Epidemic: Downtown Montreal “works very well,” says expert

While returning to work face-to-face is still fading, Montreal’s financial downtown area is doing well.

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Businesses in office towers are undoubtedly most affected by postponing back-to-back work and suffering significant losses in their turnover.

“We can see that the rate of vacancies in office towers and shopping malls is high. In contrast, businesses on the street have a very low vacancy rate and perform very well,” said Glenn Costenhira, executive director of the Montreal Center-Ville organization.

Diversity as the driving force

The diversity of activities there supports the economic survival of many businesses in the metropolitan city center.

“It’s really great luck, Downtown Montreal is lucky. You need to know that Downtown Montreal, compared to other downtowns around the world, is not just an office. .

Play Downtown Attraction

“There is a solution, we need to attract traffic to the city center even if the offices are closed. Currently, we have a similar situation, we have impressive traffic. The right example is trying to find a reservation during lunch: the week is very difficult, because the restaurants are full,” the expert continued.

The metropolitan area of ​​Montreal today has a higher occupancy rate than many other commercial zones in the world. The 5^Th Avenue in New York (one of the most important commercial arteries in the world) is not 25% empty, while Saint-Catherine is almost 11% empty.