Montreal shuts bustling downtown strip over heritage building safety concerns

A bustling strip in Montreal is expected to be closed for at least a week after the city raised concerns about the safety of a heritage building on Sainte-Catherine Street.

Randy Liesk said he saw bricks fall off the vacant building, located near McGill College Ave., earlier this week.

“I ran across the street. I thought was going to come down on my head,” he said. “It was pretty scary, actually.”

“I heard crumble, crumble, crumble, then it all comes down,” he said, referring to the debris.

With little notice, the city closed the surrounding area to traffic, buses and pedestrians.

The structure, commonly known as the Jaeger building, is recognized for its ornate, neo-gothic façade. Heritage Montreal says it is visibly lacking in maintenance.

“This is a private building that has been followed closely by city inspectors. Those inspectors demanded that the owner provide an engineer’s report,” wrote the city in a statement to CTV News.

"The report says a security perimeter needs to be immediately established," read the statement. "Equipment was put in place by the borough."

The Jaeger building is owned by New York real estate developer Ben Ashkenazy. According to the city's evaluation records, the stretch of land it sits on is worth over $5 million.

CTV reached out to Ashkenazy Acquisitions, of which Ben Ashkenazy is the CEO, but did not receive a reply.

According to the company’s website, it has acquired more than 15 million square feet of real estate, and holds a portfolio of more than 100 buildings in Canada and the U.S., valued at approximately $12 billion. Prominent holdings include the Forum Towers in Montreal, the Plaza Hotel in New York City, and the Bayside Marketplace in Miami, Fl.

In October, 2021, the building next door to the Jaeger, which once housed a well-known strip club called “Super Sexe,” was leveled by a fourth-alarm fire. Over 100 firefighters responded to fight the blaze, which plumed smoke visible from blocks away.

That building had been abandoned prior to the fire. A developer group spoke out following the incident, saying they had petitioned authorities to pay closer attention to vacant buildings.