MARKET OBSERVATIONS

SPACE UTILIZATION AND OPPORTUNITIES ON BOULEVARD

SAINT-LAURENT

Rooted in the people and their

experiences of poverty and prosperity,

Boulevard Saint-Laurent lives and changes

along with the people it has seen come

and go. It is often described by local

residents and merchants today as a commercial street with a mixture of

business types and sizes which offer a

variety of products and services that go

hand-in-hand with its cultural diversity.

While it is no longer the bustling

commercial neighbourhood of light

industry and mom and pop shops that

were once frequented by the surrounding

immigrant families, the boulevard

continues to offer a variety of products

and services – some of which you wouldn’t expect! The following pages

provide an overview of the market in

terms of existing businesses, recruitment

and expansion opportunities and

suggested space utilization.

CURRENT REAL ESTATE MARKET

Largely developed from 1886 to the early

20th century, the part of Boulevard Saint-Laurent between Sherbrooke to Mont-

Royal mainly consists of two to four story

buildings with narrow street frontages of

25-feet. They are similar in age and

general massing with an overall street

pattern that is a very regular orthogonal

gridiron. Nevertheless, the architectural uniformity along the boulevard is just

about the only common aspect along the

street!

There are also larger buildings, including

converted garment factories, which are

between 8 to 10 stories high.

Commercial Property Cost

Several buildings on Boulevard Saint-Laurent have undergone restorations and

renovations in order to be used as it is

today. Consequently, landlords have

increased rent prices to recuperate these

expenses.

The average cost for a ground-floor retail

unit is approximately $35 per square foot

and the average cost for commercial office

space is between $20-25 per square foot –

depending on tenant improvements and

renovations.

Diversity of Businesses

When grouped into the North American

Industry Classification System (NAICS) , the boulevard boasts a collection of

business within the following sectors:

• Professional, Scientific, Technical Services (182 businesses, 34%)

• Retail Trade - includes foods and beverage, goods (144 businesses, 27%)

• Arts, Entertainment and Recreation (69 businesses, 13%)

• Accommodation and Food Services

(68 businesses, 13%)

• Other (13%)

In general, the boulevard consists of what one would expect along a commercial

street, but it is the unexpected mix of

different businesses side-by-side that

makes it stand out. This is both attractive

as well as a challenge in terms of store-

finding and setting a shopper’s expectations.

In general, located on the ground-floor

are new and established retail fashion

stores such as clothing boutiques and

jewellers, convenience stores such as

pharmacies and banks, stores selling food products like ethnic gourmet and general

grocery stores, as well as food services

such as restaurants and cafes. Boulevard

Saint-Laurent is recognized for its well-

priced foods – particularly for lunch-time

– and its assortment of ethnic dishes.

While the buildings may be regular, some

tenants are anything but ordinary. Unique

long-time businesses are visible on the

ground-floor such as the funeral home, Alfred Dallaire and the prominent

monument manufacturer, L. Berson &

Sons.

Smaller buildings between two to four

storeys use the above floors residential

and/or commercial office space.

For the taller buildings above eight

stories, the unit styles vary to attract

traditional offices, creative businesses for

the loft style commercial units and even small live-work style residential units.

!

Vineberg Building/Berman Building: 4060 Boulevard Saint-Laurent residential loft

Market Challenges

Problems and challenges in the area that

affect the prosperity of businesses include:

• Irregular day-time activity

• Increasing rent prices and

gentrification

• Vacancies due to high rent

• Limited parking

• Lack of street furniture for visitors

• Noise complaints from residents

• Lack of street cleaning

• Perception of low-quality products

• Confusing business placement

POTENTIAL TARGET MARKET

Upon reviewing the current business offering, visitor profiles, demographics of

the area as well as case studies of other

commercial districts, it is recommended

that the target visitor and business-

offering on the Boulevard Saint-Laurent

should be expanded to the following to fill commercial vacancies and increase day-

time activity:

Lifestyle of Target Visitor

• Enjoys live-work-learn-play

environment

• Flexible day with active evenings

• Enjoys and benefits from interaction,

busy environment

• Spends disposable income on fashion, food and entertainment

• Active within the community

• Not car dependant

Socio-Demographic Profile of Target Visitor

• Affluent, young adult to middle-aged

• Affluent baby boomers

• Workers in the area

• Mature students

Culture of Target Business

• Encourage home-work-play lifestyle

• Benefit from interaction and open-concept design (for commercial

lofts)

• Attracts 24/7 coming and going of

people and clients

• Environmentally conscious practices

• Encourages convenient shopping (for workers in the area)

Product/Service Offering of Target Business

• Art schools: cooking, music, fashion,

dance, painting, sculpture, language

• Co-working spaces for entrepreneurs

and community groups (like Station

C on 5359 Saint-Laurent)

• Successful local businesses

• Neighbourhood amenities (e.g. Adonis Market)

STRATEGIC BUSINESS PLACEMENT

The businesses along Boulevard Saint-

Laurent are all mixed together – there is

no obvious clustering or placement of

complementary businesses to create

market synergies that are beneficial to

shoppers and businesses alike.

Compatible Uses & Placement Considerations

For all business districts, it is important to consider how its different businesses and

uses interact with one another and

whether or not they are compatible. For

example, residential and convenience

retail are compatible and thus should be

placed near each other to meet the needs of their common clients. Furthermore, in

condo buildings that have a mixture of

residential and commercial lofts, such as

the Berman Building on 4060 Boulevard

Saint-Laurent, the residential units should

be situated further away from the busy street – whether it is at the top floors or

at the rear of the building – in order to

reduce disruptive noises. Office spaces

should be located nearby bars, restaurants

and cafes and accommodations to create

strong supporting markets.

Anchor Stores & Traffic Generators

Anchor stores are generally well-known and more prominently located – often at

the ground-floor corners or ends of a

pedestrian walkway – to attract people

who are then encouraged to patronize the

other surrounding shops. Currently, the anchor stores on the boulevard which

attract activity are food-related businesses

such as Schwartz, Moishes Steak House, la

Vielle Europe, Restaurant de la Main and the new Juliette et Chocolat; and

Pharmaprix. Unfortunately, these

establishments are located in the middle

of the commercial strip near the

intersections of Saint-Cuthbert, Napoleon

and Bagg with Boulevard Saint-Laurent. Consequently, exposure for less well-

known businesses is less than ideal.

In order to increase day-time activity, it is

suggested that a focus be placed on attracting ground floor anchor tenants

that are local merchants and

entrepreneurs with proven business

models and wide-spread public appeal.

They do not necessarily need to have a

large store footprint but rather good advertising and brand recognition. Some

recognizable businesses could include

restaurants such as Chez Cora, Baton

Rouge and Amir; retail stores like

Archambault, Point Zero and Parasuco; as

well as art stores like DeSerres which would be complementary to existing

creative businesses and residents.

Anchor stores and/or traffic generators

(like bixi stations) should be situated along the intersections of Boulevard Saint-

Laurent to force pedestrians to pass

smaller businesses along the way and

generate additional activity.

Convenience-Based & Destination Stores

The accessibility requirements of convenience-based stores are also a

consideration. For short visits that require

quick access such as convenience stores,

grocery stores, dry-cleaners, pharmacies,

and banking services, they should be

placed nearby public parking lots or have

on-street short-term parking and bicycle

racks in order to accommodate people just stopping by. Two public parking lots

on the boulevard are located just south of

Prince-Arthur.

Conversely, there are stores that are

destination-type businesses that do not

benefit from a large amount of pedestrian

traffic since they are purpose trips. This

includes furniture stores such as those further up north on Boulevard Saint-

Laurent. Consequently, these businesses –

including professional services or creative

businesses – do not require a high ground-

floor visibility and some could even be

located on upper floors.

Business Clustering Considerations

Currently along Saint-Laurent there are few obvious or advertised clusters.

Observations show that businesses on

both ends of the strip – at Sherbrooke and

Mont-Royal – generally cater to a more

upscale clientele (e.g. Macaroni Bar, Med

Grill and Buananotte). Furthermore,

there are pockets of Portuguese-run businesses as well as high-end furniture

and housing décor stores north of Duluth.

As previously mentioned, the

independent long-standing ethnic

delicatessens and restaurants are located

in the middle of the strip nearby Bagg, Napoleon and Saint-Cuthbert.

The idea of clustering businesses is applied

in some commercial and technological

districts in order to take advantage of individual businesses that serve the same

or overlapping segments of the market or

those that address similar needs or

preferences of consumers.

With the appropriate business mix, a

careful placement of product or service

offerings can either be complementary or

compatible in serving the needs of the

prospective customer while also increasing spontaneous buying of

complementary goods.

For example, by forming comparison

clusters in which similar goods that appeal to the same markets are alongside one

another on given block, it helps these

businesses advertise themselves better

(i.e. the store is located within the

jewellery district between x and y streets)

and define the expectations of the shopper

better in terms of product, quality and even pricing. To complement this cluster,

it can be located beside a block that has

remained a mixture of stores in order to

create that interesting diversity that is

renowned of Boulevard Saint-Laurent

while also organizing the street.

A NEW ROLE FOR THE SDBSL

Businesses and residents located along Boulevard Saint-Laurent have the benefit

of belonging to a centralized organization

with a management role – la Societe de

developpement du boulevard Saint-

Laurent (SDBSL).

The SDBSL can help to organize a

business placement committee or retail

management group consisting of property

owners, managers and real estate groups

that collectively determine the most appropriate locations for prospective

merchants who are approaching the group

to setup along the boulevard –

particularly on the ground floor. This will

help gain a degree of control over the

tenant mix and its placement

Similarly, this group may coordinate

leasing plans and efforts to fill vacancies

and actively attract certain tenants. A

leasing plan could even involve allowing

the SDBSL to have the right of first refusal for new tenants. In this case, the building

owners could allow the SDBSL to market

and promote the property for a certain

period of time – which spares the building

owner efforts of finding a tenant while

also allowing the boulevard to fulfill a greater long-term vision of businesses and

their location along the boulevard.

Other related options may include

business competitions to win a ground-floor retail unit free of rent or win free

advertising – for a given period of time. In

addition, the boulevard may consider

allowing interested and potential new

businesses to temporarily open up a stall during a street festival. These are

initiatives that would require coordination

by the SDBSL.