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Hotel de la Montagne to be demolished?

rumpleforeskiin

It's a whole new ballgame
Jan 20, 2007
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Where I belong.
http://montreal.openfile.ca/montreal/text/last-call-hotel-de-la-montagne

April 5, 2012
Those dreaming of sun-baked summer afternoons at the poolside rooftop terrace of the Hotel de la Montagne could be in for disappointment. You might soon have to find somewhere else to sip cocktails while ogling babes and a stunning downtown skyline. If developers get their way, the 30-year-old landmark hotel could soon be razed to the ground.

Developers presented the plan at Tuesday's Ville-Marie borough council meeting, the first of three monthly meetings where it will be discussed. The $140 million project would see the hotel and parking space replaced by 110 hotel rooms, 120 condo or apartment dwellings, more shopping, underground parking and two extra storeys on Ogilvy’s.

The plan is subject to various bureaucratic hurdles, including a public consultation on April 18, and possibly more depending on whether a sufficient number of people sign a registry, a complex process that borough spokeswoman Anik de Repentigny described to OpenFile Montreal in minute detail.

At the tender age of 30, the Hotel de la Montagne is one of the city's youngest downtown landmarks. The slightly eccentric hotel, which includes an underground tunnel to the Thursday's nightclub on Crescent, was designed by Herman “Sonny” Lindy, now in his mid-70s and currently cracking golf balls in Florida, according to his son Andrew.

Andrew said his father was raised in upstate New York in relative poverty before setting up a small scrap metal operation that gave him enough equity to get a toehold into the Montreal real estate market. His first restaurant, George’s, was a place to see-and-be-seen in the 70s and paved the way to his next venture, Thursday’s, on Crescent.

When a bank agreed to finance his hotel proposal, Lindy apparently visualized a posh European-style décor, starting with the centrepiece black marble art deco dragonfly fountain.

Andrew Lindy says his father painstakingly combed through European markets for the perfect pieces including two large crystal chandeliers. Subsequent management have since souped it up with a hodge-podge of other pieces that some might describe as Rococo.

Although now known as a primo hotspot for boozed-up Grand Prix mania, the earlier years saw the hotel attract a glitzy high-profile crowd, including Robert DeNiro, George Segal, Ringo Starr, Woody Harrelson and Pierce Brosnan.

“It’s a landmark place,” said Andrew Lindy. “It was like a boutique hotel before those existed in Old Montreal. My dad would come home and party with people like Lee Majors and Paulie from the Rocky movies. They’d all hang out.”

Lindy brought in Bernard Ragueneau as a partner, and he eventually took over the hotel as the duo split ways in the 80s but remain good friends.

Talk of the hotel expanding started when Ragueneau received permission to build a 22-storey annex in 2004, a zoning decision denounced by some heritage experts at the time. (Montreal Gazette June 4, 2004, A3)

But after years of foot-dragging, this new plan might move ahead far more quickly, according to Heritage Montreal chief Dinu Bumbaru, who was tuned into the hallway chatter at Tuesday's borough meeting.

Bumbaru doesn’t get misty-eyed with sentimental notions of trying to save the hotel. Instead he makes the oft-heard complaint that the planned project will dwarf adjacent Golden Square Mile mansions and bring more traffic to the already-congested de la Montagne St.*

Bumbaru worries that the additional floors at historic Ogilvy's might also undermine the downtown department store gem.

But he says that the location of the project, in the heart of an historic district and nearby the Mount Stephen House means that the province will get the final say, regardless of what the city green-lights.

“Negotiations would have to take place and it’d be interesting to see if the City of Montreal handles this in a transparent manner. They don’t mention that many of these sites are under provincial oversight,” says Bumbaru.

The project is spearheaded by the Toronto-based Weston family of Loblaw's fame, which bought Ogilvy's under its Selfridges banner from a Quebec-real estate consortium last year.

Selfriges representative Jean-Sebastien Lamoureux said that it’s too early to offer any other details of the plan but said that developer Devimco would play a role and that it would also include the development of some buildings on the east side of Crescent, just north of Ste-Catherine.

* CORRECTION April 10, 2012: An earlier version of this article stated Montreal's de la Montagne St. was named after Bishop Mountain. In fact the origin of the name Mountain St. is "one of Montreal’s great street debates," according to Dominic Duford, a toponymy expert for the city of Montreal. Duford told OpenFile the street name seems to have predated the arrival of Bishop Mountain. "A map from 1761 shows a trail near where the street is today named the Chemin des Sauvages de la montagne,” Duford said. OpenFile Montreal regrets the error and thanks commenter brydem for pointing it out.
 

sadbuttrue

Member
Jul 15, 2006
66
1
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I've often thought: if only I could trade that stupid timeshare that I bought for a room here. But just as it is, with no changes whatsoever, not even the staff, which is impeccable. It really is part of the whole Montreal thing for me. It was the first place I stayed. I only stayed at other hotels due to prices and timing. How many gatherings we had there.

Sad
 
L

Lily from Montreal

I am sad to read this,: I love that hotel: I find they have the most beautiful bathroom in Montreal loll..all this marble... and for me it is easy to go to... loll
 

2tuff2quit

Active Member
Jan 5, 2011
507
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Reminds me of the weekend they dug the tunnel between Thursdays and and Hotel de la montagne without a permit on a 3 day holiday weekend. I was there on the tuesday morning when all the inspectors of the Ville de Mtl appeared wow what screaming there was.
The whole thing went to court for years and the owners back then got what they wanted and never had to close it.
Memories!!
 

snoodle

Member
Oct 11, 2010
980
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i don't know what the hell you guys are talking about, but this hotel will never be demolished
 

acco34

Member
Apr 6, 2004
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I was just there this week and found out about it being sold and demolished. Sad to see it go. I have been staying there since about 2004 everytime I go to Montreal. It has a great location, nice rooms, staff is great and it is very SP friendly. The couple of staff I talked to about it said this fall it will be closed, September or October at the latest is what they were told. Another excuse to make a return trip this summer before it closes. I'm going to miss staying there.
 

jeff jones

Banned
Mar 23, 2009
595
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At cleo's
I was just there this week and found out about it being sold and demolished. Sad to see it go. I have been staying there since about 2004 everytime I go to Montreal. It has a great location, nice rooms, staff is great and it is very SP friendly. The couple of staff I talked to about it said this fall it will be closed, September or October at the latest is what they were told. Another excuse to make a return trip this summer before it closes. I'm going to miss staying there.

I have been staying there 4 or 5 times per year since 98. Love the location, the rooms are nice and big with very large bathrooms with nice sized showers. The staff is very friendly and they know me by name but what i love most about the place is the rooftop bar in the summertime. I will be staying there 3 times this summer but when the place closes montreal will never seem quite the same to me. I will miss it.
 

Addison

New Member
Feb 29, 2012
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I talked with some of the staff, they told me stories that would curl your hair. I am sure it happens in other hotels. Stories like getting towels back where people have been wiping their buts with. Passed or SPs in the hallway.
 

Turbodick

Member
Mar 28, 2007
615
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I talked with some of the staff, they told me stories that would curl your hair. I am sure it happens in other hotels. Stories like getting towels back where people have been wiping their buts with. Passed or SPs in the hallway.

All hotels have weird/gross things happen. It's what happens when people are present.

The thing about this hotel is they are the most SP friendly CLASSY hotel in Montreal.


They should auction certain tangibles off here on MERB and could probably make some good coin as I am sure I am not the only one who has some great non-hobby and hobby memories in this hotel.

I got dibbs on the lobby statue!
 
Ashley Madison
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