An enormous shopping complex planned for the Town of Mount Royal will hurt businesses in Montreal and sap its cultural vitality, a city hall planning committee heard Wednesday.

The controversial development project, known as Royalmount, is slated to open in 2022.

Wednesday's hearings before Montreal's committee on economic, urban and housing development was the first opportunity for many stakeholder to express their views on the project.

Caroline Tessier, who represents 16,000 Montreal merchants, said commercial vacancy rates are already high in the city; Royalmount will compound that problem.

"We think it's a little bit too much for a city which, right now, has issues about its economic development," said Tessier, who heads Montreal's association of commercial development (ASDCM).

Construction has already begun on the $1.7-billion mega-mall, which is being built in TMR's industrial sector at the junction of Highways 15 and 40.

It will span an area larger than 40 football fields, with enough space for 200 merchants.

'We need to attract people'

The ASDCM suggested Montreal offer financial compensation to store owners on major commercial arteries — including St-Denis and Ste-Catherine streets and Mont-Royal Avenue — in order to offset lost sales caused by Royalmount.

The money would go toward developing new economic projects, such as the Mural Festival on St-Laurent Boulevard, Tessier said.

"What we can do is make big projects, plan ahead and revitalize our streets and the consumer experience," Tessier said.

"We need to attract people in Montreal where the history and the authenticity of Montreal is."

Representatives of the downtown cultural industry are also concerned about the impact of the mega-mall, whose design includes two concert halls.

"It's better to have fewer halls that are full, than many halls that are half empty," said Jacques Primeau, speaking for the Quartier des spectacles.

"If Royalmount attracts 1.5 million spectators, that would potentially be a catastrophe for the halls in the Quartier des spectacles, and the metropolitan area."