Notes from Griffintown

First tidbit:

One of the major construction projects going on in Griffintown has stopped and sent all the workers home because the company went bankrupt. I won't say which one it is but it's BIG news not reported anywhere else.

(photo is only for presentation purposes)

Second bit of news:

The Ludovik boutique on the corner of De La Montagne, Ottawa and Rioux are moving out. Apparently the constant construction going on in Griffintown is keeping shoppers away and they decided to move on Notre-Dame street. With them out, will the old building survive?

Third tidbit:

The original buyer of this corner in Griffintown is out and the owner of the buildings is waiting for other offers.

Fourth interesting tidbit:

Just a note: the ugly building on the corner of Ottawa and Shannon, now demolished and reported here at VM, used to be a Brink's holding warehouse.

Before & After: Horse Palace - Griffintown

As construction continues around the Horse Palace in Griffintown, here's a Before & After. Ridiculous!

Wild kittens

When you go around and take photos of abandoned buildings it's not unusual to come across some  kittens like these two who were born from a wild stray cat. But don't worry someone knew of their existence and was taking care of them.

Demolished apartments on Troie and Decelles - Côte-des-Neiges

Several two-storey apartment buildings were demolished on the corner of avenue Troie and avenue Decelles in Côte-des-Neiges.The top and last photos were taken in August 2012. The familiar corner will look different in a few months, blocking the view of the Oratoire St-Joseph with the new condo building (link).

(image above: google streetview)

Before & After: Place Henri-Bourassa - Ahuntsic-Cartierville

The apartment buildings around Place Henri-Bourassa street in Ahuntsic-Cartierville, bordered by  highway 15, boulevard Henri-Bourassa and boulevard l'Acadie, were demolished: the buildings were for the most part infested with bugs and rats and were considered a health hazard. Most of them were abandoned when the idea to destroy the dilapidated area was pushed forward but a few were still being rented out and people were forced out (article). Only one building, the one highlighted in red in the above overview of the area, still stands on Place Henri-Bourassa street. I guess that one was still habitable. The good thing about this massive project is that they're not condos but rentals.

Google maps didn't enter Place henri-Bourassa street with their cameras so the screengrabs from 2009 are all from Henri-Bourassa blvd or Autoroute 15.

The entrance to Place Henri-Bourassa street: photo above was taken in August and image below is how it used to look like.

(image above: google streetview)

This is the only old apartment building still standing in Place Henri-Bourassa street. I took the photo above in August from inside Place Henri-Bourassa and below are two screengrabs of the same building from Google streetview, taken from Henri-Bourassa blvd (directly below) and from Autoroute 15 (second below).

(image above: google streetview)

Abandoned/crumbling building on De Richelieu - Saint-Henri

part of the changing face of Saint-Henri

New set of photos of the crumbling, abandoned building near De Richelieu street in Saint-Henri. I've already posted something about this almost 2 years ago (here) but this time I had a better digital camera. As the last photo shows, the crumbling building sits next to new condo projects.

Note: I've been unusually quiet about Saint-Henri for a while now. There's a reason for that: there are few projects going on right now or this past summer BUT I need to do an update on many projects which started last summer and will show the completed or near completed state of those projects. I'll do most of those updates and the few new projects in one swoop. So stay tuned on stuff on Saint-Henri.

Before & After : rue de Richelieu - Saint-Henri

part of the changing face of Saint-Henri

(image: google streetview)

An overdue update on a condo project built on De Richelieu street in Saint-Henri which I've already noted at the CHANGING FACE OF SAINT-HENRI permanent page but didn't have a photo of the building. So here it is. This is just in front of the crumbling and abandoned building noted above.

Boarded-up former restaurant/bar on Mackay - Montréal

Abandoned small business on Mackay street in downtown Montréal. There used to be a gay bar and a restaurant there but when I took these photos the place was bordered up and looked unoccupied. It's difficult to describe a building such as this one...was it a house at one point? I'm sure there's a long history to it which I'm not aware of but these kind of small businesses/houses are pretty rare in the downtown area.

Before & After : Weir Canada - LaSalle

(image above: google streetview)

The old Weir Canada building on the corner of St-Patrick and Dollard ave. in LaSalle was demolished for a brand spanking new one. Not bad at all. I like it. Certainly better than what the underwhelming one they had before. In fact, this project is more impressive than most condo projects popping up everywhere these days.

I verified Montoni's website (link) and most of their projects are outside of the island of Montréal so this a rare one in these parts.

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COOP on Tansley - Montréal (Le Village)

Just wanted to share this photo of a COOP on Tansley situated in the Village district (aka Centre-Sud), just behind the two abandoned buildings mentioned in the post below. These super bright buildings were built about 6 years ago. If you want some info you can check out the COOP's official (inactive) blog: link. From what I've read the land there was empty.


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Demolished small houses on René-Lévesque - Montréal

The two abandoned small houses seen in the pictures below on boulevard René-Lévesque est have been demolished for two new buildings (condos?) being built in the top photo. This is situated just next to the Jacques Cartier bridge. These two buildings were abandoned for such a long time that it's sorta odd seeing something going on there.

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Demolished warehouse on Shannon & Ottawa - Griffintown

This wareshouse on the corner of Shannon and Ottawa in Griffintown was demolished a week or so ago. It was demolished for the endless Lowney projects going on in that part of Griffintown. Probably one of the ugliest structures in Montreal, few will miss it but I thought its windowless quasi-minimalist, elongated appearance was noteworthy because it was a weird building. I believe they stored stuff for Omer DeSerres there.

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BLOG Note: New Address

As you have probably already noticed Vanishing Montreal has a new address. It's www.vanishingmontreal.com. If you bookmarked this blog with the old address make sure to update it with this one. It's gonna simplify things.

Housing project renovations - Little Burgundy

Renovation project going on in Little Burgundy on Des Seigneurs street. The houses around are outdated with 1970s siding and chintzy window frames and are definitely in need some updating. The updating looks good. The project seemed to have been stalled when I visited the area at the beginning of this summer. I'll go back there again to see the status of the renovations. I have no idea if these small attached houses will become condos.

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Vacant land on Peel - Montréal

The land where the CN Bonaventure building (link) used to be, on Peel street, is still vacant. It's been well over 5 years now and still nothing. The land may have needed to be decontaminated but for this long?

MUHC - N.D.G.

I'm just posting these photos of the MUHC construction site before I forget them. I took the top 3 photos back in April/May. 

The view of the MUHC from Saint-Henri. The Ryan building is set to be demolished. This photo was taken with a 35mm camera.