Centre-Ville

LOCATION

Centre-ville (or downtown - both names are used interchangeably) is, unsurprisingly, very central. It's an irregular-shaped area bordered roughly by Prince Arthur to the north, Guy to the west, St-Laurent to the east and René-Lévesque to the south.

CHARACTER AND FEEL

Downtown is dominated by office buildings and three large universities (McGill, Concordia and UQAM). The former results in a 9-5 pattern of activity in much of the southern part of the neighbourhood, along Blvd René-Lévesque. The latter makes downtown a very student-heavy neighbourhood, particularly in the western half where many anglophone students live.

Crescent street is an extremely touristy yet lively 3-block strip just west of downtown core. Whether or not you'll like it partly depends on your personal preferences - some love it and some hate it. The fact remains that it is one of the centers of downtown nightlife activity.

Finally, St-Catherine street crossing downtown from east to west is the biggest shopping district in the city. With the exception of some highly specialized goods (like furniture), pretty much everything is sold here. With that said, however, St-Catherine is not the place to go looking for small boutiques - speaking of clothing, for example, most stores sell only the major labels here (you might want to go to Le Plateau or even Vieux Montreal for that). Likewise, you will not find any small bookstores - instead, two local book retailing giants (Indigo and Chapters) offer a fairly large inventory of popular books. (Comment for New Yorkers and other Americans: Indigo and Chapters are the rough local equivalent of Barnes & Noble).

APARTMENTS & REAL ESTATE

Although most residential buildings in Centre-ville are high-rise multi-apartment buildings, pockets of more traditional Montreal buildings (2-3 stories with exterior staircases) do exist.

Prices for "nothing special" apartments (particularly those in student-populated areas around Concordia and McGill) start at fairly low levels: around $600 for a studio (1½) and $700 for a 1-bedroom (3½).

Selected Rental Buildings:

• 2015 de la Montagne (2015 rue de la Montagne, Centre-Ville) - A luxury apartment building in the very center of downtown
• 2085 rue Guy (2085 rue Guy, Centre-Ville)
• 515 St-Catherine (515 rue St-Catherine Ouest, Centre-Ville) - Building marketed to students as a 'student luxury' residence. The apartments are laid out with sharing in mind - there are several bedrooms and two bathrooms in each, in....
• Château Royal (1420 rue Crescent, Centre-Ville)
• Le 2150 Mackay (2150 rue Mackay, Centre-Ville)

See all Centre-Ville Rental Apartment Buildings

Selected Condo Buildings:

• Le 1200 Ouest (1200 Blvd de Maisonneuve Ouest, Centre-Ville)
• Le Concorde (441 Avenue Du President Kennedy, Centre-Ville) - Loft-like condos in downtown Montreal
• new! Le Cristal de la Montagne (1100 rue de la Montagne, Centre-Ville) - Mixed-use building: the floors 14 through 27 are condos, lower floors are a luxury hotel.
• Le Roc Fleuri (2040 rue Drummond, Centre-Ville)
• Le Somo (1100 rue Jeanne-Mance, Centre-Ville) - Residences from 745 sq ft to 1,305 sq ft.

See all Centre-Ville Condo Apartment Buildings

ATTRACTIONS

The highlights of the downtown area are:

• Rue St. Catherine - Montreal's main shopping artery
• The campus of McGill University (www.mcgill.edu) around/just north of Rue Sherbrooke,
• The Montreal Museum of Fine Art on rue Sherbrooke, and
• Place des Arts (corner St. Catherine and Jeanne-Mance), home to l'Opera de Montréal (www.operademontreal.com) and the contemporary art museum.