A certain segment of the population seems hard-wired to scoff at any mention of the word “condominium.” It’s certainly true that most new condo projects don’t do themselves any favours with humdrum architecture and crass lifestyle marketing. But there are indeed good condo projects out there that can serve as models for new real estate development in Montreal.
One of these is Louis Bohème. Despite the somewhat ridiculous name, this 28-storey apartment tower, currently under construction at the corner of Bleury and de Maisonneuve, is a good example for new downtown development to follow. Most impressive is the way it adapts to its surrounding environment. Built on top of Place-des-Arts metro, Louis Bohème will integrate a station entrance into its ground floor. Architecturally, its podium reflects the adjacent Gordon Brown Building, maintaining its roofline and 1950s design aesthetic, while the tower manages to avoid the blandness of some other recent downtown buildings, like the 1009 de Bleury and the Mosaïque Southam.
There are some nice green touches, too, including energy-efficient appliances, low-flow showerheads and recycling chutes on every floor. Taking advantage of its location on the de Maisonneuve bike path, each apartment in the building will have a dedicated bicycle parking spot.
When it was first proposed, Louis Bohème attracted a fair bit of criticism, especially from festival mogul Alain Simard, who worried that it would interfere with the operation of the Jazz and Francofolies festivals. Some grumbled about the impact it would have on Place des Arts, which I find a bit strange, since two nearby, less architecturally inspired condo towers, Le Concorde and 400 Sherbrooke West, elicited no such opposition.
If anything, though, the area just west of Place des Arts, along de Maisonneuve Blvd. and President Kennedy Ave., is an ideal spot for new residential development. A fairly quiet office district with limited amounts of retail, few existing residents and streets that grow eerily quiet outside of business hours, it’s as close to a blank slate as you can get in the middle of downtown Montreal.
Besides, it’s clear that downtown needs more residential development. It will be hard to check Montreal’s sprawl unless city living is made attractive to middle-class consumers. With nearly 300 condominium units priced between $176,000 and $570,000, projects like Louis Bohème are the best chance it has of doing that.
Drawing more people into the downtown core is especially important, since living in a central location, within walking distance of jobs, shops and cultural attractions, is the only proven way to get people out of their cars.
7 comments
I’m glad to see this. I looked at buying at Bleury and Kennedy a few years ago — the downtown and Place des Arts areas being important centers — but could not get over the question: “And I will walk to shop, where?” The building I looked at was struggling, completed ~2 years before, but had outstanding views and location that should have priced it much higher.
This tower will help create the needed critical mass, for a vibrant downtown life. I hope some of the older, abandoned buildings in the area are re-fit for arist studios and offices, soon — that would be a big shot in the arm.
The only problem I have with this project is the fact that it somewhat falls into the trap of the Quartier des Spectacles – Montreal’s newest trend and another bland megaproject with outdated foreign concepts disguised as proper urban renewal. In other words, it’s the first building of this new project… well private building. Coincidentally, it will be located on the doorstep of the Quartier des Spectacles new mega urban plaza which will be opened in two years in probably enormous fanfare.
Also, it will hide a familiar building of Montreal, which recently revamp its outside skin to be more attractive to the festival goers and downtown urbanites. We have to be careful about what goes up and where in our downtown. Sometime the driving force is more than putting people downtown or being green in dubious ways – a bike rack doesn’t constitute being green in my book. The underlying issue is that this project is closely linked with the QDS in more ways than we can think of.
I don’t like the Quartier des spectacles buzz either, but perhaps inserting more mixed residential/commercial architecture would be a way of counteracting that gimmicky form of development. I assume there will be retail businesses on the ground floor? Although the IGA in Complexe-Desjardins and the Provigo at the corner of Sherbrooke and av du Parc are not far, it would be nice to see some food shopping on the ground level.
I agree that while this building could be a useful infill and boost to that area, at the same time it is important to restore some of the older buildings in the area and make them more accessible housing and studio space. Yes, a city core needs people who can spend enough money to boost the economy, but it also needs creative types who will not be able to afford such a mortgage – or any at all – and could benefit by retaining a mix of older residents and even those families who wish to opt for urban life.
The building quality does look good from what I can see – so many condos I see while cycling about look like they have been thrown up with shoddy materials and appear to be deteriorating after only a few years.
Well, we shouldn’t be building a city around a 10 day festival. This rings true both in terms of real estate and infrastructure programs. On one hand the QDS is a great idea but it is crucial that we don’t fall into the trap of building promenades and plazas that have to sustainable life other than a few weeks per year.
In terms of the Louis Boheme, this is exactly the kind of development downtown Montreal needs and and is in fact, starving for. Not only condos, but higher end rentals. There is enough low end housing and it is important to remember that when one district gentrifies, it only results in artistic communities pioneering new quarters in other derelict and abandoned neighborhoods. That is the beauty of the city and its life cycles.
Nothing against high-end development for those who can afford it, but it is absolutely untrue that there is enough low-cost housing in Montreal. There has been considerable easing of the housing shortage, but only at the more expensive levels, NOT the more affordable ones. I have been a housing activist for about 20 years. There are lots of communiques and studies on this from the two housing activism associations: FRAPRU and RCLALQ, easily accessible online.
I think the market for very expensive rentals is rather limited, as most people who can afford such housing would prefer to own it. The market for expensive rentals is limited mostly to business executives and others with a lot of capital who are temporarily living in a city.
I’d love to see a Loblaws (they did a good job in Angus) somewhere nearby, there’s not enough grocerie stores downtown.
Good job. My dad’s office used to be on that site. I
was thinking of doing some descent architectural development in Montreal. This wasn’t an area I was interested in. We moved out of Montrel to St. Laurent years ago. Fathers cousin developed Brossard.
Not enough good housing and display studios for middle class Montrealers here. This will help push the rest of us away from Downtown, the way it should be naturally.
Whatever happened to Frank Lloyd Wright’s an acre for every man, woman and child? Some inspirational shopping malls and artisan housing inspired by Expo Zaragoza? We’ve lived withouT good Hebrew innovation for two too many decades.
I don’t go for depression year deco. I’m a man of steel, a mason, friend is a carpenter, and am off on a NEW-MATIC kick. Ya I’m really into the
PNEU-MATHEMATICS. P NEUF – LOSERS!