It isn’t the first time Montreal’s storied red light district has been scheduled for a facelift. But artists at Café Cléopâtre are banding together to protest new plans that would see the city’s naughty corner changed forever and its last remaining show bar demolished.

Quartier des Spectacles has two projects going into public consultation this week. The first is 2-22, an eight-storey structure that will fill the vacant lot on the southeast corner of St-Laurent and Ste-Catherine and house many non-profit artists’ groups already on the strip.

The real trouble is brewing over the second building, called the Quadrilatère. In December, Angus Development Corporation bought six buildings on the west side of St-Laurent below Ste-Catherine for $6-million with plans to build a modern 12-storey complex which would combine commercial and office space and alter the scale of the street.

The city unilaterally approved the project and drew up a permit that would allow developer Angus to demolish all the buildings between Ste-Catherine and Monument-National, so long as they preserve the original Victorian-era facades.

But the remaining mainstays on this strip aren’t selling, including Café Cléopâtre (John Zoumboulakis has owned the building for 25 years); Montreal’s first Middle Eastern grocery store, Main Importing Grocery Inc.; and steamie mainstay Montreal Pool Room.

"In the end, the marginal underside of the city will be lost. This is the last show bar in Montreal from the ’50s. It’s also a very important place for the survival of artists who don’t have much money to produce big events in big venues," says Eric Paradis, who runs Montreal Fetish Weekend and Club Sin, and whose artists perform and practise at Café Cléopâtre.

"The city is trying to call this the artist and entertainment district, but they made absolutely no provision to relocate marginalized artists."

He likens the new building to "exchanging aged Gruyère cheese for a Kraft single slice."

Public hearings will be held June 8 (2-22 project) and June 9 (Quadrilatère). Opinions must be submitted in writing by June 4. Documents and info can be found at ocpm.qc.ca or call 514-872-3568. To learn more about the Artists of Café Cléopâtre coalition, visit www.clubsin.ca.