Dr. Henry Olders of the Westmount Municipal Association first raised the issue in August. Besides Plaza Tower, One Westmount Square has also been mentioned as a hotel on two Internet web sites, he maintains.

Plaza Tower has been offering short-term leases as brief as a month, raising questions as to whether its owners are violating a Westmount bylaw that forbids hotels. The City has previously shut down establishments which were found to be operating as such.

Disputing a recent report that stated Plaza Tower’s owners were renting out apartments on short-term leases lately, John Johnston, who is a tenant in the building, told council on Sept. 25, “this has been going on for years and years. Ten or 15 years ago it was brought to the attention of the director-general that Alexis Nihon was advertising itself as a hotel.

“I would like this matter to be looked at very thoroughly by the council. Because 10 or 15 years ago we had a very strong tenants’ association, and I think you’re going to see a new tenants’ association formed to keep this matter before the council.�

Johnston pointed out that Plaza Tower advertises in the hotels section of the Montreal Yellow Pages. While the building’s advertisement does indeed appear there alongside dozens of other ads for well-known hotels in the city, the plaza ad refers only to “furnished apartments.�

Johnston contended that a claim from another source that Plaza Tower never leases for less than a month was false. “Apartments have been renting now, especially during the summer periods, for two days or more,� he said.

“Those of us who have lived there a long time know who the other people are and we can talk to people ... Our main entrance is like Grand Central Station during the summer with people coming and going, and I would like this matter to be looked at very

thoroughly by the council.�

Johnston said the question of whether Plaza Tower is a hotel or an apartment building raises important questions for the tenants about liability for the building and personal property. “If we’re living in a building which, in fact, is classified as a hotel, our insurance will go up,� he said.

On a related issued, Johnston also

complained that renovation work has been taking place at Plaza Tower since late last year, even though municipal construction permits were only posted in June.

Mayor Karin Marks said building inspectors are always on the road and on the lookout for violators. “But I can’t guarantee you that they always see absolutely everything,� she said. “They try to do so and that is their goal.�