Boarded up and broken down, the Seville Theatre is finally getting a make-over.
On Tuesday, the site for the residential project known as "Le Seville" will be inaugurated, and many hope it will help revitalize the area.
Walter Massey remembers when the neighbourhood now known as Shaughnessy Village was the place to be.
"It was vaudeville and you know you get the roll down scenery," said Massey. "Variety shows coming in there, all kinds of stars."
The neighbourhood's decline began in the 1980s when the Seville Theatre closed.
When the Canadiens left the Forum to play in the Bell Centre, the decay continued, and the Seville was left to rot.
"Really what comes to mind is the sadness of how we can let Montreal decay," said Dinu Bumbaru of Heritage Montreal.
But now, after multiple plans to revatilize the area, something will finally be done.
A residental highrise will be constructed on Ste. Catherine between Lambert-Closse and Chomedey, with work beginning next week.
Louise Yard lives in the area, and hopes some of the old architecture is preserved.
"To keep some kind of character, that would be wonderful," Yard said.
Bumbaru couldn't agree more, and hopes the site isn't just bulldozed, but rather deconstructed.
"You send crews that dismantle the elements that can be salvaged," proposed Bumbaru. "Whether the steel, the brick, the concrete."
For Massey, the Seville is more than just a building.
"It resurrects the old feeling of the Seville for me, because it will be home of a different kind but it will still be back home," said Massey.
