Public consultations will consider Sergakis project
There’s to be a public consultation on a condo project being floated by Peter Sergakis on Ste-Catherine Street, which would involve demolishing two undistinguished small commercial buildings and gutting a handsome graystone house dating from 1870 but which has been inhabited by the Cock and Bull Pub for many years. Sergakis has already counted out some pennies for the city to offset the social housing requirement for the project.
Ephraim 09:42 on 2020-02-25 Permalink
I still haven’t figured out… who’s stupid enough to walk into one of his pubs. He’s been caught so many times cheating on pours and subbing bottles. He makes his money off the stupidity of clients…. why would you expect him to care about social housing?
Chris 10:15 on 2020-02-25 Permalink
You expect people to know the owners of pubs? I guess you’re being facetious?
Kate 10:22 on 2020-02-25 Permalink
Ephraim, I don’t expect any kindness from Sergakis. My only implication was that he seemed so certain of getting his building permit that he already had plans to dismiss the social housing requirement.
Chris, even non-drinkers tend to be aware of Sergakis’s establishments. He’s notorious.
Ephraim 12:01 on 2020-02-25 Permalink
Quite notorious. Sports Station is the largest. Cock & Bull. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/beer-measuring-test-shows-some-bars-served-5-oz-less-than-advertised-1.2668968 Then there is Sky, the location of the old Picaso, so I assume Les Amazones is also his.
Actually last looking at the menu at Sports Station… it’s like a list of frozen foods. He bought an organic farm… and all I wondered was… where is this food going?
Faiz imam 12:02 on 2020-02-25 Permalink
The city has gotten slightly hardline then they were in years past, this is a big opportunity to see if the rhetoric means anything for real
CE 12:13 on 2020-02-25 Permalink
I’ve never seen a story about Sergakis that was about him doing anything that benefits anyone or anything other than his pocketbook. His establishments do little to Make Montreal a better place and when he takes over an existing business, his changes are never do anything to improve quality.
What’s the story with Sky? I’ve heard bad things about it but never any specifics. I haven’t been there in many years. I assume he owns Les Amazones as there was controversy around his skeezy bar in NDG because the bar staff were being trained there.
Ephraim 12:23 on 2020-02-25 Permalink
I’ve never been to Sky or Les Amazones, so I can’t tell you. Walked into Sports Station when we were down for a show at the Olympia, we looked at the menu and realized most of it was just frozen restaurant supply… and left. I don’t drink, so I didn’t worry about his under pours. What I can’t understand is the QC alcohol control doesn’t require him to have measured pour glasses… once you are caught, they should be required. You know, glasses with the actual size marked on them and a line to tell you when it’s 600ml.
walkerp 14:10 on 2020-02-25 Permalink
Wow, he owns Sports Station? That place sucks so bad they don’t even have any sports satellite feeds. Literally, we had planned to watch some basketball games and all they had were the ones on regular cable and two of them not even in HD. Pathetic. Not surprised he also shorts on the beer.
KG 14:27 on 2020-02-25 Permalink
Sergakis-slamming is the most puerile of Montreal activities. The guy has done more to support and rejuvenate the local economy than all his haters combined. He has poured big money into running the former Maz at a loss, saving the one-last working class watering hole from the NDG Soccer Mom Mafia, which has tried unsuccessfully to bully him out with the help of their puppet city councillor. If you don’t like his bars don’t go to them.
PO 15:12 on 2020-02-25 Permalink
My own Sergakis story: At the Cock and Bull, a group of 6 friends sit toward the back at a table. It’s a bit busy, but there’s not a line or anything to get in. Everyone buys a beer on the first round. Second time the server comes around, only 3 of us buy a second beer. A few minutes later, some guy comes out and says that the three beerless friends need to buy something or else leave.
Never again.
CE 15:42 on 2020-02-25 Permalink
Here’s what I don’t like about Sergakis’s businesses practices in two Google Streetview photos:
Half a block of Ste-Catherine west in 2009.
The same block now.
If someone could explain how replacing five small, unique businesses with one mega sports bar that has about the same ambiance as a Laval strip mall sports bar is good for the local economy, I’d really appreciate it.
SMD 16:56 on 2020-02-25 Permalink
Everything I have heard about Sergakis’ professional and personal life is horrible.
Josh 17:19 on 2020-02-25 Permalink
Just popping in to say that while people may be aware of Sergakis in general, they may not know that all of his properties are his properties. So, that could be a factor contributing to his continued success.
Ephraim 22:06 on 2020-02-25 Permalink
KG, if he doesn’t want to be slammed… then don’t do underhanded shit. But I’m more upset with the Regie des alcools, des course et des jeux. There is one basic principle of trust… a 20oz beer is a 20oz beer and when you buy Grey Goose, it needs to be Grey Goose. If you violate the public trust, you should NEVER get a liquor licence. And I mean… ever. But at a minimum, they should have forced him to have marked glasses (like they do in Europe) to ensure that his pours are his pours and more inspections. We have a liquor control board for a reason…. they should ensure the public trust.
YUL514 11:37 on 2020-02-26 Permalink
CE, so you’d rather have boarded up empty old apartment units. Look at the 2nd floor in that 2009 photo.
dwgs 13:04 on 2020-02-26 Permalink
KG, do you work for Sergakis or something? You make it sound like he’s deliberately losing money out of the goodness of his heart. The truth is that either his bars and restos deliberately lose money to offset revenue from his property holdings or he really is clueless as to how to run a hospitality business. Maz had run it’s course years ago and Sergakis didn’t come in to preserve some authentic old tavern, he has tried two different iterations there, both of which have bombed to the point where the only clientele he has are the holdovers from Maz who have nowhere else to go in the neighbourhood besides sipping from king cans in the park in the warmer months.
The Maz property should have been a gold mine, a big room with a bar licence (not a resto licence) and a terrasse right beside a popular park on a main street in a neighbourhood full of upper middle class folks with plenty of disposable income. Turn that into Else’s west or something similar and you could retire. What does he do? A Hooters / Coyote Ugly knockoff. Who the hell did he thing was going to pack that place given the local demograpics and the current societal norms? It’s true that there was a lot of pearl clutching and McQueen predictably climbed up on his soapbox and filled the air with his sonorous lamentations but all of that would have amounted to a fart in a windstorm if there was actually a market for such a business.
KG 13:34 on 2020-02-27 Permalink
I don’t know Sergakis, much less work for him but I like that you can find his cell phone number on the internet and call him and he’ll pick up and talk to you about anything. I’ve done it a few times. He will listen thoughtfully. He doesn’t know me but he was nonetheless humble enough to ask me for my input on what sort of bar he should be putting there. This guy supported Montreal’s economy in the 90s when everybody else was sitting on the sidelines or musing about moving to Toronto. Good for him that his belief in the city paid off. Other bar owners kicked tires on Maz and realized that there was no way it would ever return on its investment. Sergakis was surely aware of this but put in $300,000 anyway. Now the NDG Soccer Mom Mafia and their puppet councillor are still trying to take away the only working class watering hole west of Atwater and I’m glad that this guy is there holding them off. I’d recommend you go in there and support the cause otherwise this city will be sanitized beyond what it already is.