internationalx

I'm sure this has been discussed but we can't really have another station named Pie-IX? I've always thought the actual Pie-IX should be named Olympique or Parc Olympique....

This location has to include a commercial component.... a la VSP.

By June/July, the lobby and base will be up. Do we know it this will be steel frame tower or concrete construction?

Couldn't agree more: enough with the twin tower projects. IMHO, the only prestigious lot left that is still basically that, an empty lot, is Square Victoria. Then we start to get into redevelopment site where existing buildings are demo-worthy.

CN. Time for a tower in that location.

As much as I love skyscrapers and Montreal was in dire need to a beefier skyline, I'm not so consumed by super-talls or towers more than say, 250 meters. I'm totally fine with having many, many 180-200 meter towers vs a few very tall ones. At this point in history, skyscrapers are becoming a dime a dozen in cities; it's going to become unique when a city doesn't have any. Or has a moderate skyline. What I love about Montreal is the texture of the urban fabric. Certainly unique in Canada. When PVM, CIBC were completed, it was pretty exceptional even by world standards. I would venture to say that the Empire State or Chrystler Building are famous because of context: when they were built.

I think we can already say it is having an impact: CF Fairview is upping its game. Perhaps that was already in the cards before Royalmount was announced but I bet CF is really paying attention now re: Fairview.

Well, 65 meters is not outrageously tall... frankly, I'm more concerned about the design and the materials, finishing.

A project roughly as tall as Dominion Square Building and The Windsor is what is needed here.

My God, yes!

At the very least 60 or 80 metres. Especially considering the train tracks on the south side of the hotel.

Now imagine 3, 120m towers to the south....

Best angle.

Complaining that 9 floors is not human scale enough for downtown Montreal?!? Yikes. Bumbaru mentions the architecture but only in passing - how about pushing for a better design that better integrates the existing buildings? And the city is asking for controversy when it's zoning plan often seems so arbitrary, in some places where 120m+ and suddenly it's 25m on the same block, on the neighboring lot.

Couldn't agree with this statement more. It has always been a strange mega-block. But when one looks at the history, there was a green space in the middle. It's one of those huge city blocks - contiguous lots - that would have been ideal for a major development scheme circa 1960's-1970's. Think PVM or Complexe Desjardins... While I love the scale of what is about the be built, those buildings fronting R-L Boulevard are truly atrocious and quite frankly, tear-downs.

Agreed. 1000 de la Montagne is far more glamorous a name.

I would think that this lot across from the FS and HRO would be a coveted development site at this point; this is the site I'm most anticipating to get a project going.

It's a very urban hotel that is built on a dense-ish city block.

The issues with traffic and circulation notwithstanding, in this moment where retail is undergoing a major revolution, it's not a terrible idea to have a large, mega-mall that being designed and conceived as the next-generation destination mall in the geographic center (roughly) of the island of Montreal. From an retailer's perceptive too, Carrefour Laval, is often their first location, then downtown, then Fairview, etc... Not so bad to have a Yorkdale of our own. I do think Rockland will ultimately die. Place Vertu serves a total different clientele than what Royalmount will; it gets a lot of business from the industrial parks and offices in the corner. I predict Place Vertu will ultimately get smaller and the land built on with housing. Look: the mall is being reinvented. They are becoming destinations that have a lot of dining, entertainment and shopping.

Good Lord, opposing a 9 meter derogation.

The thing is, I find Manuvie and Sun Life play off each other well, in volume, scale. Especially when viewed from the south, say from Place du Canada.

Maison Manuvie, Maison des Coopérants, and McGill College Tower sure look nice together.

One hopes they would build over Gare L-L' (i.e. air rights) and maybe even create a proper, covered station below a tower... No, to the south of McDo... over the train station, over the metro station.

Anyone else think that at some point, we'll get some tower(s) on the remaining portion of the block including over the Metro station and the Gare? It is zoned for 120M+.

Say what you will, but tall glassy towers like these were much needed in Montreal; we didn't exactly have any of this scale. And from the south, they look incredible.