internationalx

500 Place d'Armes is actually in my top 5 favorite list. I think it's really well situated: all the buildings around the Place represent a certain epoch of Montreal's development - each of them formative eras, most of the glorious. The fact that it's such an elegant and well proportioned International Style building -obviously representing the 60's boom when Montreal made a splash on the world stage - makes it an exceptional and perfect fit for Place d'Armes in my view.

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As long as this turns out to be dark curtain wall, then it's going to amazing; love how they handled balconies/terraces. This is sexy AF: two monolithic, slim towers.

Too early to tell; I need to see more.

Exactly. SOMETHING major is going to be built here because of its central location; stopping Royalmount isn't going to make development here go away. We all know the road network here is deficient and was poorly thought through from the beginning - that's the bigger problem in an of itself.

There's plenty of places where the city has zoned 200 m and it drops to 80 m or 65 m right next door/on the next block.

Anything that get built here - regardless if its a new destination mall/center like Royalmount or exclusively housing or offices - is going to cause traffic; this is a HUGE swath of land unused/under-used in the middle of the Island of Montreal.

It would be nice to get a new tour phare that isn't so conservative; obviously when PVM, CIL, Bourse, and CIBC were built, those were so avant-garde for the city - any city - in that era. But looking at the Montreal skyline, we really could use something outside the box so-to-speak. 750 Peel was exciting but that's been squashed. That said, North America is getting pretty boxy and un-inspired skyscrapers generally. Even NYC is mostly getting boxy designs in towers.

People are not giving up cars - even Quebecers who are big on being "Green" - and they are even buying bigger cars with more frequency. That said, people are either going to take those cars to CF Carrefour Laval or Fairview (btw: see what competition does, CF is going to feel the heat with Royalmount and are getting a jump start on re-inventing Fairview); the beauty of Royalmount is that it's located literally in the center of the island of Montreal surrounded by the clientele that are going to use it most: upper-middle class + quasi-suburban and suburban citizens. There is no reason that with some coordination with the authorities who are planning to rebuild the Met anyhow, and making sure mass transit options are indeed options, this should't go ahead. With a residential component especially, this should be applauded - this is the center of the island and it's currently a moribund, obsolete light industrial neighborhood/sector; no one is complaining or opposing the densification of the Triangle and the forthcoming Blue Bonnets development.... just because this has a large retail/commercial component and its being marketed as upscale, the pitchforks are out. With the increasing residential character of the general Decarie sector, this mall/destination makes even more sense: it's guaranteeing a built-in market in the direct vicinity. And malls are not obsolete... yes, many are, but not the ones being repositioned as destinations. Obviously, that's what Royalmount is being positioned as.

My God, VSLP + BNC HQ are going to take the skyline to another level! Finally!

It's not terrible. Man, this area sure needs it!! Yikes. It'll do a lot of good. I've seen far worse in Chinatown in NYC for example.

They are working on it! Concepts and designs take time. Who knows what their process is like. Plus, they are rushed given Quinzecent - they just launched that one.

Here we go!

Do we know what the sales figures are so far? % of units sold or reserved?

We're going to run out of empty lots....

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/city-needs-blueprint-to-guide-development-heritage-montreal I wasn't sure where to put this but felt this section was appropriate. While the piece brings up valid and important issues about heritage preservation, I find that it has such a anti-development undertone and focuses on building heights of towers more than anything else; I wish there would be a focus on architectural quality and standards more so than the perennial boogeyman of towers! She seems to be suggesting that skyscrapers are anathema to heritage preservation and to the livable city. Obviously, some neighborhoods - built neighborhoods - are to be preserved as low-rise but in the downtown core / CBD, to complain about towers? Griffintown is banal not because of the 20-storey limit but because the architecture is banal.

I think the better example of a development that includes a train station is The Shard in London. I think her you build over the tracks- using the air rights - to build one tall tower with a base that goes from Mansfield to R-B Boul.

It's +120 meters... I believe it's zoned for the max 200.

I'm glad they aren't going 120M like YUL and Holiday Inn... a little height variation!!

I actually really like the proposal. It was only a matter of time this lot/site was built on. Hotel is an obvious one too given the QdS... I agree that the demo of the grey stone is unfortunate and that they could probably just alter one facade to create a nice hotel entrance. But overall, the glassy overhang above doesn't squash the town homes and looks to be set-back enough to let them breath.

Highly anticipated. Let's hope this spurs some nice development (retail especially) along the de la Montagne, axis and even south of Ste Cath.

Agreed!

Much better than the earlier rendering. Though I'm still not a fan of the hanging balconies and the square margins; I would have to see the west and north facades to better judge the whole thing; if they mirror those in the rendering, then I think it's pretty great.

Ok. But Montreal developed in the post-war years around the automobile. This part of the island, while very built-up and urban, is simply nothing like the pre-war inner city neighborhoods closer to downtown where you can walk, and take the metro or ride a bike. And unless you are going to start tearing down these built-up neighborhoods full of single family homes, and replace them with triplexes and apartment buildings, the car is still going to exist for a long time. Moreover, the Metro coverage isn't exactly like the MTA in Manhattan where there is a subway station every few blocks. No one wants to ride a bike in the winter. And the reality is, people still LOVE their cars, in fact, they are buying bigger vehicles crossover etc... so yeah, a mall like this isn't so ridiculous. At least there is a Metro station at de la Savane.

Man, that SAQ looks so cheap from the the street. Next to Wanda's no less. Classy.