St-Denis merchants hope street will 'bounce back' after year of repairs

Merchants on St-Denis Street say "For Rent" and "A Louer" signs havebecome a far too common sight on the commercial stretch that was buried under construction for a year.

• Businesses rejoice as St-Denis construction comes to an end

Businesses fled the commercial district between Duluth Avenue and Marie-Anne Streetdue to lost revenue as both the road and sidewalks along St-Denis were torn up and, at times, inaccessible.

The city announced Wednesday thatit surpassed its targets for road and infrastructure repairs in 2016, spendingnearly $600 million on repairs.

• Montreal eclipsed targets for fixing roads, sewers andaquaductsin 2016

Changes on St. Denis Street 2016 to 2014 (Source: Google)

8 years ago

Duration 0:12

Changes on St. Denis Street 2016 to 2014 (Source: Google)

The construction work on St-Denis Street, which began in September2015, was a nightmare for businesses.

Even the city's efforts to help thestore and restaurant owners were met with criticism, such asthe installation of La Grande Terrasse Rouge a long, continuous red terrassethat was set upbetween Roy Street and Mount-Royal Avenue on the east side of St-Denis.

• St-Denis Street mega-terrasse planned during road work

"This is how we got affected," he said. "People just avoided the area because it was always blocked."

The City of Montreal announced Wednesday that it would be "donating" the terrasse to the St-Denis Merchants' Association for free. There's no word yet on how welcome that donationwill be.

'It's empty'

Despite the worst of the construction closures being behind them, many merchants are concerned about the future of the once-booming street.

"We should work on the image of the street," said AlainDussault, owner of the restaurant LeHachoir. "The vision of what people think St-Denis is, is now, 'It's empty.'"

Changes on St. Denis Street 2016 to 2014 (Source: Google)

8 years ago

Duration 0:12

Changes on St. Denis Street 2016 to 2014 (Source: Google)

Units to fill

Property manager DinoSantellistill has four commercial units to leaseon St-Denis Street. He says the vacancies are all a result of last year's repair work.

"Most of those tenants that were in those buildings, they were new businesses," he said. "So they didn't have that major client base to support them during the roughtimes."

Still,he's optimistic moving forward.

"I think it's going to bounce back."