Wanna buy Westmount square? You have until August 12 to submit your bid for the office/commercial section of Westmount Square.
Over five percent of the units are vacant so you'll have to drum up some business to fill 'em.
The vendor says that the place is usually rented out at a higher percentage but they intentionally let some spaces go empty for a residential conversion project that never happened.
The building is a much-ballyhooed creation of architect Mies Van der Rohe who sought to go for an exoskeleton sort of approach. Phyllis Bronfman, longtime Canada's wealthiest woman, was one of his big fans and local proponents.
The two other towers, of the residential variety, are not for sale, just the 193,794-square-foot office tower and a two-storey, 53,866 square-foot pavillon and the 80,339-square-foot retail mall as well as 334-indoor parking spots.
Plus you get that awesome tunnel to Alexis Nihon, one of my favourite spots in the city, especially when there's a busker playing there.
Hundreds of homes were demolished in the area in 1965 to build the project, which was described as "the biggest thing that ever happened in Westmount," probably because it pays a load of taxes to the municipality.
Over five percent of the units are vacant so you'll have to drum up some business to fill 'em.
The vendor says that the place is usually rented out at a higher percentage but they intentionally let some spaces go empty for a residential conversion project that never happened.The building is a much-ballyhooed creation of architect Mies Van der Rohe who sought to go for an exoskeleton sort of approach. Phyllis Bronfman, longtime Canada's wealthiest woman, was one of his big fans and local proponents.
The two other towers, of the residential variety, are not for sale, just the 193,794-square-foot office tower and a two-storey, 53,866 square-foot pavillon and the 80,339-square-foot retail mall as well as 334-indoor parking spots.
Plus you get that awesome tunnel to Alexis Nihon, one of my favourite spots in the city, especially when there's a busker playing there.
Hundreds of homes were demolished in the area in 1965 to build the project, which was described as "the biggest thing that ever happened in Westmount," probably because it pays a load of taxes to the municipality.
I've been through that tunnel about 80 million times (although not once in about 8 years or so); going through that retail section and popping out on Greene Ave and I've always found it to be a cold, soulless place. I always wondered who would actually shop at those over-priced hoity-toity boutiques which were usually fairly empty and surely had insane rents. I just figured it was the go-to mall for the stereotypical English Westmounters who were just too good to go to Eaton's (yes, I used an apostrophe, so sue me) and have to deal with the mythical Anglo sales lady.
ReplyDeleteFor the life of me, I can't figure who would want to own Westmount Square. Good luck.
Any pictures of this area pre-demolition?
ReplyDeleteI don't remember houses in the area, but then I was kind of young. I do remember a convenience store where my grandfather got cigars, which also carried a great upscale brand of chocolate bar, and tat was the place I bought my first comic book. I have no ide why there and not "Luncheon Soda" or "Oxford's" which were closer to Sherbrooke and from where I later bought comic books, magazines and candy.
ReplyDeleteWas there a Rexall drug store on Greene that was torn down for Westmount Square? I vaguely remember a drug store there but not sure if it was the section that remained (but eventually torn down for that newer building).
Select Pastry was on St Catherine Street, as well as a good old style hardware store, but they lasted longer, so maybe Westmount Square was built in stages? I remember the closing sale at the hardware store, and that was about 1971 or 72. Select moved to another location on St Catherine, before moving to Sherbrooke near Victoria.
The "mall" in part replaced those stores, and provided a second movie theatre. There was a Classics Books, which was very convenient, I could get to a bookstore by myself. I think there was a toy store. A Laura Secord back when they were more common. It was a neighbourhood thing. I wouldn't have noticed fashion boutiques. It has declined, I haven't bought anything there for a long time. It was livelier in the early days. The medical places are relatively recent, and I can't remember what was where the food court is now, unless that was the movie theatre.
Young kids don't know what a novelty that tunnel was. Someone put up the money so Westmount Square could "be on the Metro line", some of the first of the "underground city". There's that little space near Alexis Nihon that for mot of the decades has been empty. In the early days, it was used as a store, nobody lasting very long, and then it went idle. If it had been on the street, it would have long fell apart, but inside, it could fonally be put into use, like right now.
Michael
Westmount Square is a gift of the smash-it-all-up era that lasted from 1955 to 1980. The area had been farms till the 1880s and 90s, when it was developed with single-family greystones of two storeys. Lower Elm was similar to the section above de Maisonneuve (Western) to Sherbrooke, while Wood had mainly duplexes down to St. Catherine. There were lanes behind both Elm and Wood. Greene Avenue before the big demolition for WSQ had useful shops and stores like Steinberg's, American Drug at Sherbrooke, Avenue Hardware, Oxford stationery (originally on Sherbrooke), Lunch and Soda, Rexall Drug near where the entrance to the Imposition is, Hill's stationery, Seaton's for Parker pens and Quink and writing paper.
ReplyDeleteSteinberg's went on despite the inclusion of a Dominion store in WSQ, which later became Metro. At one time they all went away leaving Greene with no grocery store at all.
Not due to WSQ but now Greene Avenue is a white elephant with high rents and art galleries and multiple clothing stores for a very small clientele.
The area that was demolished was quite run down by the mid-60s, as was all of eastern Westmount. From the Depression through to the mid-50s once-elegant houses had been cut up into rooming houses and today's Elm Avenue townhouses changing hands at $1.7 million would have had tenants and underwear drying on lines in the back bedrooms on a winter afternoon of 1949. But I always thought it a shame to stick this van der Rohe creation where they did, since skyscrapers don't embellish tight Victorian streetscapes. There was no consideration to the wind this thing creates, and with the newer tower at the corner of Greene, sidewalks on St. Catherine and de Maisonneuve are unpleasant places in winter.
WSQ also came with a plinth, which meant the disappearance of lower Elm Ave. Same gimmick at Place Ville Marie where much-ballyhooed McGill College ends in a garage door.
But you can't argue with tax revenues.
I have to say I once contemplated looking into renting an apartment in there for the winter months (more precisely the Habs hockey season. I thought it would have been a great escape back to Montreal where I could indulge in all the foods I liked so much & see the Habs often (when prices were more realistic) oh yea & the Habs were winning the mug more often (late 70's)
ReplyDeleteI never did realize that dream.as life kind of took over here on the westcoast for me. I did however get many opportunity's to get back home & pig out on all things Montreal. I thought the cool thing was that the Metro actually had a stop below the building & I could have visited many Montreal haunts without even having a winter coat......(yea right) In any case I still get to visit Montreal via sites like this Coolopolis.....Cheers gang thanks for the site Kristian & of course Chimples.....lol -LesF
ps: I too do not really remember the house that were there & I travelled that area a lot, it would be cool to see some old photos of the area at the time.
Remember that WS Janitor that stuffed the women's body onsite?
ReplyDelete