ville-marie Marriott Courtyard Montréal Centre-ville - 40 étages (2014)

[yarabundi]

On peut voir les fondations d'un bâtiment qui se trouvait sur ce site autrefois.

[MtlMan]

On peut voir les fondations d'un bâtiment qui se trouvait sur ce site autrefois.

 

Tu sais lequel c'était?

[MontréalMartin]

le quadrilatère en 1912, 1949 et 1985.

[internationalx]

I can't believe there were no NIMBY protests calling for this tower to be shorter - even though no derogation from the master plan was required. I mean, given the original row-houses, and the current low-rise/parking lot urban fabric, no one complained about shadows, lack of sunlight, or the need to maintain the current scale. I guess that just proves that if the city revised and updated the zoning to better reflect rationality and reality, immobilisme wouldn't be so rampant.

[Habsfan]

I can't believe there were no NIMBY protests calling for this tower to be shorter - even though no derogation from the master plan was required. I mean, given the original row-houses, and the current low-rise/parking lot urban fabric, no one complained about shadows, lack of sunlight, or the need to maintain the current scale. I guess that just proves that if the city revised and updated the zoning to better reflect rationality and reality, immobilisme wouldn't be so rampant.

 

You have no idea how many of us are crossing our fingers, hoping that the usual suspects (Bumbaru, nimbys and others) don't notice this project.

[mtlrdp]

You have no idea how many of us are crossing our fingers, hoping that the usual suspects (Bumbaru, nimbys and others) don't notice this project.

 

The building is going up on Rene Levesque which already has 4 towers of more than 40 storeys ,so I don't see what these idiots would complain about (but I'm sure they can come up with something)

[yarabundi]

C'est un peu tard pour protester contre un projet qui est déjà non seulement accepté mais dont la construction a commencé.

[pedepy]

tu pense qu'ils ne seraient pas capable ?? quel ego boost ca serait pour eux de faire stopper un chantier en pleine action ... croit moi que tot ou tard, il vont s'essayer !

[MartinMtl]

Ce sera comme pour le Hilton Garden Hill: construit dans l'indifférence la plus totale. Quand un projet respecte le plan d'urbanisme, il n'y a presque jamais de problème.

[MTLskyline]

I knew it wouldn't be long before everyone's favourite columnist latched on.....

 

How high is too high?

Tall apartment buildings are springing up in Montreal. Is this what we want?

 

HENRY AUBIN

The Gazette

 

Saturday, January 29, 2011

 

Residential buildings are getting taller than ever in Montreal. Construction is under way on a 40-storey tower on ReneLevesque Blvd. across from the shorter Complexe Desjardins. It breaks the record set two years ago by the 37-storey Le 400 Sherbrooke. Another jumbo, the 32-story Altoria on the north side of Square Victoria, was announced this month.

 

The three projects' scale differs from that of the previous generation of high-rises. Over the last 40 years or so, the norm has been for condo and apartment buildings to be 20-something storeys. You have to go all the way back to the Drapeau era of the 1960s, the heyday of the bigger-is-better ethos, to find residential towers higher than 30 storeys. Buildings dating from that time include Alexis Nihon and La Cite, both 32 storeys, and the posh Port-Royal at 33. (Office buildings are another story: the corporate prestige attached to tall headquarters drives them higher. The champ is Le 1000 La Gauchetiere at 50 storeys.)

 

The ongoing boom in new residential high-rises in or near downtown, including such mid-size projects as Devimco's buildings ranging from 17 to 19 storeys in Griffintown, is widely seen as a good thing for the city (notwithstanding criticism over particular architecture and other secondary matters). The new high-rises' residents will further enliven what is one of the continent's most convivial downtowns, strengthen the city's tax base and, because public transit is so accessible in the area, not have to rely so much on cars.

 

But this boom, highlighted by the record-setter on Rene Levesque, raises important questions. What is the best scale for residential buildings in Montreal in the future? How can Montreal attract and retain more residents?

 

Let's back up a minute.

 

We can be pretty sure of a few things about the decades ahead. Gasoline prices will go way up. Electric cars will be too expensive for most families. Quebec's heavy debt will make it hard to keep spending billions of dollars subsidizing urban sprawl with new roads, schools, CEGEPs, hospitals, etc.

 

All these things would seem to argue for an end to sprawl and for the greater appeal of Montreal as a place to live. But the city has big deterrents: the high price of property, high taxes and a quality of life often deemed inferior to what suburbia offers. Each year the outflow of residents to off-island suburbs stays stubbornly over the 50,000 mark.

 

How can Montreal do better? Mayor Gerald Tremblay launched a program last March giving families up to $15,435 to buy homes if they meet certain criteria. As well, to improve quality of life, he upped spending on park maintenance. But the type of homes available could be key to trying to reverse the exodus from the city, and Montreal needs to improve its offering of housing.

 

Regular bungalows, row homes and semi-detached houses -particularly those in neighbourhoods with a good quality of life -are out of reach of many people's finances. High-rises, at the other extreme, are only temporarily useful in keeping people in Montreal: They're good for keeping single people and couples in the city, but they're not so good after they start having children.

 

What kind of buildings would be best for families over the next decades?

 

Richard Bergeron, Projet Montreal leader and a former urban-planning prof, is more outspoken on these matters than anyone else at city hall. He wants to fill more neighbourhoods with mid-size buildings ranging from three to eight floors. These are now popping up here and there, but Bergeron would make them widespread. Plus he'd give them grassy courtyards for recreation.

 

According to this vision, the cost of homes would be lower. The population density would justify good public transit as well as abundant parks and neighbourhood schools (remember those?). The provincial government could help pay for this urban transformation with some of the billions it would save by no longer subsidizing sprawl. It's cheaper to service dense populations than ones that are spread out.

 

Bergeron's vision, and competing visions, need more public debate. The 40-story building on Rene Levesque is a king-sized reminder that Montreal has no coherent strategy for its development in a future of reduced expectations, and it needs one.

 

haubin@montrealgazette.com

 

© Montreal Gazette 2011

http://www2.canada.com/montrealgazette/columnists/story.html?id=53499c1b-e6d0-4a32-9189-eddeff4c5c05