97687-35313
Spectrum encore in doubt
Eviction notice. Development a threat to storied music venue
MARY LAMEY
The Gazette
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Frantic last-minute negotiations are under way to save the Spectrum, one of Montreal's favourite and most storied live music venues.
The club, on Ste. Catherine St. east of Bleury St., has been served with an eviction notice by landlord SIDEV Realty Corp. and is slated to shut in August.
SIDEV owns about half the block on the south side of Ste. Catherine, between Bleury and Jeanne Mance Sts.
It plans to raze the club and 10 other small buildings to build new retail space and a 15- to 17-storey office tower in their place.
The price tag for the two-phase scheme is about $70 million.
Initially, SIDEV envisioned a project that was to have incorporated a $10-million music club in partnership with entertainment company L'Equipe Spectra.
Spectra produces the International Jazz Festival, the FrancoFolies and other city festivals.
It also runs concert venues, including the Spectrum.
But the developer has scrapped that plan, saying delays are costing it money and it must move ahead with the redevelopment, with or without Spectra.
"Spectra is waiting to find out about funding, and we can't wait any longer," said Sam Benatar, SIDEV's president. "We've been waiting since October."
At issue was the future of the Place des Festivals, a permanent open-air festival venue that has been proposed by Spectra for the northwest corner of Jeanne Mance and Ste. Catherine.
According to SIDEV, the concert venue can't go ahead without the plaza. Place des Festivals, a pet project of the previous Parti Quebecois government, is not at the top of the Liberal government's agenda.
Spectra president Alain Simard is hoping for a last-minute miracle, namely that he'll find a deep-pocketed corporate sponsor willing to pay for the naming rights to the Spectrum.
"A million dollars a year for 10 years to have your name on Montreal's best-known club - that's $10 million, what we need to build it," Simard said.
Spectra took over Club Montreal, as the former Alouette Cinema was then known, in 1982. The intimate 900- to 1,200-seater has been the scene of many memorable concerts by artists on their way up.
It is also a key venue for the Montreal International Jazz Festival.
This is the second time Spectra has been frustrated in its efforts to build a new club on the current Spectrum site.
Five years ago, the company and Softimage mogul Daniel Langlois signed a 20-year lease for the building and had an agreement with Famous Players to open a multiplex as part of the project. The deal fell apart when Famous Players was sold to Cineplex.
"You cannot build a concert hall without public money," Simard said. "The economics just aren't there. You can rent the Spectrum for $1,200 a night. You can't pay the mortgage on a $10-million building with that."
Simard said Spectra had been willing to put up $2 million of its own money.
Spectra's other best option might be to push to relocate across Ste. Catherine from the Spectrum in what is known as the Balmoral block.
The province controls the south end of the block, including the Blumenthal building and TD Bank, which front on Ste. Catherine, while the city controls the parking lot and vacant land fronting on de Maisonneuve Blvd.
That again would imply government money and the project probably wouldn't get a quick green light, Simard added.
SIDEV has not yet formally presented its project to the borough of Ville Marie, which will have to approve it before demolition permits are issued, borough mayor Benoit Labonte said.
The company is well known in Montreal as a landlord. Last year, it invested $25 million to renovate the Gordon Brown building on de Maisonneuve Blvd., turning it from an industrial property and hub of the local fur industry into a modern office block.
Spectra's offices now occupy two floors of the building.
The city of Montreal backs the plan to rebrand the downtown area between Bleury and St. Laurent Blvd. as the Quartier des Spectacles.
The idea is to clean up the area and encourage new development with an emphasis on cultural entreprises.
The Spectrum has always figured in those plans, though Labonte says the disappearance of one club won't have a major impact on the district overall.
"We want to encourage culture in a broader sense," Labonte said. "We need a mix of activities with a cultural flavour."
The city already has moved to expropriate a building housing a peep show at St. Laurent and Ste. Catherine as part of that cleanup.
There is no question of offering that site to Spectra, Labonte said. "Giving the land away, that's not in the cards."
SIDEV is in pre-leasing discussions with Best Buy, a big-box home electronic chain, to be an anchor tenant in its planned 50,000-square-foot retail building.
According to Benatar, there is keen interest among both retail and office tenants.
"This is a strategic location, especially with the new hall for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra planned for the area," Benatar said. "The block is ready for redevelopment."
David Burak couldn't agree more. His family owns five buildings on SIDEV's block, stretching from four doors east of the Spectrum to the corner of Jeanne Mance.
More than four years ago, the provincial government placed a reserve on the properties, in the event it needed the land as part of the Place des Festivals. That reserve expired last summer.
The block has fallen on hard times in recent years, with tenants moving out because of the uncertainty. Squeegee kids and squatters have moved in, setting up makeshift shelters in the abandoned doorways.
"SIDEV's plan is good for me, good for the street and good for the city," Burak said from behind the cash register at his women's clothing shop, Eve & Zoe. "They seem like people who know what they are doing."
But not everyone is happy about the redevelopment. The owner of Restaurant Vagabondo says he has operated his business for 20 years. Like the Spectrum, he has been served with an eviction notice.
"I've invested tens of thousands of dollars in this restaurant over the years. If I wanted to sell it as a business, I could get $150,000 easily. But I won't be able to sell. I'll walk away with nothing," said the man, who spoke on condition that his name not be used.
"The little guy always gets hit hardest."
mlamey@thegazette.canwest.com
97687-35313
Spectrum encore in doubt
Eviction notice. Development a threat to storied music venue
MARY LAMEY
The Gazette
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Frantic last-minute negotiations are under way to save the Spectrum, one of Montreal's favourite and most storied live music venues.
The club, on Ste. Catherine St. east of Bleury St., has been served with an eviction notice by landlord SIDEV Realty Corp. and is slated to shut in August.
SIDEV owns about half the block on the south side of Ste. Catherine, between Bleury and Jeanne Mance Sts.
It plans to raze the club and 10 other small buildings to build new retail space and a 15- to 17-storey office tower in their place.
The price tag for the two-phase scheme is about $70 million.
Initially, SIDEV envisioned a project that was to have incorporated a $10-million music club in partnership with entertainment company L'Equipe Spectra.
Spectra produces the International Jazz Festival, the FrancoFolies and other city festivals.
It also runs concert venues, including the Spectrum.
But the developer has scrapped that plan, saying delays are costing it money and it must move ahead with the redevelopment, with or without Spectra.
"Spectra is waiting to find out about funding, and we can't wait any longer," said Sam Benatar, SIDEV's president. "We've been waiting since October."
At issue was the future of the Place des Festivals, a permanent open-air festival venue that has been proposed by Spectra for the northwest corner of Jeanne Mance and Ste. Catherine.
According to SIDEV, the concert venue can't go ahead without the plaza. Place des Festivals, a pet project of the previous Parti Quebecois government, is not at the top of the Liberal government's agenda.
Spectra president Alain Simard is hoping for a last-minute miracle, namely that he'll find a deep-pocketed corporate sponsor willing to pay for the naming rights to the Spectrum.
"A million dollars a year for 10 years to have your name on Montreal's best-known club - that's $10 million, what we need to build it," Simard said.
Spectra took over Club Montreal, as the former Alouette Cinema was then known, in 1982. The intimate 900- to 1,200-seater has been the scene of many memorable concerts by artists on their way up.
It is also a key venue for the Montreal International Jazz Festival.
This is the second time Spectra has been frustrated in its efforts to build a new club on the current Spectrum site.
Five years ago, the company and Softimage mogul Daniel Langlois signed a 20-year lease for the building and had an agreement with Famous Players to open a multiplex as part of the project. The deal fell apart when Famous Players was sold to Cineplex.
"You cannot build a concert hall without public money," Simard said. "The economics just aren't there. You can rent the Spectrum for $1,200 a night. You can't pay the mortgage on a $10-million building with that."
Simard said Spectra had been willing to put up $2 million of its own money.
Spectra's other best option might be to push to relocate across Ste. Catherine from the Spectrum in what is known as the Balmoral block.
The province controls the south end of the block, including the Blumenthal building and TD Bank, which front on Ste. Catherine, while the city controls the parking lot and vacant land fronting on de Maisonneuve Blvd.
That again would imply government money and the project probably wouldn't get a quick green light, Simard added.
SIDEV has not yet formally presented its project to the borough of Ville Marie, which will have to approve it before demolition permits are issued, borough mayor Benoit Labonte said.
The company is well known in Montreal as a landlord. Last year, it invested $25 million to renovate the Gordon Brown building on de Maisonneuve Blvd., turning it from an industrial property and hub of the local fur industry into a modern office block.
Spectra's offices now occupy two floors of the building.
The city of Montreal backs the plan to rebrand the downtown area between Bleury and St. Laurent Blvd. as the Quartier des Spectacles.
The idea is to clean up the area and encourage new development with an emphasis on cultural entreprises.
The Spectrum has always figured in those plans, though Labonte says the disappearance of one club won't have a major impact on the district overall.
"We want to encourage culture in a broader sense," Labonte said. "We need a mix of activities with a cultural flavour."
The city already has moved to expropriate a building housing a peep show at St. Laurent and Ste. Catherine as part of that cleanup.
There is no question of offering that site to Spectra, Labonte said. "Giving the land away, that's not in the cards."
SIDEV is in pre-leasing discussions with Best Buy, a big-box home electronic chain, to be an anchor tenant in its planned 50,000-square-foot retail building.
According to Benatar, there is keen interest among both retail and office tenants.
"This is a strategic location, especially with the new hall for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra planned for the area," Benatar said. "The block is ready for redevelopment."
David Burak couldn't agree more. His family owns five buildings on SIDEV's block, stretching from four doors east of the Spectrum to the corner of Jeanne Mance.
More than four years ago, the provincial government placed a reserve on the properties, in the event it needed the land as part of the Place des Festivals. That reserve expired last summer.
The block has fallen on hard times in recent years, with tenants moving out because of the uncertainty. Squeegee kids and squatters have moved in, setting up makeshift shelters in the abandoned doorways.
"SIDEV's plan is good for me, good for the street and good for the city," Burak said from behind the cash register at his women's clothing shop, Eve & Zoe. "They seem like people who know what they are doing."
But not everyone is happy about the redevelopment. The owner of Restaurant Vagabondo says he has operated his business for 20 years. Like the Spectrum, he has been served with an eviction notice.
"I've invested tens of thousands of dollars in this restaurant over the years. If I wanted to sell it as a business, I could get $150,000 easily. But I won't be able to sell. I'll walk away with nothing," said the man, who spoke on condition that his name not be used.
"The little guy always gets hit hardest."
mlamey@thegazette.canwest.com