Quebecor is taking a step forward with its social housing development project at 1600 De Maisonneuve Boulevard East in Montreal. The company is officially seeking sources of public funding to carry it out. However, several questions remain unanswered, nine months after the conglomerate announced that the TVA network would be leaving its historic head office as part of major cutbacks.
No specific timeline has been given regarding when TVA will move into the building at 4545 Frontenac Street, which has long housed the newsroom of the Montreal Journal“The moves will be carried out gradually over the coming months,” the management of the TVA Group reiterated on Thursday.
We do, however, know a little more about Quebecor’s intentions in relation to TVA’s current head office. An entry in the Quebec lobbyists’ registry dated mid-July indicates that the company plans to make representations to the City of Montreal and the Quebec Ministry of Housing in the coming months to “obtain the permits and public funding necessary for the transformation of the building.” The mandate registered by Quebecor under the law governing lobbying in Quebec is valid until the end of the year.
“We are concerned about the housing crisis and we are in discussions with the municipal authorities of Montreal and the government of Quebec on the possibility of converting part of the building into social housing,” TVA management was limited to confirming by email.
How many apartments could be built there? How much public funding will be required for the project to come to fruition? These questions “are premature at the moment,” responds Quebecor.
An important place for the sector
The company’s president and CEO, Pierre Karl Péladeau, had already raised the possibility that 1600 De Maisonneuve Boulevard East would be converted into social housing when he announced last November that TVA would be leaving the site. At the same time, he announced the layoffs of 547 employees of the television network, or nearly a third of its workforce.
Mr. Péladeau had also launched the idea that student residences could be set up in this building located a few blocks from the University of Quebec in Montreal.
Last March, The duty revealed that no serious discussions on the future of this imposing 11-storey building had yet been initiated between the various stakeholders, which worried the merchants in the area. The building is located in the heart of the Centre-Sud, one of the most deprived neighbourhoods in Montreal. The TVA Group, which has been based there for decades, is one of the largest employers in the area.
The City of Montreal’s Real Estate Strategy Department indicated on Thursday that it had not yet received any information regarding the conversion of 1600 De Maisonneuve Boulevard East into rental spaces.