The community organization Interloge is in the home stretch to acquire Manoir Lafontaine, a 14-storey building that has become a symbol of the resilience of tenants in the context of the housing crisis. The City of Montreal has also authorized a $5.6 million grant to help the organization carry out an affordable housing project in this building.
The social economy organization had expressed interest in acquiring the building put up for sale by owners and associates Brandon Shiller and Jeremy Kornbluth for $28 million. The amount that the organization will pay to acquire this building in the coming weeks was not revealed on Friday, but “it’s really below that”, assures the Duty the head of housing on the executive committee, Benoit Dorais. In 2019, this building was acquired by its current owners for the sum of 15 million dollars.
According to our sources, few buyers had shown interest in acquiring this building which, although ideally located, is in very poor condition and has about ten tenants motivated to keep their right to live in the premises at a rent below the market average. Interloge, which had informed the City last fall of its interest in acquiring this building, now finds itself in the final stages of the process which should enable it to acquire this building.
“Soon, Interloge will be able to get their hands on Manoir Lafontaine,” confirms Mr. Dorais, who does not hide his enthusiasm. “We are really proud. We’ve been working with different partners to get there for months, ”says the elected official, who affirms that the City and the borough of Plateau-Mont-Royal have done everything to “put a spoke in the wheel” for the owners. of the building to prevent them from carrying out “renovictions”.
Important renovations
During a meeting of the executive committee held Friday morning, the elected officials also approved the payment of a $5.6 million grant for the acquisition and renovation by Interloge of the building located at 3485, avenue Papineau, opposite from La Fontaine Park. The documents provided by the City indicate that priority will be given to the ten or so households that still reside in the building and that they will be temporarily relocated during the renovations.
However, the organization anticipates that the estimated total bill for the project to provide 91 affordable housing units in this building will be $39 million. A situation attributable in part to the major renovations that are necessary in this building. “There are enormous works to be done in the housing”, but also on the structure of the building, its plumbing and its electrical system, lists Benoit Dorais.
To complete the financial package for this project, Interloge mainly plans to rely on loans that would be granted to it by Desjardins and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the organization indicated to the Duty. In the meantime, the announcement of this imminent transaction is already a relief for the tenants of Manoir Lafontaine, who had to fight before the Administrative Housing Tribunal to obtain the right to remain in their accommodation, which some have occupied for decades.
“We’re talking about an NPO for which the priority is to ensure the well-being of people, so it’s something more reassuring than living with real estate speculators,” says tenant Pascal Lavoie, who has lived in this building since 2018, where he rents a two-bedroom unit for $1,000 a month. In an interview, he affirms that it was the tenants of the building who had contacted Interloge after the building was put up for sale to sound out its interest in acquiring it.
“It was a great opportunity to secure housing in the heart of downtown,” recalls Mr. Lavoie, visibly moved by this outcome. “We are very happy. »
The City of Montreal, for its part, intends to contribute to the purchase of several other buildings in the metropolis in order to get them out of the “speculative market”, says Benoit Dorais. “We have several other transactions in the line of sight,” assures the elected municipal official.