Two large, almost contradictory real estate projects could soon change the face of the Latin Quarter, while the devitalization of this area of Montreal continues to worry its residents and merchants.
What there is to know
Valérie Plante announced on Friday that she wanted to see a project of 700 housing units replace the old Berri coach station.
A few dozen meters away, Hydro-Québec plans to install an electrical substation, just north of the Grande Bibliothèque.
These two projects will land in a Latin Quarter in crisis, hit by homelessness and drug addiction.
The City of Montreal announced Friday that it wanted to see a complex of 700 apartments replace the old bus station. Just on the other side of Berri Street, Hydro-Québec wants to erect an electrical substation in the heart of the neighborhood, raising significant criticism.
“Yes, there are vulnerabilities in the neighborhood,” said Valérie Plante on Friday, announcing that her administration wanted to receive proposals from real estate developers for the south of the Voyageur block, which now houses a decrepit building. . It has belonged to the City of Montreal since 2018. “The needs in the sector are glaring, we are extremely aware of this. »
Interested parties will have to submit their vision of development, particularly the number of affordable and social housing units they intend to include. In return, the sale price could represent “a fraction” of its market value.
“Our vision is very clear: maximum social and affordable housing,” said the mayor. She said she hoped to see “more than 700 units” and a commercial ground floor built with construction starting “as early as summer 2025”.
Important delays
“I know we were waiting for this step with great impatience and so were we,” admitted Valérie Plante. Its head of housing, Benoit Dorais, explained that the City had notably had to review its development plan after the pandemic due to the drop in interest in office spaces. The next steps should go faster, said the mayor.
The current buildings will be demolished. The new building could have the same height as Place Dupuis, which has 23 floors above ground, the Plante administration indicated.
In her first public speech since her appointment, the new vice-rector of the Latin Quarter of UQAM supported the project. “I think it’s completely in line with the priorities for the neighborhood,” said Priscilla Ananian. I am enthusiastic. »
Conversely, the official opposition at city hall expressed their disappointment. “We are very disappointed with what was presented this morning,” commented the opposition housing spokesperson, Julien Hénault-Ratelle. “It’s been six years since the City acquired the land and all we’re presented with this morning is a lack of vision. »
An electrical substation as a neighbor
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Hydro-Québec wants to use a grassy area in the middle of the Latin Quarter, north of the large library, at the corner of Ontario and Berri streets, to build an electrical transformer station.
It is likely that no one will be able to live or play on the other side of Berri Street, on a vacant lot currently grassed just north of the Grande Bibliothèque. This is because Hydro-Québec wants to buy the premises of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationaux du Québec (BAnQ) in order to install a 315,000 volt electrical transformation station. The facility would replace the Berri Coast post, which is striking for its brutalist architecture.
“We really don’t have many options,” explained Maxence Huard-Lefebvre, spokesperson for Hydro-Québec, who explained that a new position was necessary in this sector.
The station cannot be built too far from the place it serves. He must find himself within a perimeter which is quite limited, and this perimeter is already very dense.
Maxence Huard-Lefebvre, spokesperson for Hydro-Québec
Mr. Huard-Lefebvre assured that the state company would be very flexible on the design of these installations, as well as on the possibility of devoting part of the budget to a compensatory project. “We are well aware that currently, it is a space that serves as a park, where there is a garden,” he said. “Hydro-Québec is not happy to want to do a project in a place like that. » Because a transformer station is a technical installation which cannot be associated with another use.
Plante demands “architectural quality”
The idea of installing a technical building in this location attracted the wrath of the mother of the Grande Bibliothèque, Lise Bissonnette. “I understand the energy transition, but it’s cruel,” she told Montreal Journal. “We are at the heart of culture, we are next to UQAM, we are in the old Latin Quarter… And we decide that on such precious land, so extraordinarily located, we will simply do [un poste électrique technique]. »
On Friday, the mayor of Montreal did not express fundamental opposition to the project, but she stressed that it must be exemplary if it comes to fruition.
“We will have to guarantee green spaces,” said Valérie Plante, reporting requests already sent to Hydro-Québec. The state corporation should also “think[sse] outside the box in terms of architectural quality.”
Its head of town planning, Robert Beaudry, stressed that this project will “meet a need for electrical capacity in the sector, which is good for development”.