Mordecai Richler gazebo finally finished

After five years, numerous delaysand a total cost of$700,000, the Mordecai Richlergazebo in Montreal's Mount Royal Park is ready for use.

The refurbishment of the decaying bandstand to honour the Montreal-born authoron the mountain's eastern flankwas first announced in 2011, and work began in 2015.

• What you can buy with $700K, and why the gazebo took so long

Renovationswere supposed to be finished that fall, but the deadline was repeatedly pushed back as new problems emerged and itspricetag nearly doubled.

Richler, who was born in Montreal in 1931,was recognized internationally for his literary talent, penning classics such asThe Apprenticeship ofDuddyKravitzandBarney's Version, which were both set in Montreal and made into feature films. He died in 2001.

A mural of Richler'slikeness has also been completed on a building onLaurierStreet in the PlateauMont-Royal borough.

It was quietly unveiled Monday in the presence of his widow.

'He would have been first to mock this whole process'

While there hasn't been an official announcement for the structure,the fencing around the structurehas been dismantled, and the gazebo is now opento the public.

"I think it looks pretty nice but it cost far too much and took far too long," Projet Montral councillor Alex Norris said."We're talking about three quarters of a million dollars and five years to essentially restore a gazebo, anexisting gazebo."

Norris said the city should provide an explanation for the delays after Mayor Denis Coderre repeatedly promised to have it completed in 2015.

Bill Brownstein, who was a good friend of Richler's and is a columnist for the Montreal Gazette, said theproject isexcessive and not what the notoriously curmudgeonly authorwould have wanted.

"I'm sure he would have been the first to mock this whole process and it wouldn't have been something he would have ever coveted," Brownstein said.

"But this is what happens when politicians and people try to make compromises and cost overruns.I mean, the lunacy of this all."

The gazebo is just a few blocks away from Richler's beloved St-UrbainStreet, where he grew up and which is featured in many of his novels.