Old Port tourist season foiled by heavy construction

Business owners raise concerns about loss of summer profits

NewsFeatureDexter Pahmer — Published September 17, 2024 5 minutes

Philippe Dubuc, a fashion designer for Sarah Pacini in Montreal’s Old Port, has watched the year’s most anticipated season pass him by. Ongoing construction on St. Paul St. W. significantly diminished access to his store, resulting in disappointing sales numbers.

“Of course there was a decrease,” Dubuc said. “We’re trying to be conciliatory, but there are strong financial disadvantages; it’s unpleasant."

Since the spring of 2024, pedestrians on St. Paul St. W. have been forced to move about on narrow walkways, wedged between shops and construction fences as they attempt to shop on Old Montreal’s foremost tourist street. 

The road itself has been ripped open while construction workers operate on the aging water main, repair the sewer, and finally aim to rebuild the sidewalk and roadway. In addition to utility repairs, the project looks to render St. Paul St. W. more appealing to pedestrians by enlarging its sidewalks and removing parking on the street.

In Montreal, as summer blooms construction, it is also peak season for Old Port boutiques. As a result, many business owners have reported negative impacts from construction near their businesses. 

Camille Albri, manager of Le Walk-In Montréal, a lifestyle and fashion accessory shop on St. Paul St. W., estimated that business has decreased “a good 35 to 45 per cent” due to the construction.

“We had no sidewalk. It was extremely noisy, so of course, far fewer people came,” Albri said.

Business is decreasing everywhere. Max Labé, an employee of Le Petit Duck Shoppe—a store selling a wide variety of rubber ducks—believes there are fewer people who want to walk on St. Paul St. W.

“The construction has led to very long lulls for businesses,” Labé said. “There’s absolutely no one in the store because of it.”

In the anticipatory phases of the project to redevelop St. Paul St. W., the city vowed to keep businesses open and accessible during construction, as well as maintain clear lines of communication with business owners. 

“We’re doing one sidewalk at a time,” said Sébastien Breton, head of planning for the project. “If the sidewalk is done on the north side, then we’ll set up walkways so people still have access. There should be no problem when it comes to pedestrians.”

“It’s not always easy to walk about the construction,” said Émilie Thuillier, borough mayor of Ahuntsic-Cartierville, “but assuredly the businesses remain open; all the entrances are always open. If work needs to be done on these entrances, then it is done at night.”

Yet many say that, in practice, this was not the case. Albri explained that construction workers did not warn businesses before closing down their sidewalks. 

“They put up a walkway, but it was still impossible to pass while they were pouring concrete,” Albri said. “It clearly wasn’t their priority. We had no idea what they were going to do on any given day. The only notices we got were when they cut off our water supply. For anything else, we arrive in the morning and we pray there isn’t too much noise, and that we can enter our business.” 

Likewise, Labé said that no one from the site would warn business owners about forthcoming noise.

“If we open the door,” Labé said, “the noise is strident. It hurts. Often we’ll get headaches from it.”

“It’s a pain in the ass,” resident Christiane Berzi said. “There’s always something that pops up that [the city] wants to do, so it's like never-ending. We don’t see much results because everything is always under construction.”

Dubuc explained that there were several days when he had to close up shop because the store was basically impossible to access. 

“The fences change depending on the work they’re doing. So sometimes it’s a bit more possible to walk around, but other times it's basically impossible to get anywhere,” he said. “It’s a labyrinth.”

When it comes to dealing with losses incurred by long-term construction work, the city has a compensation program that allows businesses to receive up to $40,000, provided the work lasts longer than six months and owners can prove a financial loss of 5 per cent or higher. 

However, business owners must wait until the end of the construction to request the amount. If a business goes bankrupt while there is ongoing construction, it is not eligible for compensation. The city also offers a lump sum of $5,000, which business owners can access immediately at the beginning of construction.

However, according to Dubuc, this sum is often not enough for independent store owners, who cannot necessarily lose a full season of business and remain solvent.

“A business might fail because of a construction site,” Thuillier said. “It’s not impossible, but it’s probably never the only reason. Sometimes the business is already doing quite poorly and perhaps the construction is the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”

Some business owners understand that these kinds of hardships are necessary in the long run. 

“It has to be done,” Dubuc said. “But it's just sad that, as it’s happening, it has to be so difficult and cause the closure of so many businesses.”

The CBC reported that between 2019 and 2023 there were 419 claims submitted for compensation, and only 189 were approved.Thuillier said this rate is not an indicator of the program’s efficiency, but rather because business owners often cannot provide the numbers proving a sufficient decrease in business. 

Ahuntsic resident Hassoun Habib believes Montreal’s current “construction blitz” is due to poor municipal management. 

“Montreal has deteriorated [at the expense of construction]. It is no longer the way it used to be,” Habib said. “It’s an old city and it’s been neglected by previous municipal governments.”

Per the city, due to low budgets and long-lasting unpopularity, “maintenance work on Montréal’s infrastructures was postponed, resulting in a maintenance deficit.” The intensity of the city’s current construction aims to compensate for this neglect.

The pressure of construction felt by businesses across the island also weighs on residents. Maham Nahim, a Montreal native, doesn’t remember a time when the city wasn’t under construction. 

“I understand doing this to make Montreal a better place [...] but it’s just that it’s been that way for so many years,” Nahim said. “Sometimes you don’t need to change everything.”

This article originally appeared in Volume 45, Issue 2, published September 17, 2024.