Integral text from The Gazette - Thursday 12 July 2001 - INGRID PHANEUF

It's luxury minus the perks Lack of grocery, parking
in Old Montreal lamented as yet more condos unveiled

Mayor Pierre Bourque was on hand in Old Montreal last night to launch yet another luxury condo project, but it seems local services are less than luxurious.

That's because the 3,000 or so residents who already
live in the area have to travel as far away as Nuns' Island
or the South Shore to buy their groceries. Come winter,
snow piles up on streets and sidewalks, sometimes for
days. And as for parking, those who don't buy a space
along with their condos can forget about it.

"We're working on those problems," Mayor Bourque said at last night's launch of the new waterfront condominium building on the corner of de la Commune and St. Sulpice Sts.

"Five years from now, we hope to have at least 5,000 residents and by then we'll hopefully even have a school. As for services like snow clearing, I met with Old Montreal residents last year and we're planning on improving the service."

Parking isn't a problem for future residents, he said, because developers are obliged to provide a sufficient number of parking spaces under or behind their buildings. And as for the aged
infrastructure, Bourque said, old pipes and wires have been gradually replaced with new ones every time the city or contractors have to do repairs or renovations. But the mayor couldn't say when a local grocery store would be opening up, even though he agreed it would be good to have one.

Local merchants say it won't be any time soon.

"We've already had two grocery stores at Marche Bonsecours and they both went under," said Denise Di Candido, a local merchant and resident. Di Candido is also editor of the weekly newspaper L'Echo du Vieux Montreal. "There just wasn't enough support from the people who live here. They all do their shopping on Nuns' Island or the South Shore."

Di Candido said Old Montreal's newest residents are very much like Americans when it comes to grocery shopping.

"They don't want to walk all over town to get their groceries on a daily basis. They want to go once with their cars and load up. That kind of parking space just isn't available at the Marche Bonsecours. And people assumed it would be more expensive to shop there."

Di Candido, an Old Montreal gallery owner and a member of the local merchants' association, watched Oberoi, the latest grocery store, go under. "It was tragic," she said. "For the first two months they were calling me at the paper, begging me to write an article about them. Then they had a meeting with residents. But they just couldn't attract enough business. All they needed to stay open was 50 people to spend $50 or more once a week. But they couldn't even get that."

But the lack of such services doesn't appear to have discouraged buyers or developers. In the past three years Old Montreal has seen 6,000 condo, apartment and hotel rooms built, Bourque said. He said 50 per cent of the new units are being bought by Americans or Europeans. And they're not cheap. The units up for grabs at 71 de la Commune St. yesterday were going for about $200,000 for 800 square feet to a cool million for a corner penthouse with terrace. As of yesterday, two of the 53 units (with 60 available parking spaces) were already sold, while another three were on reserve.

"The people buying these units are obviously well off but they're not making it impossible for less affluent people to live here," Bourque said. "The people who are already here can stay."

They just can't get groceries easily.