Receive the Mtl Times via E-mail - www.mtltimes.ca Saturday, April 14, 2018
Vol. 23 No. 60
Covering MontrĂŠal & Surrounding Areas
New Listing
STE-GENEVIEVE - 15562 BOUL. GOUIN Residential and commercial zoning, unique opportunity - $380,000
Carol LaRonde & Laura Pittaro Real estate broker inc. carolandlaura@gmail.com www.carollaronde.com Tel: 450-458-7051
RE/MAX ROYAL JORDAN INC. Real estate agency independently owned & operated franchise of RE/MAX QUEBEC
THE FAUBOURG AS GOOD AS GONE The western entrance to the Faubourg on Ste Catherine is now locked up
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By: Sergio Martinez - mtltimes.ca
t was an iconic structure in the west end sector of downtown, it was even declared a heritage building by the Quebec Ministry of Culture in 1976, although partially declassified in 2015, thus allowing its owners to dismantle it slowly. The former shopping centre known as the Faubourg Sainte Catherine, situated on that main commercial artery after which is named, between Guy and Saint Mathieu streets was a real jewel. During its heydays in the 1990s you
could go there and get the best fruit and vegetables at Plantation, fresh fish at Odessa, a variety of cheese at another store, and if you were hungry, enjoy a meal in any of the many restaurants on the third floor. There was even a bar, and in the basement, five cinemas.That was inside the indoormarket-style of the structure, which benefited from an extensive area with natural light; also facing the street, there were other stores. I remember writing a piece
about the place when its decline started, at that time I interviewed the owner of what was then one of the last shops surviving, an excellent bagel store on the first floor: "it is all dead now," she told me. Well, it has been a long agony, if you enter the mostly deserted building now, you will only find empty spaces, large portions of the place are boarded up, but there are no signs of whether this is due to some renovations going on or to the site's final demise. continued on Page 2