MONTREAL — What a difference a change of address can make.
About a dozen furriers have moved to 460 Chabanel Street in the north end of the city from downtown after a gentrification program resulted in their rents jumping from as little as $5 a square foot to $16 (converted from Canadian collars) in the Fifties-era Gordon Brown Building in the heart of the fur district.
The district around Boulevard de Maisonneuve became a fur manufacturing hub in the 1900s when several furriers moved up from St. Paul Street in Old Montreal in search of larger premises.
Initially, many furriers were upset to leave an area where some family-owned businesses had been for more than 50 years. But now they’re singing a different tune.
“Originally, I was very angry,” said George Musi, owner of Musi Furs, who moved in October. “I was paying $8.50 [U.S. $7.30] a square foot downtown for 2,500 square feet and they were going to bump it up to $18.50 [U.S. $16]. Now I’ve got almost double the space at $6 [U.S. $5] a square foot.”
Musi also moved from the 10th floor downtown to the ground floor with a showroom on the street. Apart from higher rent, he was upset when construction workers started tearing down walls that contained asbestos next to his office .
“Here were these guys wearing protective suits and masks, and family members and I were being exposed to asbestos dust,” he said.
Furko Canada owner Terry Vourantonis is also happy in his new digs, 5,000 square feet at less than what he was paying downtown. The Chabanel area houses many of Canada’s apparel manufacturers and importers.
“If I had stayed, my rent would have gone from $6.50 [U.S. $5.60] to $10 [U.S. $8.60] and up to $15.50 [U.S. $13.35] by the third year, but they weren’t willing to negotiate. I came here to satisfy my curiosity and now I have a storefront across from 555 Chabanel, which is the number-one fashion address in Canada. Three boutique owners walked into my showroom and bought from us, which never would have happened downtown, where I was on the 10th floor. I’m also four minutes by car from home. I should have moved years ago,” said Vourantonis.
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A spokesperson for Gestion SIDEV, which manages both the Gordon Brown Building and the new furrier location at 460 Chabanel, said fur companies have taken 80,000 square feet of the 240,000 square feet available and that he gets calls almost daily from others who want to move in.
Other furriers who have joined Musi and Furko are Dino & Gispari, Dee-Mee Furs, Dominique Furs and Michos Bros. Fur Co., which is in the same building as Furko, but has a separate address on Avenue du Parc, the main entrance.