RIP Montreal’s downtown?
The Journal is taking a line that downtown Montreal is in bad shape, a veritable ghost town, a phrase also taken up by CTV. Even Le Devoir is calling city hall’s modest plans an electric shock to revive the area. (Why is it even news that there aren’t any tourists? Of course there aren’t tourists this year. Anywhere.)
CBC is noting that office workers – even more than shoppers, the downtown core’s natural denizens and raisons-d’être – are staying away in droves.
People may be forgetting that there was already a lot of hand-wringing about the state of downtown before Covid struck. But since the 1980s there have been qualms about the state of Ste‑Catherine Street, or parts of it. The stretch between Atwater and Guy was moribund for years before it evolved into the city’s second Asian neighbourhood, for example. Over the last couple of years the excavation and rebuilding of parts of the street and the REM construction site were already deterring visitors, and now Covid, whose eventual resolution as a social dampening force is still an unknown quantity, is doing its damage.
But there’s no reason to catastrophize and make everything sound even worse. There’s also no reason to place blame. The whole world is dealing with Covid, it’s not just us. To be honest, if I needed to go downtown (and I’ve just endured the longest period of my life without setting foot on Ste‑Catherine, and have no plans to take a bus or metro downtown anytime soon) I certainly would not feel my visit improved by clowns. I hope it helps some people feel less grim, but I’m not sure it’s exactly what’s needed.
I follow several local-themed groups on Facebook and some of the participants are older, and have clearly not been to Montreal in a long time. They’re rather prone to intoning that the city is dead, downtown is full of empty storefronts, everything is terrible. That this is old news, that things (the city, the world, technology, local politics, the whole goddamn zeitgeist) have changed since the late 1980s when they were last living here and going downtown, makes no mark on them. The only problem here is that too much catastrophizing, too much negative bla-bla, can become self‑perpetuating.
Yes, we’re stuck in a bad time. No, it will not last forever: even if we do have to come to terms with Covid being a permanent, endemic fact of life, things will change, we will adapt and Ste‑Catherine, which has survived earlier epidemics, will still be there.
walkerp 10:17 on 2020-07-22 Permalink
On a positive note, we spent a couple of very fun hours at the Place des Festivals, playing in the fountain and the musical swings. Didn’t spend any money but quite enjoyable for children and relaxing for adults.
Kevin 11:27 on 2020-07-22 Permalink
More than the lack of tourists (foreign and local) it’s the lack of *anyone* in the city’s core.
I don’t think office workers are coming back even once the pandemic passes. Companies are going to downsize and save money on rent. If they need to hold a meeting in person they’ll rent a conference room.
I’m one of the few who has never stopped working at the office and it’s tough to imagine, tough to realize that the streets have been empty every single day. I’m sitting in a room with desks for 70 people (and honestly, we could all be here and still be more than 2 metres apart) and there are only six people here. It’s been like this for 130 days and I expect it will continue for another 330 if not more.
Add in the fact that more than 100,000 students will not be coming to class downtown this fall. Or winter.
That’s a lot of spending that just isn’t happening. Morning coffee break? Nope. Lunch at a restaurant? Nope. Popping into a store after work? Nope.
If your business relies on foot traffic from workers — you’re toast. Sorry.
I once quipped that Projet Montreal wanted a city where everybody lived and worked in the same neighbourhood — but that’s exactly what we have right now because of the pandemic, and it’s become the government’s nightmare.
Stephane Daury 11:40 on 2020-07-22 Permalink
“I certainly would not feel my visit improved by clowns.”
That genuinely made me laugh. But isn’t that the Montreal way? When in doubt, add more clowns (preferably in office)!
Kate 11:47 on 2020-07-22 Permalink
Stephane, credit to Ian whose comment 2 posts ago made me phrase it this way.
Kevin: thanks for reminding me about how students will also not be coming downtown this fall and winter. I had left that out of my mental calculations. That’s big.
Andrew Kemp 11:51 on 2020-07-22 Permalink
Pre-Covid I was impressed with the direction in which Ste-Catherine was heading, fueled mostly by students and herds of teenage shoppers. I thought people complaining about restricted parking weren’t in line with how the area was developing. But now it’s anyone’s guess what the future holds for the downtown core
DeWolf 12:45 on 2020-07-22 Permalink
There are already 100,000 people who live downtown and the number is growing. As Kate mentioned, the formerly moribund stretch of Ste-Catherine between Guy and Atwater is now packed with Asian businesses, and they mainly serve people who live in the west end of downtown. I expect other parts of downtown to take a similar path as more and more residential projects are completed. There will be fewer places for a business lunch but more grocery stores, casual restaurants, hardware stores, etc. Montreal is simply taking the same path as Toronto and Vancouver whose downtowns have become very residential.
dwgs 13:33 on 2020-07-22 Permalink
I’m transitioning back to work at McGill and it’s very strange to say the least. It’s quiet outside but there are still enough people that it’s relatively normal. Inside the buildings it feels like Chernobyl ghost town time.
EmilyG 13:53 on 2020-07-22 Permalink
I can’t even get downtown, unless I want a really long walk. I’m still wary of taking the bus for something non-essential (I think the local government is encouraging people to take the metro, but I still don’t feel too comfortable doing that if I don’t need to.)
Although, walkerp, it is nice to know that they have the swings again. I enjoyed those.
Patrick 14:03 on 2020-07-22 Permalink
I wonder what proportion of the activity west of Guy (at least the first few blocks) is driven by the Concordia students who normally pack the coffee shops. Many of the Desi (if it’s OK to use that term) customers in the places like Thali cuisine indienne there seem to be students too.
Kevin 14:10 on 2020-07-22 Permalink
@DeWolf
Vancouver’s ‘downtown’ was always much more residential than ours. I think the closest analogy would be NDG and Westmount around Sherbrooke St.
But now downtown Montreal feels like Coal Harbour did 20 years ago.
DeWolf 14:54 on 2020-07-22 Permalink
I’m not really sure what you mean, Kevin. Historically, the West End was the only residential neighbourhood in downtown Vancouver. I’m referring specifically to the rest of the downtown peninsula that was almost exclusively commercial/industrial until the early 90s and is now densely populated – areas like Yaletown, Crosstown and Gastown. It’s similar to how the Entertainment District in Toronto is now packed with apartments when 20 years ago it was mostly parking lots and former industrial buildings. We’re seeing the same trend in parts of downtown Montreal that were previously devoid of residents but now have thousands of new apartments, either recently built or under construction – around the Bell Centre, in the Quartier des spectacles, on the western and eastern flanks of Old Montreal.
JP 22:49 on 2020-07-22 Permalink
I’ve gone downtown or close to it the past couple of weekends. I’m getting tired of simply going for walks in my own neighbourhood and those adjacent to mine. While I have a car, I don’t really have the option to get out of the city or anyone to go with, and the brain needs some novelty.
I’ve generally always liked the atmosphere downtown and in areas around it, including Old Montreal. During the weekends, the metros allow for sufficient distancing. Sometimes I start at Vendome and walk over to Square Victoria. I feel relatively comfortable at the Eaton Centre precisely because the crowds there have been relatively light. Maybe it was two weekends ago, but the section between Atwater and Guy seemed busy, though I do understand appearances can be deceiving.
I did walk along the canal from Atwater to about McGill Street with a friend last week, and that I had regrets about…partly because as much as we tried to maintain distance, there were times where I think we got closer than we should have. I think it’s just easier for me to be on my own when I venture out these days.
Kevin 11:17 on 2020-07-23 Permalink
@DeWolf
When I lived in Vancouver around the turn of the century Yaletown, Gastown, the West End and Downtown felt extremely residential, and a lot of it was relatively low density too. You can walk from Robson square to a residential neighbourhood in 5 minutes.
Whereas in an area the same size in downtown Montreal you’ll find blocks and blocks of commercial space and office towers. Yeah, we’ve got lots of apartment towers too — especially west of Guy.
I guess I’m saying when you think of the downtown heart of each city, there are differences between Vancouver and Montreal and how much space the commercial core takes up.