$120 million to build the Quartier des spectacles

After years in the making, the plans for the Quartier des spectacles are finally coming together. Yesterday, it was announced that all three levels of government will be chipping in with $120 million to reshape the area around Ste. Catherine St. between Bleury St. in the west and St. Denis St. in the east. Four phases of development will be spread over four years. Today’s Gazette has a decent rundown of what we can expect:

PHASE 1

Timing: Summer 2008 to June 2009.

Budget: $35.5 million.

Location: Jeanne Mance St. to the east, Balmoral St. to the west, Ste. Catherine St. to the south, and De Maisonneuve Blvd. to the north.

Project: Lower Balmoral island to same level as Jeanne Mance and Ste. Catherine, plant trees on island, and develop Place du Quartier des spectacles there. The number of lanes on Jeanne Mance will be reduced from five to three, on-street parking will be outlawed, and the sidewalk on the east side of Jeanne Mance will be widened to 10 metres.

PHASE 2

Timing: Summer 2009 to June 2010.

Budget: $23.2 million.

Location: Clark St. to the east, St. Urbain to the west, Ste. Catherine to the south and De Maisonneuve to the north.

Project: The vacant lots along Clark will be expropriated, grassed area will be developed, and sides of Place des Arts and Complexe Desjardins on St. Urbain will be lined with store windows to showcase cultural exhibits.

PHASE 3

Timing: Summer 2010 to June 2011.

Budget: $17.2 million.

Location: Between Saint-Alexandre and De Bullion on Ste. Catherine St.

Project: The sidewalks and street on Ste. Catherine will be made almost the same level and the street could be closed for months during the peak festival season.

PHASE 4

Timing: Summer 2011 to 2012.

Budget: $44.1 million.

Location: De Maisonneuve to the south, President Kennedy to the north, Balmoral to the west, Clark to the east.

Project: De Maisonneuve will be reduced to two lanes and parking prohibited. President Kennedy will be turned into a one-way-east street. These changes will create much more space between the two streets, which is where the Promenade des Festivals will be developed.

So what do we make of all of this? The first thing to consider is the plan’s treatment of public space. The so-called “Place du Quartier des spectacles” sounds promising, since it includes a reduction in the number of lanes on Jeanne Mance St. and a dramatic widening of its sidewalks. (Apparently, the garage doors and blank walls of the Musée d’art contemporain will be renovated to include retail space.) The renovation of Ste. Catherine will calm traffic and allow for a flexible approach to pedestrianization that is well-suited to Montreal’s climate. All in all, by expanding sidewalks, reducing traffic lanes, opening up blank façades and creating new squares where parking lots currently exist, this plan will significant improve the pedestrian experience in the area around Place des Arts.

But what about the rest of the Quartier des spectacles? At the corner of Ste. Catherine and the Main, a new $20 million cultural centre called the Red Light will replace an abandoned building and a vacant lot. The name of the building suggests a somewhat cynical appropriation of the area’s seedy heritage, and the building’s renderings don’t reveal too much — it would be about 13 stories high and luminescent — but I’m inclined to think that this would be an appropriate landmark for a notorious crossroads that has lately become more pathetically tacky than seductively deviant. People have been worrying about the Times Square-esque “Disneyficiation” of the lower Main for years, but Gérald Tremblay is no Rudolph Guiliani and Montreal is no New York.

What concerns me most about the Quartier des spectacles is that, as interesting as it all sounds, there is a big potential for things to go terribly, terribly wrong. The Balmoral Block, which is at the centre of the plans, has already been the victim of government incompetence. In 2002, when it was slated to be redeveloped into government offices and a new symphony hall, the provincial government purchased the block, evicting dozens of artists and small businesses. When the symphony hall plans were shelved, the block was left to rot for five years, decaying to such an extent that one of its historic structures, the imposing Wilder Building, might have to be demolished. If this is the way the creative enterprises already located in the Quartier des spectacles will be treated, it’s not a terribly good sign. Already, arts groups are worrying that the neighbourhood’s redevelopment will force up rents and push them away.

Another concern is the quality of design. Given the area’s existing architectural legacy, which includes buildings like the Complexe Desjardins and the MAC that treat the street with blank walls and contempt, how do we ensure that the Quartier des spectacles doesn’t end up being a bunch of faceless boxes?

For more information on the Quartier des spectacles, check out the official plan. Radio-Canada also has a nice dossier.