Having observed the Quartier des spectacles evolve first hand, I've reached the (personal) conclusion that it is a dud. A complete dud. No, I'm not talking about 11pm during the Jazz, I'm talking about every other night. People keep asking me where the fun is, and I have to refer them to the western edge of downtown or further up in the Plateau/Mile-end. Even McGill street in OM is livelier than the QDS. How do they expect to build an entertainment district when all you have are clothes shops, concert venues that die after 11pm and this piece of shit:
wikipedia
And don't get me started about la place des festivals, which is a great idea, but just doesn't look and feel like a public space. I mean is it a slope? A street? It's framed by abandoned buildings, the parking garage of a museum and a desolate parking lot. During the day it is cluttered with orange cones and barricades for random fountain retrofit #125.
Montreal as usual, good ideas, shitty, half-assed execution.