La Nesra is a new event-venue opening soon in Montreal!

Dr. Mitch Schulman is going to be joining us here in about 10 minutes with our two-minute checkup. It'll be good to talk to Mitch as always. 740 on the button. There's a new, a new events venue that's set to open here in Montreal in just a few months. It's called Le Nestra. And one of the creators and co-owners of the venue is Adam Bolts and he's on the line to tell us more. Adam, good morning. Good morning. Happy holidays. Happy holidays to you. Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Adam, did I pronounce the name of the venue properly? Le Nestra.

That's exactly right. Where does the name come from? Well, I like to tell people that the name means in Greek a way to come together and celebrate. But the truth is, it's the former venue, Arsenal's named backwards. So we're changing it up. I love it. So it's going to be situated inside the Arsenal and Griffin tell, which is a fantastic venue. Tell me about the decision to create this new venue. You obviously believe that this is something the city needs.

Absolutely. So my partners and I have been looking for a space for, I will say, over 10 years now. There are some great venues in Montreal, but none of which are really dedicated and this large to be able to customize something really experiential for events in Montreal. There's always the traditional Windsor Station and the old port, but truthfully,

Montreal need the dedicated venue that's built from the ground up for events. So at looking at spaces, we wanted to find something that was downtown adjacent and something that would allow for the other producers and planners of the world to come to Montreal and really create something amazing. What would be the capacity in terms of bodies in there?

We can sit for a gala style over a thousand people or for cocktail style over 1500 people. So it's pretty big. Adam, it's interesting. You mentioned the, uh, the old Windsor train station, right? Well, I've gone to a couple of weddings there, but from what I understand and correct me if I'm wrong, when you sort of, uh, and this is not a knock against the Windsor location. It's a, it's a, it's a beautiful, it's a beautiful building, but I don't really think, uh, I think you just get the room itself, right? What kind of facilities can you offer at this new venue?

So I appreciate you saying that because part of what we're trying to do is make something that's purposely built for events and a kitchen facility with in-house catering.

large-scale rigging structures in the ceiling, all allowed for more flexibility and less time that you have to rent the space. So from a business model, it's good for us, but it's also good for a client that needs to come in and doesn't really have to re-spend on infrastructure, if you know what I mean. Where that embolts you, it's one of the creators of a brand-new venue that's going to be open. You're taking bookings now, and Place Officially Opens, is that March I read somewhere?

march first we are taking bookings but i'm actually pleased to announce that even before we open we're going to be producing one of the events for the n h l who's doing the four nations in montreal that you act so if you build it they will come can and how does uh... montreal rank in terms of uh... of being a destination for corporate events are we up there work are we competitive

People want to come to Montreal. It's fun. There's so many different entertainment options, but similar to the Taylor Swift scenario where we don't get big concerts, often we don't get big conferences because, yes, Palette Congres, an incredible venue, but it's one venue and Montreal needs other types of off-site

destinations to be able to accommodate these conferences and corporate events. So I would say that Montreal ranks high in principle, but with a venue like Linestra, it'll give more opportunities to planners and destination managers to bring people to Montreal. And that's good for the economy. I guess this is, you know, it's going to be an option to trying to find a spot, you know, on the, on the, the last bond of venture in the Palais de Conquere calendars, which sometimes can be booked and you can have a hard time like finding that date, that, that appropriate date for your event.

Yeah, and also not every venue or not every event rather needs large scale venues. Just remember, conferences are changing and people are always looking for something a little bit more bespoke and unique to represent a more modern approach. And again, that's not to take away from the amazing facilities in Montreal, but if you can create something that's let's say a five, six hundred person venue that retransforms throughout the three, four days and we're ready to accommodate those, I think that's going to really give us a unique perspective and offering.

Adam, you describe it as a fully convertible venue. Can you just elaborate a little more on that when you say it's fully convertible? Yeah, the venues that we built and we always want to look at the most possible options for our client can be changed from one day look like a conference as we were describing or a full scale wedding with large production, a stage show that maybe has a musical act that corporate group brings in.

A convertible space just means that instead of having a specific look and feel, it's always able to change based on the infrastructure of the space. So you could hang curtain, you could rig, you could change the floor.

there are really no limitations to the creativity that the planners and producers can do. Adam, just as we wrap up, I think we met maybe during the pandemic because I was at a couple of events that you had the round Royal Mount, right? You had the Royal Mount drive-in for a while too, I think. Yeah, we started the pandemic trying to answer the needs of the Montreal community with the drive-in and then post that, we had the Jardin Royal Mount, which was the outdoor space when the COVID restrictions were tight. So

We're trying to really look at Montreal's needs and try to see what's next and stay ahead of the game. I do remember you coming and celebrating the idea that people could come together. So this is another way for them to come together. And just before I let you go, how about a shout out to your partners in crime here? I have two amazing partners, both Lauren Levitt and Adam Mariani. Lauren comes from the production world and Adam Mariani is the foremost expert in catering.

and together we really bring in the power house team to put on events from Montreal and allow for others to plan and produce there as well. People want more information, where can they go? Is there a website set up? Absolutely. Linestra.ca. So, la nestra1word.ca and all the information is there. Linestra is N-E-S-R-A and it's yeah, inside the Arsenal in Griffin Town. Great spot. Adam, congratulations. And you know, anything new to the city to make it more

More successful, more viable as a destination for these events. We'll take it. Good for you. Thanks, Ken. I can't wait to see you there. Absolutely. That's Anna Boltz and a brand new venue set to open in a couple of months, even before that too with that NHL event.

746, weather-wise, we're looking at what eventually will be a sunny day. You wouldn't think so right now, but at least where we're looking, as I look towards the east here at the corner of Papadon and Reynold Levesque, it's kind of gray and misty and cold, minus 10, that minus 10 at the moment, sorry, minus 17, excuse me, minus 10 is the daytime high, minus 17 at the moment, feels like minus 20, but hopefully that sunshine will appear and will hit that high of minus 10, but it will feel colder with the wind chill factor.

Things you can do, little things you can do that women can do to sort of increase or decrease your chances of having hard issues. When it comes to exercise, kind of like sporadic little things you can do to get the heart pumping through the day at different points in the day. All right, we're going to talk to Dr. Mitchell about that. When we come back here on CJAD 800.