Les Enfants Terribles Rises to the Summit of Place Ville Marie

A year and a half after it was first announced, the new look Place Ville Marie officially opens tomorrow, Thursday, June 23. The lavish, four-story observatory, entertainment, and restaurant complex on top of Montreal's bellwether skyscraper, where 10,000 people work, and 19 million people pass through annually, was helmed by a consortium that includes Ivanhoé Cambridge, Claridge, Sid Lee/Cirque du Soleil, and gsmprjct, the firm that collaborated on the likes of At The Top Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and The View from The Shard in London. Reservations can now be made at the restaurant, a fourth outlet for Les Enfants Terribles, the brasserie concept from Francine Brûlé and Serge Bruneau that also operates in Laval, Outremont, and Nun's Island. The shiny new Les Enfants Terribles serves weekday lunch and dinner, weekend brunch and dinner, and caters private events — which will undoubtedly play well with PVM's countless office managers.

The Au Sommet project represents the crown jewel of a major substance and style overhaul for Place Ville Marie by Ivanhoé Cambridge. The real estate branch of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the province's powerful public pension manager, purchased the half of PVM it did not own for close to $400 million in 2013. More than $100 million was subsequently spent to further upgrade the complex — the fruits of that capital expenditure included a LEED Silver certification for operations and maintenance; a first in Canada for a skyscraper of PVM's size. For Claude Sirois, President, Ivanhoé Cambridge Retail, the firm's objectives for PVM were more symbolic, however. "We are fundamentally, profoundly Montrealists; we believe in downtown Montreal," Sirois told The Globe and Mail last year. "Every important city in the world has a strong commercial heart." Alexandre Taillefer, an investor in gsmprjct, known for his work on the Quebec version of Dragon's Den, put it more dramatically to the Globe. "What we’re trying to do with Place Ville Marie is give a sense of what Montreal is like as seen by a Montrealer — people who would die for Montreal." See the menus at the new Les Enfants Terribles below, as well as a video about the Au Sommet Place Ville Marie project.

Status: Les Enfants Terribles PVM, 3 Place Ville Marie (Cathcart entrance), (514) 544-8200, opens June 23.

Image credit: Ivanhoé Cambridge