Funding stokes hope on Prince Arthur
From boom to bust in a decade, Plateau Mont-Royal borough invests in revitalization to help reverse the slow decline of popular street.
Georgia Polideras’s family has run a dépanneur on Prince Arthur St. in the Plateau for the past 32 years, so she has had a front-row seat for the iconic pedestrian street’s rise in popularity and slow decline.
Last winter, according to Polideras, the street’s fortunes hit rock bottom.
“There was a week in January where there was only one business open on the street. Everybody else was closed down, on vacation, doing renovations, under construction or (rebuilding after) fire. That was really the nadir. Compared to its heyday, which was late ’80s and early ’90s, that was really sad.”
So Polideras, and other merchants on the street, are delighted to learn of the Plateau Mont-Royal borough’s $2-million plan to revitalize Prince Arthur, just in time for the city’s 375th anniversary in 2017.
“Be ready to witness one of the most beautiful streets in North America in a few years from now,” said borough mayor and Projet Montréal leader Luc Ferrandez Wednesday morning, as he announced a public consultation process to guide the transformation.
Ferrandez envisions a much greener pedestrian street, with new street furniture and lighting, a more diverse mix of businesses and restaurants that meet the needs of locals as well as tourists, more street art, activities for kids in winter and summer, and redesigned intersections. He wants it to be very clear to motorists that Prince Arthur is not only a pedestrian street, but a public gathering space and an extension of what he calls the most beautiful park in the city, St. Louis Square.
The section of Prince Arthur St. between St. Louis Square and St. Laurent Blvd. has been car-free since the early ’ 80s. The street struggled to find a formula that worked, but by the late ’80s and early ’90s, it was humming.
“It was the first street where one could eat outside. and bring one’s own wine,” said Christine Gosselin, borough councillor for the Jeanne Mance District. “It was at a time when Montrealers were discovering Greek cuisine. So it was a formula that worked for a while and everybody copied it. The owners did well, they expanded here and then they opened locations in the suburbs, and they kind of ate themselves.”
The city had imposed no rules on what kinds of businesses could open on the street, so it became homogeneous; a restaurant ghetto. The Greek restaurants expanded upwards and sideways, before moving to the suburbs, so when the craze for Greek al fresco dining started to wane, potential new investors were scared off by these huge venues with sky-high rents. Taxes had also surged up, as business was going down.
Polideras and her family have decided to close their business, Dépanneur Prince Arthur and move on, for all kinds of reasons, she said. But she’s noticed the street has been picking up lately. That, combined with this announcement by the borough, almost makes her want to stay.
There is a new tea shop, a new Mexican café, new Mexican and Korean restaurants. O.Noir, a popular restaurant on Ste-Catherine St. W., is moving to Prince Arthur soon. A dental clinic is under construction just west of de Bullion St. and condos are going up at Hotel de Ville.
“I’m glad it’s picking up,” she said. The borough’s announcement is “really the first good news we’ve had in 15 years. This is the support we needed. It’s fantastic.”
Sheila Arias, owner of Café Mezcal, a Mexican café which opened a few months ago, said she is thrilled the borough is redesigning the street.
“There is a lot of foot traffic on this street. What we have to do is retain it; give people a reason to stop,” she said.
Gosselin said revitalizing Prince Arthur St. was an obvious choice for the borough when it came to selecting a 375th birthday project. The central city has offered up to $1 million in funding to boroughs willing to match that funding for projects that could be done by 2017.
“We have been scratching our heads about Prince Arthur for a long time,” Gosselin said. “We have been aware of the problems but we knew that a few superficial changes would not do the trick. So the funding for projects for Montreal’s 375th birthday was the perfect opportunity for us to concentrate time and resources on a holistic treatment,” of the street.
A kiosk will be set up on the street to interview passersby from Thursday to Sunday, and residents’ groups and merchants’ associations have been asked to come up with ideas to make the street work year-round.
The borough will hire a firm to count pedestrians and cyclists on the street, and analyze their patterns of use. A Facebook page will also be set up to gather comments and opinions from other Montrealers and tourists.
A call for tenders for a design firm will go out Thursday, and the whole project must be completed by the end of 2016, in order for it to qualify for funding from the 375th birthday fund.