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Home-grown Neapolitan-style pizza chain No. 900 is staying put in its founding location in the majestic art deco building that also houses Théâtre Outremont. The news comes nearly an entire year since the pizzeria’s owner received an email from the city informing her that the lease for the Bernard street locale would not be renewed.
The city of Montreal issued a press release today announcing that, after all, it would be renewing No. 900’s lease, which was poised to expire at the end of this month, for an additional five years — until 2026.
In September, TVA reported that restaurant co-owner Mélanie Mailhot had been negotiating with the city since May, when she had first discovered that the lease would be terminated on March 31, 2021. At the time, she told TVA that she “fell off her chair” upon reading the email.
According to that same TVA report, the city had offered her the possibility of prolonging the lease for one additional year if No. 900 agreed to stop using a 585-square-foot storage space located in the basement of the theatre, so that the city could use it for tentative “cultural projects” instead. However, since accommodating that request would lead to costs in renovations, Mailhot believed it warranted a lease extension of at least four years.
While the particularities of the deal ultimately agreed upon by No. 900 and the city of Montreal (which owns Théâtre Outremont) are not shared in the press release, Outremont borough mayor Philipe Tomlinson is quoted saying, “[S]olutions were found to issues relating to noise, cleanliness and odours.”
No. 900’s Bernard Street branch began slinging pies in August 2014, at the time generating rave reviews from the likes of Lesley Chesterman in the Montreal Gazette and Marie-Claude Lortie in La Presse. The pizzeria has since gone on to open 25 franchises, including off-island locations in Sherbrooke, Quebec City, and Saint-Sauveur.