Eatery: Resident Diner in Old Montreal

Right in the corner of Notre Dame and St Denis (or Bonsecours since it’s on the south side), you will find Resident Restaurant; a big and spacious room with high ceiling, elegant yet casual minimalist decor. The type of cooking they offer is a mix of comfort food with a twits of gourmet.
I’ve had the chance to eat there a few times (and try different dishes), and I’ve even met clients for lunch (they’ve loved it!). By far my favorites are the spicy Crab Cakes as appetizers, and for the main course I loved the Lamb Shepherd’s Pie, and the Grilled Bavette with Shallots on Red Wine Sauce.

Resident Diner

Address: 400 Notre Dame E. (corner of St Denis)
Tel: 514-844.1466.
Average price: $16-$23 per person (not including tip or alcohol)

And…Live jazz band on Saturday night.

Old Montreal Building: Sold or Not?

Remember this building? I just got word from one of the merchants in this area that this building had finally sold. There seems to be a difference of prices between my sources, some say it went from 1.3M to a final 1.2 Million. Which isn’t bad at all since they were first asking 1.3 Million, it means it sold for 100k less than asking price. They city should be happy, n’est pas?. In any case, I haven’t checked the registry to see if the actual sale took place or not, and for how much- I’d be curious to see the actual numbers, but even better than that: what’s the new owner’s plans for this place?
For those of you whow don’t know the story, this property was offered for sale by the city of Montreal, last april- we didn’t follow up since they stop receiving offers (nothing to blog about, right?), now it seems we have a winner. You can see here the previous article.

Notre Dame Basilica: Christmas Decoration Are Up

Photo: Deya Bautista

Every year the Basilica Notre-Dame, in Old Montreal, adorns its entrance with this beautiful set of blue light angel, as their Christmas decoration. This year was no different. Although there is a lot of renovations happening in front of the church, the sight at night is simply gorgeous.

I took this picture using my Christmas present. Santa came early this year; gave me this great new lens for my not-so-new camera ;) Still learning to use the new toy, in the mean time I’ve taken a few pictures of the neighbourhood’s Christmas decor, and as the holidays approach, I’ll be sharing them with you on the future posts. Hope you enjoy them!

Old Montreal building: now for sale by the City of montreal

I’ve been following the progress on the new look of this building. First it was this abandoned front, then the make-up crew came into action, with a beautiful new cover .
Before I even got the chance to write about the airbrush design on the new cover of 22-26 Notre Dame ouest, there was a new sign on it.

“A vendre par appel d’offres publiques”

So now the city is taking offers for this building, or whatever is left of it.
I made a call to see what the starting bid was at, and what I got is the following info: Read more

The Super Hospital Begins Construction: Demolition Site on St Antoine.

This building was scheduled for demolition for quite sometime now. According to a condo-owner on Rue Gosford (old Montreal), this building’s land will be the new location for Montreal’s Super Hospital (CHUM?)
Although I haven’t really confirmed if this is true or not, but word is, this site (st Antoine between Gosford and st-Denis) will be completely developed for the Super Hospital Complex. The buildings facing the demolition site, are also included in the plans.

“The Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal is to contain 700 single-patient rooms that could easily be converted to double-bed units, because the basic equipment is already in place, explained Dr. Guy Leclerc, the CHUM’s chief of cardiology.
(…)

Aside from providing specialized care, the CHUM site will also have a university teaching and research mandate, with 6,000 students coming through annually, noted Dr. Denis Roy, executive director of the CHUM. The hospital complex will be bounded by René Lévesque Blvd. to the north, St. Denis St. to the east, St. Antoine St. to the south and Sanguinet to the west.”

I’ve read that its construction was planned to start as early as the spring of 2010, and will be completed by early 2014. Just last week they began the demolition, and at a very rapid pace.
Here is what the place looked like as of last Saturday.

I can foresee the traffic jams at the exit of the 720 to Berri. The noise it will create for the next couple of years, for those who live in the area (including myself) but the great thing: the value that will add having a super hospital near by. The selling value and rentals will definitely increase, since the staff (specially Doctors) will need a place to stay near by, which is fantastic news for those who already own and/or wish to purchase in the area.

Montreal Image: Art Shop in the Old Port

Photo: Denis-Carl Robidoux

The Montreal Real Estate Blog showcases outstanding images from talented local photographers.  If you’d like to submit your photography, please join our flickr pool.

A New face for the Old Montreal Building: Now displaying

Remember the building in Old Montreal getting a new face lift? Just a few days after the original post, I caught the “aesthetics working crew” doing their update of the new-and improved false front of the run-down building.

A fantastic artwork was done to resemble (what we all imagine to be) the original building. Although here you can only see it half-way done, the final artwork is a well done rendering of the building. There are some very impressive details on the artwork: the reflection on the “lower windows” shows us the building across the street. Absolutely brilliant. You won’t be able to see it on this shot. But wait, there is more to come.

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