This should be one of Montreal’s most desirable neighborhoods, but it’s become one of the most seedy since the pandemic began.
The eastern portion of downtown, around the Berri-UQAM station, suffered a new blow on Friday with the announcement of the closure of the legendary Archambault store, which had been established there for more than a century.
The group cited the “increasing deterioration” of the business outlook to justify its decision1. The sector has become an uninviting “urban mix laboratory” for potential customers, he argues.
Archambault is unfortunately right.
The neighborhood is harder than ever, in fact.
I have frequented the area around Place Émilie-Gamelin for more than 20 years, when I was studying at UQAM. It was already poor and dilapidated and grey, to be sure, but it was also like many other parts of the metropolis.
Montreal was lost, and so was life.
The city’s economy has picked up steam, as evidenced by all those skyscrapers sprouting up downtown. But the Berri-UQAM sector, despite being strategically located at the intersection of three metro lines, has never really managed to take advantage of the momentum.
It has even deteriorated since the start of the COVID-19 crisis.
The show that plays on a loop every day at the metro exit is infinitely sad. The itinerant population has exploded in Place Émilie-Gamelin, as has the use and sale of hard drugs. Many residents no longer feel safe there.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Boarded up doors of the old coach station
The gaping wound that constitutes the old coach station adds to the sinister aspect of the place. The City of Montreal bought the derelict site in 2018 for $18 million and promised to quickly complete a project that would include offices and affordable housing, but nothing has changed since.
Why is it so long?
The administration of Valérie Plante points to the pandemic to justify the interminable journey of the project. Telecommuting has reduced the office needs originally planned, and the City has meanwhile adopted a new affordable housing strategy, so the initial plans had to be scrapped.
Benoit Dorais, responsible for housing on the executive committee, assures me that the “review of needs” exercise should be completed by the summer. The City will then decide if it will build the building itself or if it will issue a “call for projects” to developers.
The City has “the will” to step on the accelerator in this file, but no specific timetable exists at this stage. We can only hope that she stops dragging her feet, because the urgency is double here.
This project could not only restore vitality to a sector in serious difficulty, but also provide a roof for the growing number of people who are struggling to find housing.
The City should – literally – lead by example.
Another project, private this one, could see the light of day sooner if the Plante administration gives the green light. The Mondev group plans to erect two residential rental towers on the south side of Place Émilie-Gamelin, next to the Archambault store, which will be closing. The company has already acquired several buildings slated for demolition and terminated the leases of the businesses that housed them, such as the Amir and Da Giovanni restaurants.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY MONDEV
The initial version of the project of two 18-storey rental towers, presented by the Mondev group in 2020. The project must occupy two complete blocks, along Sainte-Catherine Street East, on either side of the street St. Hubert. The new version, not yet unveiled, will present changes to the commercial base and a less imposing size, among other things.
Mondev will file a new version of the project within “one or two weeks”, after having made several “corrections” to the initial version of 2020, architect Maxime-Alexis Frappier, from the ACDF firm, responsible for draw the plans. This building complex could serve as a “spark plug” to revive the sector, he believes.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Buildings slated for demolition, at the corner of Sainte-Catherine Est and Saint-Hubert streets. The City has requested that certain elements of the facades be retained in the building project.
We’ll have to see the details of the new plans, but a private investment of around $200 million certainly wouldn’t hurt the sector.
Projects are in the air, in short, and that’s positive, but the fundamental problem remains.
Marginalized populations have exploded in the neighborhood, with addictions, homelessness and mental health issues mounting, with no resources to follow.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Place Emilie-Gamelin
The situation will not be resolved by magic without a reinvestment from the State, argues Jean-François Mary, director general of the community organization CACTUS Montreal. The “coexistence” is likely to remain thorny with the new residents who could settle around Berri-UQAM, he adds.
The Quartier des Spectacles Partnership, which has been running Place Émilie-Gamelin for a few months a year for the past eight years, believes that more police officers should be deployed to enhance the sense of security on the premises when there are events on square.
It is not a question of driving out the homeless, but rather of ensuring a harmonious “cohabitation” with the spectators and the employees, advances its general manager, Éric Lefebvre.
Either way, the authorities can no longer afford to let the problem escalate.
Other local businesses risk closing, as the legendary bar Le Saint-Sulpice announced just Sunday, and the attractiveness of the heart of Montreal could suffer damage that is hard to repair.