Listed for sale for a dollar, the Saint-Paul center, a heritage building in the Sud-Ouest borough, in Montreal, is struggling to find a buyer. The City has therefore extended the deadline to allow bidders to submit a project that will ensure the survival of this building, in which colossal sums will have to be invested to bring it up to standard.
Among the 68 vacant or surplus buildings belonging to the city, according to a review published last year, is the Saint-Paul center, which once housed the city hall and the fire station of the municipality of Côte-Saint-Paul, which is today a district of the Sud-Ouest borough. The imposing building, which is part of a cited heritage site, was put up for sale for the sum of one dollar in May, as part of a call for proposals aimed at giving the place a new vocation. The borough’s zoning bylaw would allow the development of offices, artists’ studios, a restaurant, a bookstore or a grocery store.
“We sell it for a dollar to preserve the heritage. In fact, we are giving the building back to the community”, summarizes the Duty Émilie Thuillier, responsible for infrastructure, buildings and asset maintenance on the City’s Executive Committee.
Constraints
The problem is that the City has set strict requirements for the sale of this building, the first to be the subject of a program called IMPACT, which aims to find new owners for certain apartment buildings in the metropolis. The future buyer must, in particular, agree to obtain a building permit within 24 months of the signing of the deed of sale and to invest at least $3 million in the building over a period of four years following the acquisition. The asset maintenance and upgrading work required in the building is also estimated at $10 million by the City.
Thus, despite the interest of several community groups in the Sud-Ouest borough who would like to give a second life to this building, built in 1910, it remains to be seen whether they will have the means to take part in this call for projects. In this context, the deadline for submitting a proposal was recently extended by the City from August 10 to October 10, 2023.
“It is certain that the general context at the moment is not easy for anyone. We even hear major real estate developers tell us that the context is not simple. So are we surprised [du manque de candidatures déposées] ? Well, we’re trying, and it’s a big building, so we expect to receive bids from several people or groups who will come together to make bids,” Ms.me Thuillier.
However, the legal framework surrounding calls for tenders prevents the City from “connecting” community groups that could join forces – and their means – to take charge of this building, explains the elected representative of Projet Montréal. It is however difficult for “a single person” to bid for a project of such magnitude, “unless it is a patron or a very rich company”, continues the elected official.
If by October, no interesting proposal has been submitted concerning the building, the City will hold a “post-mortem” in order to “learn lessons” from this situation, in the hope of finding the best way to give a second life to the Saint-Paul center, indicates Émilie Thuillier.
Financing the renovation
The elected official recognizes that the existence of more generous subsidy programs that would finance the renovation of heritage buildings by the owners could allow the City to find takers for its many vacant historic buildings, the number of which has continued to grow in recent years.
“There is a one million dollar program funded half and half by the City and the Government of Quebec for the renovation of private heritage buildings. But it’s a million dollars for all the private owners of the city of Montreal, so it’s not huge, ”says Mme Thuillier, who asks Quebec to help him increase this amount.