Le Mackay - 34 étages (2009)

[OursNoir]

Il y a un concept de propriété derrière tout projet. Le promoteur est propriétaire de ce terrain là, pas d'un autre!

 

Tiens, parce que la clique à Bumbaru m'empêche de construire ma maison sur mon terrain, je vais aller la construire sur le tiens!

 

C'est complètement farfelu comme idée, non?

[mtlrdp]

Seems to me he didn't put up much of a fight after getting rejected, didn't the city (I could be totally wrong)allow a scaled down project of 28 floors on this site? if so why isn't he building? again Montreal has a long sad history with multi-stage projects

[pedepy]

what other part of this project were there, besides the 34 story hotel? i thought everything else was just meant to "preemptively" accomodate nimbys - which they didn't even have the decency of acknowledging! ...

 

as far as i remember (and i again, i could be wrong), the opcm's decision focused more on architectural style over height; they didn't just tell him to built lower, they bluntly told him to go build something else! ... you may be right about multi stage projects, but i can't the business logic behind "in buying a lot, commissioning a firm to design a building, spending time and even more dough on promoting the project and getting it approved" only to use it all as some sort of bait and switch tactic to eventually build a smaller, duller version that just won't have the same kinds of returns on investment anyway !

 

 

it's as tough the guys behind altitude went through all that trouble, and when construction time came, instead built a triplex and ran away with the sales money from those 3 units.

[Cataclaw]

I was at the public consultation for this project and i can confirm a few things:

 

a) there were far far more people in favor of the project than against. The only person who was seriously opposed was Dinu Bumbaru himself. Everyone else was positive.

b) the OCPM was not impartial. The OCPM representatives asked a bunch of "weasel questions" to Panzini such as "don't you think this building is too tall?" you could really tell the OCPM had made up its mind before even listening to what the people had to say.

c) the project was to be constructed all at once, and not in phases. The promoter, M. Khan, had full intentions of building it too. He was quite resolute.

[Urb]

Certain d'entre-vous, semblez blâmer énormément Héritage Montréal pour la perte du projet et pourtant si je lis les mémoires il y a un bien plus gros organisme influent présent : Habitez Ville-Marie, un regroupement d'une quinzaine organisme sociaux, donc une CDEC. Ils ont demandé le respect de la stratégie d'inclusion du logement sociaux dans les projets résidentiels, qui est d'ailleurs une politique de la ville.

 

Et on peut voir le reflet de cette position dans le rapport de l'OCPM:

 

La commission estime que la Ville doit maintenir une position ferme quant à l’introduction de la mixité dans les projets immobiliers résidentiels.

 

Héritage Montréal aime aller devant la caméra des médias et crier au meurtre pour sauver une pogner de porte. Le FRAPRU a la même attitude pour le logement social. Mais une CDEC ou un regroupement comme Habitez Montréal joue dans l'ombre des médias, et il donne des mémoires qui ont une influence considérable dans les rapports de l'OCPM....

 

Maintenant que je regarde le nouveau projet et on mentionne des résidences étudiantes...ne vous demandez pas pourquoi....ce n'est pas une coïncidence.

Modifié 16 décembre 2010 par Urb

[Memphis 22]

Certain d'entre-vous, semblez blâmer énormément Héritage Montréal pour la perte du projet et pourtant si je lis les mémoires il y a un bien plus gros organisme influent présent : Habitez Ville-Marie, un regroupement d'une quinzaine organisme sociaux, donc une CDEC. Ils ont demandé le respect de la stratégie d'inclusion du logement sociaux dans les projets résidentiels, qui est d'ailleurs une politique de la ville.

 

Et on peut voir le reflet de cette position dans le rapport de l'OCPM:

 

 

 

Héritage Montréal aime aller devant la caméra des médias et crier au meurtre pour sauver une pogner de porte. Le FRAPRU a la même attitude pour le logement social. Mais une CDEC ou un regroupement comme Habitez Montréal joue dans l'ombre des médias, et il donne des mémoires qui ont une influence considérable dans les rapports de l'OCPM....

 

Maintenant que je regarde le nouveau projet et on mentionne des résidences étudiantes...ne vous demandez pas pourquoi....

 

J'étais présent à cette consultation et le regroupement dont tu parle n'était là que pour leurs pourcentage de logements sociaux et tenant compte de la nature du projet ils étaient même prêt à voir ces logements sociaux installés ailleurs que dans le projet Mackay. Et quand on a demandé à leur porte parole ce qu'il pensait du projet lui-même sa réponse fut qu'il n'avait aucune opinion sur ce sujet, il n'était là que pour les logements sociaux

 

Était-il contre? Je suis convaincu que non. Car si il n’y a pas de projet Mackay, il n’y aura pas de logements sociaux, voilà !

[Cataclaw]

J'étais présent à la consultation et je me rappel bien d'entendre M. Khan parler de résidences pour les étudiants même à l'époque. Ils voulaient offrir des services aux gens de Concordia, etc.

[MTLskyline]

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

 

YOUNG BANGLADESHIS OF MONTREAL ON THE MOVE

 

ARTICLE NO. 1: A YOUNG BANGLADESHI BUILDS A 42-STOREY SKYSCRAPER THAT WILL CHANGE THE MONTREAL SKYLINE

 

Dr. Abdur Rabb

 

(This is the first of a number of articles that I plan to write about the people of Bangladeshi origin doing well in the western world, and promoting the well-being of their adopted countries and Bangladesh.)

 

The plan to build a 42-storey skyscraper with 800 units of hotel rooms and condominiums at the heart of downtown Montreal has made big news in the greater Montreal area. In the second week of June, 2009 the Canadian National Television CBC broadcast the owner-developer’s interview along with pictures of the planned tower. The elite French daily newspaper Lapresse published a report on the project on May 12, 2009. This paper said that the owner is going to make Montreal a Dubai which has many tall skyscrapers. Montreal has only a few of those tall buildings; the new project will make the number of those tall buildings larger. On June 19 the only English daily paper of Montreal the Gazette featured a large article on the project with an impressive photograph of the design of the building. The municipality of Montreal distributed leaflets on the project in the Montreal homes and invited the citizens of the city to express their views in two hearings held in the month of June.

 

 

There are many reasons for which this project attracted public attention. We are going through a period of recession. This grand project costing between 80 and 100 million dollars will create employment for a large number of people, generate a huge amount of tax for the city, result in the construction of a number of residential units for the low-income people elsewhere in the city (one of the conditions of getting the city permit) at a cost of $700,000-, promote tourism, and change the face of the city of Montreal.

 

The owner-developer of this magnificent project is Mr. Ali Khan from Barguna, Bangladesh. He came to Montreal in 1982. His father Mr. Abdul Wahed Khan, a prosperous businessman of Barguna, wanted him to get an education in Canada. Mr. Ali Khan enrolled himself in the Sciences program at Concordia University and worked part-time in restaurants. With his business background Mr. Ali Khan, while working in restaurants, kept a sharp eye on how restaurant businesses are run. Once he accumulated some capital and acquired sufficient knowledge of the business, he bought a tiny restaurant in a posh shopping center of Montreal in 1990. That business struck gold. Soon he acquired enough capital and experience to start working for his dream: own and operate the largest and best Indian buffet restaurant of North America. As a first step to the realization of his dream, he rented and renovated a place in the heart of the city and made it into a 150-seat buffet restaurant. His idea was to serve a large variety of best Indian foods at a reasonable price. This business prospered tremendously. Then in 1994 he bought three beautiful stone-façade Victorian buildings in a row in downtown Montreal, carried out magnificent renovations, and fully realized his dream by establishing a restaurant called the Buffet Maharaja. The physical features of the Buffet are extraordinary. Sometimes people come just to see its architectural design, beautiful renovations and superb decoration.

 

At present 500 people can sit comfortably to eat at the same time; yet sometimes dozens of people have to wait in lineups on the sidewalk in front of the building to enter the restaurant for dinner. Sometimes people drive more than 100 miles to eat dinner at this restaurant. The Buffet Maharaja is not only a very successful business; it has now become an important institution of Montreal. I have not met many people of the greater Montreal area who did not know about Buffet Maharaja. Since Mr. Ali Khan’s new concept of large buffet of Indian foods worked very well, many people of the Indian subcontinent followed his example and established Indian buffet restaurants in Canada. Buffet Maharaja has also made Indian foods popular among the mainstream Canadian population in Montreal and its surrounding cities.

 

Mr. Ali Khan now owns the entire block of stone-façade Victorian buildings. In the same block he also built a residential hotel and named it Hotel A2K after his children’s initials: one A stands for his eldest son, second A for his daughter, and K for his second son. Many visitors from Bangladesh stay in this hotel during their visit to Montreal.The restaurant and the hotel have created jobs for many people. Most of the people who work at these jobs are from Bangladesh. Special mention should be made of the chief chef Mr. Nurul Haque from Comilla who has been behind the success of Mr. Ali Khan’s restaurant businesses for the last 19 years.

 

Mr. Ali Khan has recently bought a large parking lot behind the restaurant-hotel block. The skyscraper will be built on this parking lot. The other skyscrapers of Montreal are owned by large companies representing many people; but the one we are discussing now will be built by only one individual—Mr. Ali Khan from Bangladesh. Mr. Ali Khan also developed a condominium project at a short distance from the restaurant. He recently acquired a mountain in the Laurentian Mountain Range 30 miles north of Montreal where he will build a summer home and a small lake for fish culture and boating. Mr. Ali Khan’s wife Shirin Rabb, whose parents originally came from Barisal, has been actively assisting him in all his business ventures. Mr. Ali Khan’s extraordinary achievements in Montreal have made Bangladesh and Bangladeshis proud. Asked about the secret of his achievements, he said, “A vision, determination, and hard work.” I should add another ingredient of his success: adoption of the important values of the mainstream Canadian society; he speaks both English and French fluently, knows Canadian laws, and has learned Canadian manners, customs and etiquettes. He knows how to communicate with the people of all walks of life, especially Government officials and business people of Canada, with whom he has to deal. Many young Bangladeshis of Canada are being inspired by his extraordinary achievements; they are now establishing their own businesses, and some of them have prospered tremendously. Mr. Ali Khan also does charitable work to help the poor people of the area of Bangladesh where he came from.

 

http://www.bangladeshisabroad.com/blog/

 

Looks like the refusal of this project might cause some major disappointment to the Bangladeshi community.

[Habsfan]

MOi aussi j'étais là (avec Cataclaw) et je peux confirmer ce que Memphis22 et Cataclaw ont dit!

 

Looks like the refusal of this project might cause some major disappointment to the Bangladeshi community.

 

The journalist who wrote the article had his numbers wrong. It wasn't 42 stories, but 34.

Modifié 16 décembre 2010 par Habsfan

[jesseps]

This city hates tall buildings or I guess Khan didn't pay off enough people to let this project get off the ground. We know the politicians like pocketing money.