@megaforcemedia Why Montreal's richest suburb is home to a nightmare eyesore
♬ original sound - Kristian Gravenor
Why Montreal's richest suburb is home to a nightmare eyesore
♬ original sound - Kristian Gravenor
Who knew that posh Westmount would become home to one of the city's nastiest blights?
The long stretch of buildings on St. Catherine Street just west of Atwater, across from Alexis Nihon Plaza has been partially demolished and the rest left to fall apart, as nets guard pedestrians from falling bricks.
But something might be in the works.
The office of the property owner of the vacant spot next to the old McDonald's building, when contacted today, said a sorta suspiciously formal "we have no information to share at this time about the future of the land."
Those developers had originally promised an 11-storey mixed use condo thingy at that spot to be completed by the end of 2018 but it still sits as an empty hole.
As for the other project, the lengthy adjacent structure was meant to be razed and replaced by a medicine and science center for Dawson College but Premier Francois Legault axed the funding for that project - not for reasons of budgetary responsibility, as he's spending crazy money on frivolous and counterproductive projects.
Westmount appears to be on the verge of considering a different project as one councillor told Coolopolis that he cannot "provide any information on any project that has not already been made public by Westmount council."
The longtime McDonald's restaurant at the corner has been recently sold.
The lengthy dilapidated structure with its netting for falling bricks is currently owned by Fiducie Familiale Tehrani, whose patriarch has a long history of legal issues.
A possible future development could stretch from Atwater - including the old McDonald's - right through to the unambitious low-rise Staples office supply store and its adjacent parking lot, which measure something like 110 meters by 33 meters or so, that's 3630 square meters.
The project would be staggeringly large and profoundly change that landscape.
Here at Coolopolis we like it when they build 'em big. A project of say, 10 storeys, could house hundreds and form a gentrified pincer movement along with the recent Childrens Hospital condo projects against the decay and dilapidation in the area.
Rest assured that the so-called "developers" and the city administration dream of the huge profits they will make by erecting a condo and/or office building on that spot. It's the usual waiting game until someone blinks.
ReplyDeleteThen, perhaps there is an ongoing struggle to finally use at least part of that empty property to include a homeless or Indigenous drop-in shelter for the people who insist on congregating around nearby Cabot Square for questionable reasons, thereby preventing another unsightly, temporary tent from being pitched in that public square.
Recently, during the daytime, I walked through that handy underground passage connecting Alexis Nihon Plaza to the Metro station in Cabot Square (both of which had been closed for so long) and saw women loitering halfway along the tunnel and a young, seedy-looking character standing at the top of the escalator who then slinked away just before I reached the top.
Clearly, the police don't seem concerned enough about such loitering and reported drug-dealing in the connecting passage and the station entrance/exit itself despite the fact that they sometimes can be seen conversing with the deadbeats and drunks hanging around the square itself.
Quite frankly, I am fed up with the deterioration of Cabot Square. While the infrastructure itself had recently been nicely upgraded, the riff-raff have yet to be driven off permanently, and if that sounds "insensitive" of me, then so be it. One wonders what the tourists think when they visit that area to see the old Montreal Forum and the square itself. Will a nearby homeless/drop-in shelter improve things? Time will tell.
By the way, Kristian, have you determined who owns that empty lot on the southeast corner of St. Laurent and Rene Levesque and what, if anything, is to be done with it? I assume you have the relevant connections who can reveal the answer?
For decades, all I have ever seen on that property are some parked vehicles and temporary art displays following the demolition of some ramshackle businesses at its southern end. Presumably, Chinatown has long yearned to absorb the lot for commercial or alternate use, but then my theory of the ground having once been part of the ancient cemetery formerly located to the west of it has still not been verified or perhaps it has been deliberately left to remain undisturbed until the proof is determined.
Finally, regarding your recent query about the future of some of the original, stand-alone Metro Stations has been partially answered whereby the Place des Arts Metro on the corner of Bleury and de Maisonneuve has been incorporated within a new high-rise (what else?) and although the St. Laurent Metro station now has some oddball art objects in front of it, surely somebody plans to erect another building around it as well such as what occurred years ago at the northeast De Castelnau Metro entrance/exit.
I had a chat with someone a few months ago who looked up the empty lot at Dorch and the Main but can't remember what that conversation consisted of. I believe that lot has been empty since the road widening of Dorch in the mid 1950s. So it remains a mystery to me as well. I'll see what I can find.
DeleteOk, I just did some research. Tony Accurso owned the land and now it's a numbered company that owns it. I don't know if he's behind that numbered company or not. There was talk of a development but many believe that the zoning restrictions make the height limit too low to be of interest. I'll try to write something more complete about it soon.
DeleteThanks for your update located elsewhere in the blog concerning the aforementioned corner.
DeleteNumbered companies are too often blinds deliberately created to discourage researchers who need to identify who owns what. In any event, these "shells" can be investigated and exposed if and when wrongdoing is suspected.