City delays roadworks planned for 2021
The city is holding off on a third of the roadworks planned for 2021, the official line being that it’s to give a break to residents weary of roadblocks. Mayor Plante recalls here that in 2014 a ten‑year street repair schedule was made up, but the impact of a pandemic couldn’t’ve been predicted.
I’m struck by one detail in this piece, about work planned in Griffintown: “essentiellement des chantiers d’entretien d’égouts et d’enfouissement de fils électriques.” Is it possible the massive build of high-rise condos in the area went up before anyone realized the 19th-century sewers couldn’t handle the load? This photo of “New Griffintown” was posted to reddit recently, and got a lot of comment, including one that echoed my thought: “They should rename it Little Toronto.”
Meezly 11:43 on 2020-10-28 Permalink
Or “New Yaletown”. Resemblance is uncanny.
https://cf.bstatic.com/images/hotel/max1024x768/241/241234443.jpg
Blork 11:44 on 2020-10-28 Permalink
Wow, that photo is incredible. See that odd shaped building in the lower left-center that has some kind of green deck next to it and two little cabins? I worked in that building in the mid- to late-90s. If you had shown me that photo then and said “this is what it will look like in about 20 years” there’s no way I’d have believed it. It was such a ghost town then; I can only think of one place within walking distance (in the area shown) where you could even get lunch, and that was a bit of a dump. (There were more options in the other direction, towards Ave. McGill.)
The whole thing still boggles my mind on so many levels. Such a marvel in some ways, so many failures in others. The density fanatics must be having Dp= N/Agasms just looking at that photo, but New Urbanists are likely bawling their eyes out.
Meezly 11:51 on 2020-10-28 Permalink
@Blork. I believe that building was manufacturing for Discreet at the time.
Blork 11:51 on 2020-10-28 Permalink
You got that right.
Blork 11:52 on 2020-10-28 Permalink
It was also support and training.
Meezly 12:04 on 2020-10-28 Permalink
Cool. My first job after I moved to Montreal was at Discreet Support, not long after it was acquired by Autodesk. I guess by then they had moved the support team to the main building on Duke.
Cadichon 14:02 on 2020-10-28 Permalink
I think they waited for most of the residential construction to be done before they started to remodel the public domain, so that all the trucks and cranes would not damage the shiny new streets.
qatzelok 14:14 on 2020-10-28 Permalink
I’m happy to compare Griffintown with Liberty Village or New Yaletown. Griffintown is more attractive because its buildings are not as tall, and much more standardized in height and massing. The variety of finishing materials actually works in GT, because other important visual features (height, proportions) are more standardized. Variety only works if its complimented by standardization (repetition and contrast)
But I still don’t like the way the canal park wasn’t expanded, and that the result is that people party within a few meters of private balconies.
Jebediah Pallindrome 14:59 on 2020-10-28 Permalink
While I generally agree Griffintown went up too quickly and with far too little ground prep, the fact Montreal has 19th century water and sewerage infrastructure – particularly in that area – isn’t unique amongst large cities of the Northeast. It’s incredibly common.
That said, the city missed its one opportunity to dig up all the streets and rebuild everything, though those costs would have been passed onto the developers and that would have ruined their profit margin, likely cancelling all these projects.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Bill Binns 15:15 on 2020-10-28 Permalink
Luckily there are thousands and thousands of new condo owners in Griffintown all paying their property taxes. Most of them also cut a 5 figure check for the “Welcome tax” before they ever stepped into their new homes. There should be plenty of money sitting around to provide these homeowners with the basic municipal services they pay for.
j2 17:08 on 2020-10-28 Permalink
Ho there, fellow Discreet alumni. And to think it all used to be a Canada Post parking lot. Well and building.
DeWolf 18:40 on 2020-10-28 Permalink
Prediction: in 20 years, Griffintown will be a much more lively and interesting neighbourhood than Yaletown or Liberty Village/CityPlace/Humber Bay Shores, simply because it’s so jam-packed and weird. The streets are narrow, whereas in Vancouver and Toronto they’re too wide, with a lot of empty space that gives those newly built areas a vaguely suburban feel. And far from being the condo-land that its reputation suggests, Griffintown actually has quite a lot of social housing in the form of co-ops, as well as rental housing, so it’s less socioeconomically homogenous than its equivalents in Vancouver and Toronto. For now, it’s a chaotic mess, but that’s exactly the kind of neighbourhood that eventually evolves into something worthwhile.
Meezly 10:37 on 2020-10-29 Permalink
j2, ahoy!
qatzelok, good point. The new buildings are indeed less tall and more appealing.
DeWolf, I hope so. When I see places like Moretti, hotels, fancy hardware and furniture stores, it doesn’t bode well. But other things like the cool bike cafe is nice to see.
I think comparatively speaking, Griffintown is much more affordable than the rapid gentri days of Yaletown, so hopefully that will create more socioeconomic diversity than its TO and Vancity counterparts.