SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2019 | THEGLOBEANDMAIL O PURSUITS| P9M
ontreal is a city of many different person-
alities. It is creative, emotional, bawdy at
times and sophisticated, both low- and
high-brow. And nowhere are those varied
facets more brazenly reflected than on its most fa-
mous street, St. Catherine.
Rue St. Catherine, which runs 11 kilometres from
east to west, is the main artery where the energy of
this city of 1.8 million flows. When the economy is
good, the street shows it off. Its sidewalks fill, and
there is a palpable energy and exuberance.
However, when the economy falters, the street –
whichhasseenitalloverthecourseofits280years–
seems to shrug like a tired old warhorse and say,
“Here we go again ...mais c’est la vie.”
Today, that pendulum is swinging back in the di-
rection of a rebirth. Cranes dominate the skyline.
Construction crews crowd the streets and new res-
taurants, five-star hotels, luxe shopping and multi-
million-dollar condos have sprung up along the
street that, until a few years ago, was known primar-
ily for its strip clubs.
“St. Catherine is one of the primary ways we mea-
sure the city’s health, and it’s currently got a very
strongandsteadypulse,”saysJean-FrançoisDaviau,
president of Groupe Sensation Mode, which has put
ontheannualFashion&DesignFestivalatQuartiers
des Spectacles, a cultural hub near St. Catherine and
St. Laurent, for the past 20 years.
“It is more than just a street. It is an integral part
of our identity. It’s a contradictory hub of persistent
activity that changes decade to decade, or more re-
cently, seemingly from hour to hour.”
Make no mistake, St. Catherine is in the throes of
an epic transformation. The non-stop grumbling of
Montrealers about construction is testament
enough. But there is also a feeling of dynamism and
renewed pride in the flux of change evident along
every block from Place des Arts to Guy Street.
In June, the new Four Seasons Hotel opened, ar-
guably one of the most important hotel launches in
Quebec in decades. Its new brasserie, Marcus,
named after celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson,
who lionized comfort food at Red Rooster in New
York and London, is already one of the hottest meal
tickets in Montreal. (No small feat given the city has
the most restaurants, per capita, of any Canadian
city).
Next door to the Four Seasons is Holt Renfrew
Ogilvy, which has slowly been reopening, floor by
floor since March. It’s undergoing a $150-million
renovation that will make it one of the country’s
glitziest fashion stores, with a new Chanel boutique
at street level poised to be its newest addition later
this month.
Further east, Maison Birks put the finishing tou-
ches on the renovation of its flagship store at Phil-
lips Square a year and a half ago. The site incorpo-
rates the chic newbijouHotel Birks, as well as Res-
taurant Henri, named after the man who founded
the eponymous jewellery store in 1879.
“The Birks store has seen everything,” says Jean-
Christophe Bédos, president and chief executive of
Maison Birks. “The gathering of the troops at Phil-
lips Square [in the First and Second World Wars],
Stanley Cup and Santa Claus parades, and multiple
store closings during the Depression and subse-
quent recessions.
“But still we stay. St. Catherine is symbolic of
Montreal. It is a survivor and it’s experiencing a re-
vival because many local and international inves-
tors believe in Montreal, which is still relatively in-
expensive compared with Toronto and Vancouver.”
A$200-millionrenovationisalmostcompleteon
the Eaton Centre, which pulled off a major coup by
securing Canada’s first Time Out Market food hall as
a tenant. It will open later this year with 16 local
chefs serving diverse dishes.
Michael Kors is coming too, opening a new Cana-
dian flagship this month and joining brands that al-
ready call St. Catherine home, such as Canada
Goose (which has its own fridge rooms for custom-
ers trying on $1,000 parkas) and the shoe store
Browns, which played host to Celine Dion’s first
handbag collection in 2017, causing pandemonium
in the street.
Similar to loyal Birks, Browns has rolled with the
street’s up and downs. “It has this amazing energy
again,” says Janis Brownstein, the retailer’s director
of communications, whose grandfather Benjamin
foundedthechainin1940.“Andnostreet,anywhere
in Canada, can boast the history of St. Catherine.”
The street began to grow in fits and starts in 1736
as the Old Port city began to expand. Its reputation
as a shopping destination took root in 1881 with the
arrival of Canada’s first department store, Henry
Morgan & Co. (now the site of Hudson’s Bay), which
was followed by Birks, Eaton’s, Simpson’s, Dupuis
Frères and Ogilvy.
Office buildings such as Dominion Square went
up, head offices for the likes of Sun Life went in, and
from the 1920s through the 50s, a slew of vaudeville
halls, strip clubs, theatres, after-hour bars and caba-
rets moved in, cementing Montreal’s reputation as
the City of Fun and Sin.
But by the 1950s and 60s, patience for the city’s
shenanigans had worn thin. St. Catherine’s Red
Light district at the corner of St. Laurent was shut-
tered and the performing arts centre Place des Artsmoved in. Today it’s just one of 80 performance
hallsandbarsthatmakeuptheQuartierdesSpecta-
cles entertainment district and home to the Mon-
treal International Jazz Festival and the comedy fest
Just for Laughs, which draws crowds numbering in
the hundreds of thousands each summer.
This year, those hordes faced roadblock after
roadblock, as construction crews continued work
on widening sidewalks, reducing car lanes, elimi-
nating parking, planting trees and replacing a sew-
age system that dates back to 1933.
“This reinvention has to take place,” says Claude
Sirois, president of retail at developer Ivanhoé Cam-
bridge, which is behind the $200-million retrofit of
the Eaton Centre and supportive of the extensive
roadwork that has ripped up the street in front of
his mall, which attracts 30 million visits a year.
“Nobody wakes up in the morning and says,
‘How about a root canal today?’ ” Sirois says. “It’s
not pleasant but we have to swallow it. St. Catherine
can’t be rebuilt the way it was. In the 21st century, it
has to be a walkable, people-friendly destination
with lots to do, see and eat.”
Daviau, with the Fashion & Design Festival,
agrees and he has been given a $4-million annual
budget to attract Montrealers to the area despite all
the dirt and dust.
“Millennials are the single biggest consumer
group and many don’t drive,” Daviau says. “They
want downtowns that are accessible and easy to get
around by transit, feet or bike. They want to be en-
tertained, they want to feel part of and they want tobe engaged.
“Every major city in the world is facing this chal-
lenge as demographics change and they are trying
tofigureouthowtoinjectthemainarteries–the5th
Avenues, the Rodeos, the Bonds – with life.”
In the past few months, Daviau and his team at
XP_MTL, an event-programming non-profit, have
set up a Metro dance battle at McGill College Sta-
tion, indie and rap music St Jax Montreal (an Angli-
can church on St Catherine) and recreated a beach
scene (with lifeguards in bathing suits) to greet
commuters getting off trains connecting at Place
Ville Marie.
“My sole purpose is to wow Montrealers,” Daviau
says.
Sitting in Marcus at the new Four Seasons, I can’t
help but think the plan is working. It’s early on a
Tuesday night and already there is a lineup to get in,
the tables are packed and everyone sitting around
me is speaking French. These are not just guests of
the hotel.
“Seventy per cent of our clientele are native Mon-
trealers,” says Lino Lozza, the restaurant’s general
manager who walks through the room, topping up
wine glasses and greeting customers like long lost
friends.
“We already have a number of regulars who come
two or three times a week,” he adds. “I know our
food is good, but I think it’s more than that. Mon-
trealers have been waiting for something like this
and they love nothing more than a night out on the
town.”1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8The sights of St. Catherine Street:- Brasserie T! in the Quartier des
Spectacles.2. Hudson’s Bay, formerly Henry
Morgan & Co (1936).3. Maison de Birks,
then and now.4. The Eaton Centre (1939
and present).5. Simons.6. The Dominion
Square building (1936) now houses the
Canada Goose Cold Room.7. Holt Renfrew
Ogilvy.8. Marcus restaurant in the Four
Seasons hotel.SHOOTSTUDIO(BRASSERIET!),
CITYOFMONTREALARCHIVES(MORGAN'S,
EATONS,DOMINION),ISTOCK(EATON’S,
HUDSON’SBAY,SIMONS),ARASHMOALLEMI
(CANADAGOOSE),THEGLOBEANDMAIL(MAP).
Rue
awakening
Montreal’sSt.CatherineStreetis
inthemiddleofagrandreinvention
tomakeitaworld-classdestination
forluxuryshoppers,dinersand
travellers.GayleMacDonaldsurveys
thechanges,highlightinghowone
streetcanreflectacity’shistory–
andaspirationsforastylishfuture“This
reinvention
hastotake
place.CLAUDE SIROIS,
PRESIDENTOF
RETAIL AT IVANHOÉ
CAMBRIDGE