Perpetual construction threatens downtown food scene: Montreal chef

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Veteran Montreal chef Pablo Rojas says perpetual construction risks undermining the life of downtown bars and restaurants.

Since teaming up with partners to renovate and reopen the former Dominion Square Tavern last year, Rojas has become intimately familiar with construction-induced headaches, probably more than he ever wanted. A new condo tower being built on Mansfield St., west of his bar, has already generated its share of unwanted noise and vibrations.

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On Monday, the city suddenly blocked the sidewalk on Metcalfe St., directly south of Rojas Street. Bar Mastery, leaving the building accessible only via a single pedestrian lane that winds through two construction sites. Metcalfe was already off limits to vehicles due to major roadworks underway on nearby Ste-Catherine St.

“I have been in the restaurant business for 22 years. I watched St-Denis (St.) fall apart. He was on St-Laurent (Blvd.) when he collapsed. Now it is in the center,” Rojas said in an interview on Friday.

“If things continue as they are, given the price of real estate, all we will have left downtown are franchises that can afford to lose money for three years. This is not what the center is known internationally for.

“The moment we lose what makes Montreal unique, these family-owned businesses, we will become another generic place filled with (chains like) Madisons and St-Hubert,” Rojas said.

“If we’re not careful, the Joe Beefs of this world are going to disappear. “We are going to lose the prestige that makes our city what it is.”

Contractors working in the area have taken over the alley adjacent to the Dominion Bar, making truck deliveries impossible and forcing bar staff to walk hundreds of meters to drop off trash, Rojas said. On Saturday morning, when a Gazette reporter visited the area, several parked cars blocked the alley. Rojas estimates that business at the bar has plummeted 50 percent since the sidewalk was closed.

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“People like to talk about a relaunch of the city center, but how can you believe them when everything is closed? “It’s a bit of a joke,” Rojas said. “In a month, they will close Peel St. They are making things extremely difficult.”

City officials say they had no choice but to close the sidewalk to pedestrian traffic.

Fragments of the façade of the Avis parking lot at 1225 Metcalfe, adjacent to Bar Dominion, “are in imminent danger of falling, and a security perimeter has been established to protect the public,” city spokesman Hugo Bourgoin said Friday. in an email response to questions. “This measure aims to prevent possible accidents, given the safety issues that are beyond our control. “Everyone’s safety remains our top priority.”

Ville-Marie municipality officials are in talks with the owner of the building “to resolve this situation as quickly as possible,” Bourgoin stressed. The city is in “constant communication” with the affected businesses and the Montreal Centre-Ville merchants association, he added.

Steven Tsatas, owner of the Bar Dominion building and the Avis parking lot, confirms the city’s version. Tsatas said he has “full faith in the administration” and that communication with city officials “has been excellent.”

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“Obviously, there is a condo building being built in the back. They were dynamiting in the back, there was some vibration and a bolt fell,” Tsatas said Friday in an interview. “As diligent property owners, our first priority is public safety. God forbid something could happen. He could never live with myself.”

After noticing “there was some debris and cement dust,” Tsatas said he hired an engineer who immediately ordered dozens of diamond-shaped concrete slabs removed from the parking lot façade.

“In a perfect world, all those diamonds would come loose. If they go well, there will be no more drama,” Tsatas said. “That building was built in 1959 and was built to the 1959 building code.”

When cracks were detected in the concrete, “We decided, and the city decided, that it would be good, until further evaluation of the diamond precast elements is done, to close the street to make sure nothing happens,” Tsatas added. “Unfortunately, given the curb exit, it is very difficult to get in and out, especially for Dominion. Is not perfect. The building behind and the city road works in front are the bread, and we are the ham and cheese in the middle.”

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Engineers are scheduled to inspect the Avis building this weekend “to isolate exactly what is happening so we can make repairs faster,” Tsatas said. “But until that happens, it will be closed.”

None of this will appease Rojas, who said city officials have shown a general lack of consideration for merchants by carrying out road work downtown, despite Mayor Valérie Plante’s own assurances that businesses could operate normally. even in the middle of construction.

“This is more than acceptable,” Rojas said. “We are stuck in a hole and we can’t do anything. When Mrs. Plante came to see me in October, she told me that things were going to be done differently, with a little more consideration for the merchants. A few months later, I have no access to my business, no deliveries or trash pickup. It’s hard to believe them after that. The results are not there and no one is responsible.”

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