotel De La Montagne(over 20 years), I am REALLY curious to see where your source of (mis)information comes from i.e. the 1000$/year worked. I have never read so much bullshit in a few paragraphs since I last read the Bible... if this money exists, myself and over 300 other employees haven't seen it.....This reminds me of another make-believe article written in the Gazette on September 7th, 2012, where Bill Brownstein "supposedly" had a one-way interview where Daddy Warbucks...oops, I mean Bernard Ragueneau, mentioned something about deploying "golden parachutes to the employees so they could get back on their feet"!!! Brownstein (showing a great lack of investigative journalism) failed to ask how much money this "parachute" represented before reporting it. (If he only knew the truth about there not being any money coming our way AT ALL -although Bernard had told us in his words that "those who saty till the end will be compensated", with witnesses, would he have still bothered to mention this part?) Brownstein just took the interview at face value. Incidentally, he happens to be a personal friend of Bernard's (and a frequent luncher at Thursday's) so his words don't mean anything to me, except that, for the rest of the Gazette readers, Bernard now has the image of a generous soul.
ReplyDeletePlease...Kristian, next time you report something, why don't you state your sources or better yet, stop inventing stuff that people still have trouble getting over. Think of the 350 of us who want to mourn our wasted time at the hotel and want to move on with our lives. There's no sense in excavating the past. And yes, I will post this anonymously until my ex-colleagues decide to add a piece of their story with you too.
If you want to see something real, then why don't you click on this link to see that Bernard "sold" his home in Fort Lauderdale to his 18-year old daughter, Savannah, for 1.1 million dollars US.
http://southflorida.blockshopper.com/property/494236160050/2223_ne_16th/
1000 per year= big bullshit
ReplyDeleteIt was more a bye bye sucker's from Ragueneau!!
Hey anonymous - chill.
ReplyDeleteIt's not Kristian or Bill's responsibility to ensure Bernard honours his stated commitment to give each employee $1,000. Their job is to report what he said. It might be bullshit - but the fault does not lie with those who reported it - the fault lies with the person who made the promise.
It's the job of a reporter to check his facts. He could have contacted ANY former employee from the hotel to check that these "reported" so-called facts (especially 6 months after the event)were not true at all. Why even mention it?
DeleteSorry I commented now. Did have actual buddies who were chefs there and they were always 90% happy. As were my girlfriends who bar-tended & waitressed
ReplyDeleteSo it goes.
1K is not enough, certainly an insult if you'd had had years +years of service there exclusively & had turned down other offers. Could be interpreted as a way Big slap in the face.
What truth is behind this story I do not know except to say that these places were really special in their heyday. So sorry to hear that mal-treatment might be implicated, as I had such wonderful memories in those establishments.
I'm sure my friends would have clued me in.
Silly me!
MTLaise, we WERE happy. We were just promised something we never got. To avoid a massive exodus, Bernard stated to everyone that we would be recompensed if we stayed till the closure. It gave us a good reason to turn down other offers (if there were any) but the majority of us didn't bother looking for anything else because of what he promised us. We WANTED to be there to the end, we CHOSE to stay, mostly because of what was to come. Had we ALL known about the deceiving outcome, we would have had a large exodus and he'd have had to close earlier. Looking back, it was just a tactic to make us stay. I don't know about the others, but a lot of us walked out of there with our heads held high, proud that we'd accomplished what most hotels in Montreal could only dream of. In most cases, the staff makes all the difference. Yes, Bernard took his chances and turned his luck around with some good (and bad) decisions, but in the end, it's us that made him who he is and what his establishment represented!
ReplyDelete...and how is the 'sale' of his house to his daughter relevant to all of this??
ReplyDelete