Royalmount to have a large aquarium
Carbonleo, developing Royalmount, is promising a world‑class aquarium opening next year.
I hope they don’t plan to confine marine mammals there. This town has a poor track record with those, besides it being a bad idea generally.
Ian 19:54 on 2023-03-14 Permalink
Define marine mammals. There’s otters and beavers at the biodome …
That said, in Canada it’s actually illegal to keep dolphins and whales in captivity since 2019.
The last orca in captivity in Canada died last week. Kiska, a 47(ish) female at Marineland in Ontario. She had lived alone for over a decade.
shawn 20:42 on 2023-03-14 Permalink
Funny thing is, Royalmount seems to be going up quite fast? It takes forever to get anything built here but it seems like this seat-of-your-pants megaproject is proceeding rather quickly…?
EmilyG 21:33 on 2023-03-14 Permalink
As soon as I saw that the new aquarium would be in a mall, I correctly guessed it’d be Royalmount. Classy place :/
Ephraim 10:27 on 2023-03-15 Permalink
So basically a copy of https://www.thedubaiaquarium.com/
DeWolf 11:08 on 2023-03-15 Permalink
@shawn It’s been under construction since the beginning of 2019 which doesn’t seem that fast to me.
Robert H 11:37 on 2023-03-15 Permalink
I credit the partners behind Royalmount with superb execution, so far. I think the consensus is that the last thing any major metropolitan area in North America needs is another shopping mall, and I’m certain that Carbonleo & its business partner L Catterton were aware of that. However, believing that there is an insufficiently tapped market in Montreal for luxury, they are doing everything they can to make the place an irresistible retail vortex designed to suck in dollars from Greater Montreal, adjacent regions, and visiting tourists. I’m interested in the machinery behind the Montreal Aquarium’s decision to join this project. As mentioned in Mario Dumont’s linked radio interview with Nicolas Gosselin, the aquarium’s director general, the element of “divertissement” is an essential ingredient in the mix of attractions design to make Royalmount more than just another mall. That along with the fact that the developers have managed to attract prestigious retailers who have been wary of opening a Quebec outpost, should assure a mob scene for at least the first month when the complex opens. Projects of this scale have the potential to redefine the city so I notice in Royalmount’s publicity as well as in this interview, Dumont quotes Carbonleo’s press release describing the mall as being at “le cœur de Montréal.” Really? I would have defined that as someplace downtown: Sainte Catherine at Peel? Dorchester Square? Place D’Armes? I hope the fact that Restoration Hardware, for example, has decided to open one of its lavish “Galleries” at the junction of two congested autoroutes near the airport instead of on La Cat, doesn’t signal a shift in the city’s centre of gravity. Let’s not become Houston.
Tim S. 13:51 on 2023-03-15 Permalink
Is there an opposite effect to “Induced demand”? I have the feeling that traffic will make the popularity of the place somewhat self-regulating. As it is my family doesn’t go to Decarie Square very often, despite it being a logical place for us to do a lot of our errands, because getting there is so unpleasant. On the other hand, it’s unpleasant because lots of other people do decide to go there, so what do I know.
shawn 14:22 on 2023-03-15 Permalink
Can anyone tell me: will construction start soon on the pedestrian bridge from de la Savane metro or is that just proposed infrastructure, at this time.
JP 14:55 on 2023-03-15 Permalink
@shawn I work nearby. It looks like digging near Metro de la Savane has started for that bridge.
shawn 16:51 on 2023-03-15 Permalink
Wow. I get what deWolf is saying but a new pedestrian bridge spanning the Decarie – that’s a first.
Orr 22:41 on 2023-03-15 Permalink
@RobertH I once tried to determine the centre of Montreal in google maps by searching for Montreal and then zooming in and in until I couldn’t zoom in any more. It was just north of RoyalMount around Dawson/Cegep St-Laurent.
I’m not disagreeing with you though, the centre of Montreal is in centre-ville.