A touch of urbanity in Joliette | Press

Le Faubourg, a micro-neighborhood whose construction began in September, in Joliette, is ambitious. This project, led by the Evex Group and witness to the evolution of the residential rental market, will eventually include 228 rental apartments in 7 buildings.

Danielle Bonneau
Press

The residential rental market is changing, notes Alexandre Larocque, president and co-founder of Groupe Evex, based in Lanaudière. The Faubourg wants to meet the expectations of new types of tenants, looking for a place where they will be proud to live in the long term.

“A lot of people sell their house and want to move into a rental apartment where they will live for 10, 15 or 20 years,” he says. Young people, for their part, no longer necessarily buy a house as soon as they work. Access to property is more and more difficult and they also come to us. ”

Since its creation in L’Assomption in 2016, the Evex Group has built some sixty buildings, totaling more than 800 rental apartments, which it manages. The Faubourg is the most important real estate project piloted by Alexandre Larocque, who jumps at the opportunity to stand out. The set should include 228 rental apartments, spread over 7 buildings: 3 of them will have 3 floors (24 apartments), 3 others will have 4 floors (32 apartments). And the 7^e, still on the drawing board, should have 5 floors accommodating 60 apartments. The first building should be completed in the fall of 2022; construction is expected to be completed in four years.

“We don’t necessarily want to do what’s already being done,” explains the 31-year-old entrepreneur. We want to try to come up with projects that are a little more sophisticated, like the one in Joliette. With its 228 units, it is an important project for a municipality of 25,000 inhabitants. We want this to be meaningful both for the municipality and for future residents. ”

He sat down with Patrick Blanchette, co-founder of Blanchette Architectes, with whom he works on real estate projects in Joliette, L’Assomption and Repentigny, to deepen his reflection.

“It is the arrival of a new scale in its portfolio, which is very opulent, if we consider the number of years in business, which leads Groupe Evex to exceed what it has done elsewhere,” estimates Mr. Blanchette. , whose agency is located in Montreal. He looked at what is happening in Montreal, but also in the world, to go further. Of course, there is always a budgetary reality that governs the project, but the watchword has always been to give a little more to the residents, to bring a form of urbanity and to ensure that we have a community that lives well. ”

Stand out

The Faubourg therefore stands out in several ways in Lanaudière. “The seven buildings will be within walking distance of all services,” indicates Alexandre Larocque. Tenants will be able to do their shopping, go to the grocery store and the pharmacy on foot. For us, this is a very positive element. ”

All buildings, even those with three floors, will be equipped with elevators to facilitate the movement of tenants and their visitors.

“It’s not mandatory to install an elevator in three-story buildings, but it’s something that we, as a builder, have decided to put forward,” he continues. We haven’t always done it elsewhere, but more and more people with reduced mobility are finding it difficult to find accommodation. ”

Trees will be preserved and there will be lots of green space thanks to underground parking. There is in fact no question of devoting almost all of the land to outdoor parking, as is too often done outside large cities.

“We invested a little more to make the neighborhood more attractive to future residents,” says the developer. We are also investing heavily in electricity to provide for the installation of charging stations in 95% of our parking spaces. The demand is not there yet, but it is expected that it will be in the next six or seven years. ”

The parking lots in the basement allow for walks and encourage walking and cycling, points out Patrick Blanchette.

“In Joliette, it’s not a rule of thumb to have one bike parking per unit, because it’s very urban as a way of thinking,” he explains. In Montreal, people go to work by bicycle, but this is not the case in Joliette. We try to integrate it into the culture by putting the bike a little more on stage in the facilities we offer and by developing trails, which are also designed with a concern for universal access. ”

Build differently

Nordicity was also at the heart of the reflection surrounding this project, anchored in urban reality.

“We wondered what we could do for the regions and how we could get there,” says the architect, who grew up in Fermont. I come from the North. I’m always interested in how buildings experience winter. I visited Copenhagen, Stockholm and realized that architecture must be compact in the north. Cities often ask us to take steps forward, to step back. I try to very much purify the language of what we do. ”

The duo had a lot of discussions with the municipality to explain why they favored flat roofs, rather than the mansards and sloping roofs required in the regulations.

“The roofs with mansards take height, so as regards the studies of solar radiation, it is not happy to add these inclined roofs, explains Mr. Blanchette. Flat roofs allow certain uses on the roof, if desired. And with them, we arrive with a slightly more urban district inspired by what we see in Scandinavia, with compact buildings comprising less surfaces exposed to cold, wind and bad weather. ”

Multiple details and the use of lighting will differentiate the buildings. “We want a neighborhood that has one unit, but we want each of the buildings to have its own uniqueness, because you don’t want to mix up doors when you arrive home,” indicates Mr. Blanchette. The desire is to create a signature district. All the buildings together speak and have something to say, but when you cross the threshold, you know that you are in the Faubourg district. ”