The city of tomorrow!

Real estate developers lay out real, projected and
fanciful mega-projects at Le Montréal du futur

OPEN CITY: Bonaventure project mock-up

by PATRICK LEJTENYI

Few things get sci-fi nerds and urban planners as excited as discussing the city of the future. Flying cars! Monorails! Automated people-moving sidewalks! Mixed commercial-residential LEED-certified towers! New hospital wings! Wow!

Actually, and sadly, the latter two are the more realistic examples of what’s in stock for the city over the next decade or two, based on architectural plans and mockups unveiled this week for the architectural exhibit Le Montréal du futur at Complexe Desjardins, running to Monday. The very expensive hopes and dreams cooked up by developers—some planned, others already underway and all liable to change in some form before completion—are big projects that were chosen because they will alter the city’s look and skyline, for better or for worse. Hopeful and hesitant Montrealers can take a gander at what Montreal circa 2025 may look like.

“Most of the projects are institution-based,” says Robert Vézina, who organized the event for BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association) Québec. He mentions the new Montreal symphony hall, the MUHC and CHUM superhospitals, the SAT, the Planetarium, the Biodiversity Centre and others. Other projects are infrastructure-based: the Société du Havre de Montréal’s plan to raze the Bonaventure expressway and the Quartier des spectacles, for instance. But among them will be a good number of office towers, rising above Phillips and Victoria Squares, and the controversial projects associated with the names Angus and Catania.

“We tried to solicit projects that are more interesting architecturally,” he says. “This isn’t a home show, showing off curtains and counter tops. We’re focusing on stuff that is significant. We aren’t interested in a three-storey condo project in Villeray.” Another reason so much of the exhibit is institutionally based is the economy: countless big projects have dried up as financing evaporated—Devimco’s grandiose squashing and rebuilding of Griffintown and Angus’s redo of the lower Main and the St-Laurent metro station are two of the more familiar examples. Nevertheless, he says the amount of money invested in the projects on show is in the “tens of billions.”

Vézina is upfront about the exhibit as a whole being geared as a PR move. But he notes they couldn’t get everyone they wanted.

“The Seville isn’t on board,” he says, referring to the 100-million Claridge/Prével condo tower project announced recently. “They just hung up on us. Some developers are very private, almost paranoid. They fear criticism.”

He also says some fear new technology. While the two previous exhibits, in 2006 and 2008, had special sections reserved exclusively for environmentally themed developments, there wasn’t the same need for this year’s edition. Most if not all of the projects will be LEED-certified, meaning they will feature the latest in energy conservation technology and practices, and will be decidedly greener than past buildings.

“The architects and engineers really like pushing the envelope, but the developers tend to be more cautious,” he says. Asked why, he answers, “Cost. The initial cost of greening can be high, but you cut so much cost down the line. If you do the math, it’s really worthwhile.”

As any developer could tell you, building something in Montreal isn’t easy. Opposition to new projects is often vocal and broadly supported. For neighbourhood and citizens groups, Le Montréal du futur may be just an opportunity to take a look at the plan they oppose next.