What sane person would want to live with screaming hockey fans and rock concert scalpers outside their window?
Many wondered just that when condos at the Bell Centre went on sale.
But not only were the units snapped up quickly, they sold at a price far higher than others in the area.
The difference between those units and others in nearby Griffintown or at Mountain and Dorch?
The Bell Centre is connected to the underground city, Montreal's downtown pedestrian network.
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Condo shoppers have voted with their dollars and they want a home that permits them to stroll to their cubicle at Place Ville Marie without donning a sweater, jacket, raincoat or long undies.
Red lights, smog, slush, icy sidewalks, puddles, cold winds, rain, snow and sleet be damned!
People want to walk in climate-controlled, safely to one's destinations past countless shiny boutiques en route.
Now that consumers have proven that they want to live downtown connected to the underground city, expect the floodgates to open.
***
So where will the next tunnels migrate? Presumably the tunnels are already headed under St. Antoine Street in the upcoming development across from the Bell Centre, so that will likely expand the ant farm south.
But the those who know the invisible mood borders of downtown understand why Peel and St. Catherine is not only downtown's signature intersection, but it's also a border from the smaller structures to the west to the big boys east.
Peel and St. Catherine is where the underground city needs its grand entrance.
One would be able to enter around the recently-closed HMV record shop at the southeast corner.
The tunnel would slip diagonally to another famous structure, the Sun Life building, which really needs to be represented in this tunneltastic undertaking.
The tunnel from the Sun Life would go diagonally to Central Station, with another foot tunnel going east to the building across Metcalfe and then onto Place Ville Marie.
For years the underground city was plagued by a lack of connection under St. Catherine Street. It's time to get another one going as well and Peel and St. Catherine would be just the place to do it.
Expanding such networks would come cost for construction, maintenance and security surveillance but those expenses could be more than compensated by increased revenues from residential construction, thereby increasing the residential density of the downtown area.
***
Another oft-overlooked underground tunnel network has been a cash cow, not for Montreal but for
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Westmount, as the Alexis Nihon / Westmount Square network has recognized from the start that home dwellers want to get in on the tunnel action.
That tunnel system now travels from Green all the way to the southeast corner of Atwater and St. Catherine. Now a major new project is slated at the site of the former Children's Hospital and yeah, that's just a stone's toss away from a tunnel at Cabot Square.
Extending that tunnel under Cabot Square to the development would create another substantial underground city.
The old Montreal Forum will inevitably be demolished or redesigned and another tower at the southwest corner of St. Catherine and Atwater would give some impressive critical mass to that area and the building at that stands where the Seville Theatre long thrilled moviegoers, could also be connected to the underground.
The area has become a hub of activity, as all those rebel kids of Bill 101 have jammed Dawson College CEGEP to finally get an English education.
Increased development at Atwater and St. Catherine is a cause all can support, as it would rejuvenate the long-beleaguered stretch of St. Catherine to Guy, where street commerce has long suffered from a lack of population density on the western edge of the strip.
***
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Construction at St. Lawrence and De Maisonneuve is also inevitable, as the southwest corner is already being built. A project has long been slated for the St. Lawrence metro station but has yet to happen. Those projects, when they materialize, could get hooked up with the Place des Arts tunnel system. The massive, sprawling and dubious Jeanne Mance public housing project, which - unless redesigned - remains an obstacle to further tunnel development to the east of the Main.
***
And finally the Vendome metro superhospital has become a sort of tiny newborn tunnel network but it has yet to make that push
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beyond its narrow facility. The nearby busy intersection of De Maisonneuve and Decarie offers considerable potential for office or condo tower or commercial development, as thousands of staffers would love a way to live nearby. That in turn could be linked into a new network of tunnels.
Many wondered just that when condos at the Bell Centre went on sale.
But not only were the units snapped up quickly, they sold at a price far higher than others in the area.
The difference between those units and others in nearby Griffintown or at Mountain and Dorch?
The Bell Centre is connected to the underground city, Montreal's downtown pedestrian network.
Condo shoppers have voted with their dollars and they want a home that permits them to stroll to their cubicle at Place Ville Marie without donning a sweater, jacket, raincoat or long undies.Red lights, smog, slush, icy sidewalks, puddles, cold winds, rain, snow and sleet be damned!
People want to walk in climate-controlled, safely to one's destinations past countless shiny boutiques en route.
Now that consumers have proven that they want to live downtown connected to the underground city, expect the floodgates to open.
***
So where will the next tunnels migrate? Presumably the tunnels are already headed under St. Antoine Street in the upcoming development across from the Bell Centre, so that will likely expand the ant farm south.
 |
| The showers in the Canadiens Towers aren't its big attraction |
Peel and St. Catherine is where the underground city needs its grand entrance.
One would be able to enter around the recently-closed HMV record shop at the southeast corner.
The tunnel would slip diagonally to another famous structure, the Sun Life building, which really needs to be represented in this tunneltastic undertaking.
The tunnel from the Sun Life would go diagonally to Central Station, with another foot tunnel going east to the building across Metcalfe and then onto Place Ville Marie.
For years the underground city was plagued by a lack of connection under St. Catherine Street. It's time to get another one going as well and Peel and St. Catherine would be just the place to do it.
Expanding such networks would come cost for construction, maintenance and security surveillance but those expenses could be more than compensated by increased revenues from residential construction, thereby increasing the residential density of the downtown area.
***
Another oft-overlooked underground tunnel network has been a cash cow, not for Montreal but for
That tunnel system now travels from Green all the way to the southeast corner of Atwater and St. Catherine. Now a major new project is slated at the site of the former Children's Hospital and yeah, that's just a stone's toss away from a tunnel at Cabot Square.
Extending that tunnel under Cabot Square to the development would create another substantial underground city.
The old Montreal Forum will inevitably be demolished or redesigned and another tower at the southwest corner of St. Catherine and Atwater would give some impressive critical mass to that area and the building at that stands where the Seville Theatre long thrilled moviegoers, could also be connected to the underground.
The area has become a hub of activity, as all those rebel kids of Bill 101 have jammed Dawson College CEGEP to finally get an English education.
Increased development at Atwater and St. Catherine is a cause all can support, as it would rejuvenate the long-beleaguered stretch of St. Catherine to Guy, where street commerce has long suffered from a lack of population density on the western edge of the strip.
***
Construction at St. Lawrence and De Maisonneuve is also inevitable, as the southwest corner is already being built. A project has long been slated for the St. Lawrence metro station but has yet to happen. Those projects, when they materialize, could get hooked up with the Place des Arts tunnel system. The massive, sprawling and dubious Jeanne Mance public housing project, which - unless redesigned - remains an obstacle to further tunnel development to the east of the Main.***
And finally the Vendome metro superhospital has become a sort of tiny newborn tunnel network but it has yet to make that push
