Montréal centre-ville wants to enhance 60 public spaces downtown

Downtown Montreal’s business association, Montréal centre-ville (SDC), unveiled its first-ever strategy for enhancing open spaces in the heart of downtown – at a press conference on Thursday.

The SDC aims to enhance the appearance of 60 open spaces across four districts in the downtown area. They will prioritize interventions based on five factors: “type of space, degree of opportunity, timing of interventions, financial effort and equitable distribution between districts.”

“We are applying in downtown Montreal cities like New York have been doing for a long time,” said Glenn Castanheira, the executive director of Montréal centre-ville.

In collaboration with the Montreal office of Stantec, an infrastructure and urban design company, the group wants to emphasize the importance of outdoor spaces for visitors, workers, tourists and residents in urban areas.

“What we do now with this plan is to come in, put tables and chairs, and it’s sometimes very simple, like tables and chairs, and a bit of music that completely transforms the experience,” said Castanheira.

A few examples of potential development spaces include Place du Canada in Quartier des Gares, Canadiens-de-Montreal Avenue in Quartier des Gares and Square Victoria.

“Any place that you can have people gather together in harmony and a nice place to look and relax, why not?” said one Montrealer.

“Our data shows that when these investments are made, customer satisfaction is up, the safety around that area goes up…and it increases spending as well,” said Castanheira.

Based on recommendations by the Alliance for Downtown Montreal and with the financial support of Quebec’s Economy Ministry, the plan aims to guide temporary and semi-permanent development in the downtown area, using a public-private partnership approach to meet user expectations.

Castanheira says the overall cost of this project will amount to $500,000.

The plan is part of the ‘Downtown Strategy’ which was unveiled by the City of Montreal last January to revive the area after the pandemic slowed things down.

“It builds community. People can sit and speak with each other and just enjoy being out,” said one Montreal woman.

Projects will be popping up across the city as early as June and continuing into the winter months. 

“We will continue investing in these places 12 months,” said Castanheira.

Montréal centre-ville was founded in 1999. They are a non-profit organization with nearly 5,000 business members located between Atwater Avenue and Saint-Urbain Street and between Sherbrooke Street and Saint-Antoine Street.