MONTREAL -- A new venue is set to open next month at the site of the Royalmount project near the intersection of the Decarie Expressway and Highway 40. Dubbed “Jardin Royalmount,” it is a flexible space that is being built to follow rapidly changing Covid restrictions that are difficult to predict.

“When we built this site, we weren’t really too sure where things were going with live events. We knew it was going to get better, we just didn’t know how quickly,” said Adam Bultz, one of Jardin Royalmount’s two founders.

“We just didn’t have a roadmap of how quickly things are going to open up.”

The space is set to occupy what is currently an empty lot — when CTV News visited the site on Royden Street, most of what had been completed entailed a cement foundation.

But Bultz and his partner, Lorne Levitt, say the venue should be up and running in time to host proms and other end-of-school-year events, and it is designed to hold cocktail parties, shows and other public gatherings.

It already is generating interest from Montreal schools.

“Now that they’ve moved the date back to July 8 [when the province ruled events like graduations could occur], we’ve had a situation where they’re scheduling convocations, and they’ve booked the space to have a celebration for the kids.”

The venue is adjacent to another project the pair created in order to have public events in compliance with Covid restrictions. Last year Bultz and Levitt opened a drive-in in an adjacent lot that showed movies and held shows.

“The drive-in for us was a reality show where, it was different every single day, and we learned from every experience,” Bultz said, laughing.

True to its name Jardin Royalmount includes an outdoor garden and both indoor and outdoor seating. It’s first event is scheduled for July 2, and even though the walls and roof aren’t up yet, Levitt says the site should be completed by the time it opens. It can start taking in groups in the hundreds, but it is designed to expand to take in groups of more than a thousand when restrictions ease. A list of events it is holding can be found at www.jardinmtl.com.

“We don’t have a crystal ball, so we’ve had to adapt,” Levitt said, "and adapt and shift and move every step of the way.”