Montreal unveils $50-million plan for Phillips Square

CTV Montreal: Phillips Square makeover Montreal unveiled its $50-million plan for a makeover of Phillips Square in downtown Montreal.

The city of Montreal wants to expand Phillips Square with more seating, more trees, and no kiosks.

Mayor Valerie Plante said Tuesday she wants to create a Victorian-style square that would border one section of the revamped Ste. Catherine St.

As it expands Phillips Square, the city will also make Place du Frere André, located at the south end of Phillips Place St., larger.

The new site will have 90 trees, up from the current 19, plus fountains and better seating.

"Montrealers have asked for more room for pedestrians and more trees. We heard them," said Plante.

To do so Montreal will eliminate more than 60 street-level parking spaces.

Plante said she did not think that would have much of an impact, saying there are 11,000 underground parking spaces in downtown Montreal and that 80 per cent of people who come downtown use public transit.

"Though we're taking parking spots out of the street, there's stil a lot of place to park in downtown Montreal," she said.

She also said that the city of Montreal had done three years of studies showing that people wanted more open space instead of kiosks, which is why the city of Montreal shut down the kiosks at the end of December 2018.

"We want people to go in the park as well, so though there won't be kiosks in front, there will be kiosks in other places," she said.

Heritage Montreal calls the project good news that shows the mayor is paying attention to public spaces downtown.

“It's good also that they showed pictures of this site in the future, in winter, because so many of these artists views are showing it in the summer and we want it to be used 12 months a year,” said Dinu Bumbaru of Heritage Montreal.

The city of Montreal delayed construction work on Ste. Catherine St. last year because bids on the work did not comply with city regulations.

The Plante administration has also revised the plan put forward by the previous Coderre administration in order to propose eliminating a lane of car traffic and both lanes of parking along a 4.5 km section of St. Catherine St.

Work on Phillips Square is due to be completed by the end of 2021.