As promised during the election campaign, the Plante administration is launching a vast project to come to the rescue of downtown Montreal. In fact, we should rather speak of an operation aimed at strengthening the support already in place for several years.
Posted at 7:00 a.m.
The content of this plan called Towards a renewed city center strategy 2022-2030 was announced last October. On Monday, we presented a list of orientations targeted over the past year by people from various backgrounds.
I invite you to take a look at the document, even if, for the moment, all this remains very vague and falls under a flatly bureaucratic vocabulary. We expect to hold consultations in April to arrive at a more specific action plan in June.
It is Luc Rabouin, responsible for economic and commercial development within the executive committee, who is in charge of directing this project. The one who is also mayor of Plateau-Mont-Royal makes great use of the word “greening” when he mentions this plan.
We want to beautify and green the city center. We want it, but still?
I spoke with him on Monday, at the end of the day. I first asked him what the billion dollars being pompously earmarked for this ambitious plan would be used for. Finally, he explained to me that this amount is already being used for the redevelopment of Sainte-Catherine Street, McGill College Avenue and Peel Street.
“The billion is basically for that,” he told me.
If, like me, you believed that this money, which was part of the electoral promises, was going to be used for new projects, know that this is not quite the case.
Among the ideas circulating, there is talk of an expansion project for the Palais des congrès, a change in the vocation of office buildings, the development of public places, the redevelopment of major arteries, the development of new neighborhoods and creation of parks and schools.
To carry out all these ideas, it will therefore be necessary to seek additional money from Ottawa and Quebec. The Plante administration also hopes to initially obtain $125 million from the Quebec government to help it carry out some of these projects.
We understand that the April consultations will be used to seek the cooperation and commitment of the business community and governments (that’s what the public consultations are for…).
Now that we see more clearly, we have to see what the Plante administration will do concretely with this objective of keeping alive a downtown which, like others in Canada and around the world, continues (and will continue) to experience the effects of the new realities that beset us.
I am thinking of telework, the phenomenon of videoconferencing, distance education, the rise of electronic commerce and that of urban sprawl.
Remember that downtown Montreal is a vast territory that stretches from the Lachine Canal to the southern slope of Mount Royal, then from Atateken Street to Atwater Avenue. This area, which brings together three boroughs (Ville-Marie, Plateau-Mont-Royal, Griffintown), is made up of a great social mix and commercial activities that are as numerous as they are diversified.
In this context, I find that the reflection which will focus on the transformation of offices, which are increasingly deserted, into residential units or offices adapted to the needs of SMEs is very interesting.
If the large towers of category A do not have an occupancy problem, the buildings of categories B or C would benefit from being allowed to change their vocation. Owners who wish to do so could create residential spaces or sell their buildings to developers or to the City, who would carry out this transformation.
But beware, the City of Montreal has every intention of playing watchdog in this change by requiring a mix or by reserving the right to acquire certain buildings.
“There are downtown buildings that have been neglected,” says Luc Rabouin. This is an opportunity for owners to get rid of it. It could provide us with the possibility of acquiring them. And what the City is aiming for is a mix of uses in the same building. We can imagine, for example, retail on the ground floor, offices upstairs and residential higher up. »
I can’t wait to see what will be decided at the end of the April consultations and what type of plan we will end up with. Because if the major projects in progress come from a pre-pandemic period, it is necessary to underline the flexibility of the administration in place, which does not hesitate to review its action plan according to what we are experiencing.
Call me naïve or romantic, but I’m one of those who believe that all is not lost for downtown Montreal and that it will be able to adapt to these turbulent times.
I even believe that he is about to experience one of the most beautiful summers of his existence.