TomOfBoston

This seems like a bad name to me! Sounds like student residences...

That's what I thought when I clicked on the thread.

I have heard from sometimes reliable sources that Quebec will transfer the entire Royal Victoria Hospital complex, at no cost, to McGill and the Neuro. All McGill will have to do is come up with $350 million to restore and renovate it---piece of cake. I also heard that some of the bland 1950's additions to the RVH will be demolished as a gesture to the mountain NIMBY's, to be replaced eventually with new low rise buildings that will not be visible when looking at the mountain.

The former Bank of Toronto building would be an asset to the quartier if the exterior were cleaned and restored.

Does anyone know how much of the Faubourg office building is occupied by Concordia?

Guy-Concordia was always one of the plainest metro stations and looked drab even in the 1970's. It was also plagued with ground water seepage even back then.

Hopefully the graffiti "artists" will leave this alone.

A suggestion should be made to the architects that they incorporate stylized versons of the cranes on the roof of the finished building. It would certainly be an eyecatcher.

in other cities that shall remain nameless, that would be the entrance to a concert hall or a boutique hotel. a glass hallway would lead you from it to an elegant tower, or even just a 9-10 storey glass city block in the berlin style.

 

we have a problem here.

This house would make a great centerpiece for some complex. The rest of the site is vacant, I believe.

I thought that this would be a thread about Disney World!

The new Shriner's section looks like the best part of the complex.

McPizza AARRGGHH!!! McDonald's never sold it in the States. I tried it once in Montréal: AARRGGHH!!!

The UdeS building is beautiful but the rest of the 1960's era highrises in the area are gawdawful ugly.

Ditto with Google Chrome! So maybe you get 20 free article views per browser per month: Explorer, Safari, Chrome and Firefox??

I opened The Gazette in Safari and I can view articles even though I used up my free allotmemt while viewing The Gazette in Explorer!

Another option for tramways is the "subway-surface" system. This is used in Boston, Philadelphia and San Francisco. The tram runs on the surface in outlying areas and in a tunnel through downtown. The surface portion could be street running or separate right of way depending on the community served.

When the new MUHC was first announced, back in the Paleolithic Age, the McGill Faculties of Medicine and Dentistry were supposed to relocate to the new campus. That idea was dropped even before the Glen site was chosen. Maybe that high cost included those academic buildings.

Hopefully they will be repairing/replacing the pock marked western facade. McGill had hoped to have renovations complete and occupancy August, 2011. That has now been postponed to August, 2012.

From CTV:

http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110518/mtl_cranes_110518/20110518/?hub=MontrealHome

Updated: Wed May. 18 2011 10:34:55 AM

ctvmontreal.ca

MONTREAL — In many parts of Asia cranes are a symbol of good fortune.

The same can be said in Montreal, where construction cranes are a welcome return to a city that has seen its share of tough economic times.

After years, if not decades, of "A Louer" signs filling office windows throughout the city, cranes are popping up all over Montreal to build new hotels, skyscrapers, and hospitals.

Right now nine tower cranes are in operation at the Glen Yards campus of the MUHC superhospital, and more are on the way.

SNC Lavalin is heading up the construction, and even project managers are in awe of the sight.

"I come in from the West Island and I can see the cranes for quite a ways," said Guy Bernard Daigle. "To me this is quite impressive."

Nine cranes and counting

Setting up a tower crane is a job in itself.

A mobile crane lifts all the parts into place while workers assemble the tower like a giant erector set.

Crane nine at the MUHC superhospital was set up earlier this month, while the tenth crane will be installed in June.

Once in place, the cranes haul everything needed.

"They move all kinds of materials whether it's two by fours, electrical cables, anything and everything. Even portable toilets," said Daigle.

The last construction project of a similar size in Montreal was the Olympic stadium.

Now, two hospitals are being built simultaneously, but Daigle doubts the University of Montreal hospital project will match the scope of the MUHC.

"They're very urban, very dense so I'm not sure that they will ever get to nine cranes like we have here."

A typical day for a crane operator begins with a very long walk up to the cabin.

The irony is that a crane operator has to be in tip-top shape so that they can sit down all day long.

Once in place the operator has to stay focused.

With 350 workers currently on the site, the crane operator has to watch where material is being moved.

Each crane is also equipped with a proximity detector so the operator knows when another crane is nearby.

The MUHC project is expected to take many more years to complete, with the first building opening up in three years.

More work on Decarie Blvd.

Meanwhile the construction project will continue to interfere with traffic on Decarie Blvd. between St. Jacques St. and de Maisonneuve Blvd.

Starting Tuesday May 24, workers will begin installing sewer drains along Decarie Blvd., a project that is expected to last until the middle of August.

While work is taking place Decarie Blvd. will be closed to all vehicles except for local traffic, and drivers going to Crowley Avenue will have to detour via Upper Lachine Road and Prud'homme Ave.

The sewer installation along St. Jacques St. has been delayed because of heavy rain in the past weeks, and is only expected to be completed in July.

Is anyone surprised that the Neuro is staying on University Street??? They have been building there for the past 15 years and there is currently a new building under construction there.

Office building architecture of the 1950's was ghastly.

This was covered in The McGill Tribune and the McGill website nuch earlier. They managed to keep it out of the general media for a while though.

Whenever they build a vertical addition onto a building it looks hideous!

The Toronto subway was modeled after the NewYork City subway. It is cleaner but that is about all.

It looks like these arsonists don't want any unsubsizized housing to be built in Montréal.

Considering that the MR-63's are 45 years old, they still look remarkable, despite a few dings and scratches. They are a tribute to the design skills of whoever designed them back in the 1960's. They look more modern than the new Toronto or Boston subway cars. Even the new mètro cars seem a bit "old fashioned" compared to the original cars in my opinion.

"Outside Quebec, electricity is produced mainly from coal, fossil fuels or nuclear power plants! You might as well plug your electric car into your nearest smoke-stack or nuclear power plant because THAT is where the electricity to power your electric car is coming from!"

Uh oh! So called "environmental activists" were afraid that someone would figure this out.