The Montreal Eaton Centre opened on November 14, 1990.[2] In 2018, it absorbed its adjacent sister mall Complexe Les Ailes and the two shopping centres were combined into a single property which retained the Montreal Eaton Centre name. As such, the property consists of two separate buildings at 677 Rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest (the former Eaton's flagship store which had become the Complexe Les Ailes mall in 2002) and 705 Rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest (the former Les Terrasses mall, which became the original Montreal Eaton Centre).
The Montreal Eaton Centre shopping mall has a 45,000 square metres (480,000 sq ft) of gross leasable area. The building features an additional 51,000 square metres (550,000 sq ft) of office space on the upper levels, branded as "1500 University." A bronze statue of hockey player Ken Dryden and a three-storeys-tall tableau made by fine arts enamel painter Bernard Séguin Poirier are located in the mall.
History
Les Terrasses
The entrance to the Eaton Centre on Rue Sainte-Catherine in downtown Montreal
The site at 705 Rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest originally featured a shopping mall name "Les Terrasses" from 1976 to 1987. It was built atop the now-defunct Victoria Street; the road and its buildings were expropriated for construction of the mall. The mall layout was a triangular spiral, with gradually-rising interconnected floors, approximately 14 metres (46 ft) high in total. Though it had three escalators, one at each point of the triangle, patrons could gradually walk to the top of the mall.[3] Floors were colour-coded and the mall was adorned with trees, plants and ivy. It housed 140 stores,[4] each facing towards the centre of the triangle. Les Terrasses was demolished after only one decade of use and, following extensive construction, reopened as the Montreal Eaton Centre in 1990.[1] Like Les Terrasses, the new Montreal Eaton Centre was connected to the Montreal Metro, the Underground City, and the Eaton's department store. Eaton's department store, for which it was named, closed in 1999.[5]
The property was managed by Rouses Quebec Corporation Development and York Hannover Development from 1978 to 1993. In September 1997, Cadillac Fairview bought the shopping centre for 113 million$ from a consortium of lenders that had taken over the Montreal Eaton Centre from its previous owner in 1996.[6][7] In July 2000, Ivanhoé Cambridge (then known as Ivanhoe) acquired the mall through an exchange of assets. Cadillac Fairview ceded the Montreal Eaton Centre in exchange for Ivanhoe's stakes in Carrefour Laval and Promenades Saint-Bruno.[8]
Goodwin's / Eaton's
The building at 677 Rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest was originally three storeys tall, and was built for the Goodwin's department store in the early 1900s. The building was sold
to Eaton's in 1925, at which time it was referred to as the Eaton's building. Through the Ross and Macdonald architecture firm, the first three-floor expansion was
completed in 1927, and the second three-floor expansion was completed between 1930 and 1931.
Eaton's building in 2013
The top floor included Eaton's Ninth Floor Restaurant, which features an Art Deco design that was inspired by the dining room of the SS Île-de-France and was created following Jacques Carlu's plans. The building was expanded toward de Maisonneuve Boulevard between 1958 and 1959, and access to the Montreal Metro via McGill station in 1967. The Eaton's building was home to Montreal's largest department store for decades.
In 1999, following the closure of the Eaton's chain, Ivanhoé Cambridge acquired the property. After considerable redevelopment work between 2000 and 2002, involving the total gutting and complete redesign/rebuilding of the interior (preserving only the exterior facade and parts of the 9th floor), the former flagship of the Montreal retail scene was transformed into the building known as Complexe Les Ailes and 1500 University. At this time, Place Montreal Trust, the Montreal Eaton Centre and Complexe Les Ailes constituted Ivanhoé Cambridge's self-branded Sh3pping trio of shopping malls.[9]
For over a decade, the new mall was named after the Les Ailes de la Mode department store which occupied a third of its total area and was its main retailer. When the store closed in 2016, and the company permanently ceased operation, the mall's name would be changed. In 2019, Les Ailes' former store space was taken over by Decathlon, which today is one of the largest tenants of the now merged Montreal Eaton Centre.[10]
Mall expansion
In March 2014, Ivanhoé Cambridge had announced it would add Complexe Les Ailes with the Montreal Eaton Centre, and the newly merged complex would be renamed, dropping the Eaton Centre branding in the process.[5] However, it was later decided that Complexe Les Ailes would just be used to expand the Montreal Eaton Centre, and preserve the latter's name.[11] The two malls were renovated to have the same "look and feel".[5] and in coming full circle, brought the Eaton's name back to the building that once housed Montreal's flagship Eaton's department store.[11]
