Dozens of gas stations have closed in recent years in Montreal, the start of a wave that is unlikely to stop. For the metropolis, the stakes are high: will these lands – often contaminated, but very well located – be abandoned or redeveloped?
In the central districts of the metropolis, closures are occurring at a rapid pace.
“I would have had to spend $700,000 to change the tanks. With electric cars and all that, it wasn’t worth it,” explained Michael Gampieris, who closed his gas station at the corner of Parc and Van Horne last June, after 37 years in business.
“It is certain that in the next five or six years, there will be a lot of stations in town that will close,” he continued. Few people buy gas stations to operate them, Mr. Gampieris says.
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The numbers prove him right. Between 2021 and 2023, the number of gas stations would have increased from 399 to 375 in Montreal, according to Statistics Canada. However, a methodological change that occurred last year makes comparisons difficult.
“Gas stations are all sites that have real estate development potential,” explained Simon Boyer, head of the real estate brokerage firm specializing in land Landerz. “The majority of them are destined to be transformed, so I think this trend will continue. »
And that may just be the tip of the iceberg.
I can confirm that there are several gas stations that would like to close and sell the land for development, but they are unable to do so because the cost of decontamination is too high.
Simon Boyer, boss of the real estate brokerage firm specializing in land Landerz
Mr. Boyer mentions environmental regulations which now require rapid decontamination after the cessation of activities.
“No need to go very, very far” from central neighborhoods to find gas stations whose land is worth less than the decontamination costs, according to him.
“Build the city on itself”
The City of Montreal does not keep track of the gas stations on its territory, indicated its communications department.
The fact remains that this trend is of great interest to Robert Beaudry, elected head of town planning on Valérie Plante’s executive committee. In his eyes, these terrains represent both challenges and opportunities.
These are lands that are often extremely well positioned, but they are often lands that are very contaminated. We want to develop these lands.
Robert Beaudry, elected head of town planning on Valérie Plante’s executive committee
Like vacant lots and surface parking lots, old gas stations represent “an opportunity to build the city on itself,” he continued. Thanks to their often significant size, these lands “make it possible to develop public infrastructure such as parks or to encourage real estate development”.
In the first scenario, Mr. Beaudry cites in particular the flood-prone Fleurs-de-Macadam park, on Avenue du Mont-Royal, installed on the land of the former gas pump of the family of singer Jean-Pierre Ferland.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Place des Fleurs-de-Macadam, avenue du Mont-Royal, is equipped with rainwater retention basins.
But the City does not want (and cannot) acquire all these lots. Hence his desire to support developers who want to acquire them for social housing or other types of projects, he assures.
The objective: to prevent old service stations, sometimes contaminated, from remaining fallow for many years. “It destroys the dynamism of a street,” he said. “We have tools: we already tax twice a vacant lot served” and the City would like to convince Quebec to allow it to further increase the bill.
“We bought dozens of them”
One of these long-dormant lots is at the corner of rue Saint-Denis and avenue des Pins, in Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, where an Esso station closed a decade ago. After years of fallowness, a construction site is underway: the developer Mondev is erecting a building of 33 condos. The same company is also developing another plot of the same type at the corner of rue Saint-Catherine and avenue Papineau.
“We’ve bought dozens” of old gas stations in the last 30 years, explains Michael Owen, co-owner of Mondev.
The businessman likes the fact that these places are often extremely well placed and that their positioning at intersections often makes it possible to build higher and more easily than elsewhere, under town planning rules.
And Mr. Owen doesn’t worry about the legacy of gas tanks, which often leaked fuel beneath the surface of the ground for years.
“The gas stations that belong to the oil companies, they are used to decontaminating them before selling them,” he said. I’m not used to being afraid just for the sake of being afraid. A site which is decontaminated properly by experts and which is monitored by experts, by engineers, I have no concerns. In any case, we do our own checks. »