City plans to crack down on vacant storefronts along Montreal's St-Laurent Blvd.
The City of Montreal wants to do something about all the empty buildings and vacant lots along St-Laurent Blvd. with a new bylaw to crack down on building owners.
"The Main," as it's known, has long been a mishmash of cultures. These days, it's also a patchwork of another sort: new buildings are mixed with the old alongside vacant lots and boarded-up buildings.
The street's vacant and abandoned buildings are unacceptable, said Montreal city councillor and executive committee member Robert Beaudry, who is responsible for urban planning.
"It gives more insecurity. It also could be dangerous," he said.
He wants to ensure these empty buildings are used as cultural, commercial or residential spaces.
"There's a lot of opportunity right now to rent this kind of building, and it's empty. There's a demand for it," he said.
According to Beaudry, the city plans to introduce a new bylaw in the coming months that would pressure owners to use their properties. Some that sit empty aren't even on the market.
Real estate speculation is a growing problem, said Cedric Dussault, spokesperson for housing advocacy group RCLALQ.
"Right now, we're seeing an open market on real estate and it's having devastating effects on renters, on homeowners," he said. "This kind of situation is more problematic at the context of a major housing crisis."
There are some residential developments in the works.
Student housing is planned at the site of the former Katacombes Bar, at the corner of Ontario St.
The former Katacombes Bar will be turned into student housing.
Other spaces could be rented out, said Beaudry.
He wants real estate owners to ensure buildings don't fall into disrepair.
"We invest a lot as a city to promote this boulevard, but we also want to be sure that those who are private owners take care of those buildings. Some are still heritage buildings," he said.
Beaudry wouldn't say exactly what the new regulations will entail but did say it will affect all of the city's commercial streets.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
OPP's mandatory alcohol screening during traffic stops 'not acceptable': CCLA
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
Maple Leafs down Bruins 2-1 to force Game 7
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.