A group of developers, architects and urban planners proposes to densify the Bridge-Bonaventure sector, near the city center, by building 7,500 housing units there, while the City of Montreal is planning 3,800 in this district.
Posted at 2:32 p.m.
The group of 10 firms active in the field of real estate, which gave itself the name of Vision Bridge-Bonaventure, presented its development project on Tuesday, claiming to want to fight the housing shortage, fight against climate change by discouraging urban sprawl and allowing many citizens and families to stay or return to live in the city.
“The proposed vision will make it possible to have a positive impact in terms of densification by creating more spaces for parks and riverside trails, as well as community and cultural facilities,” says Louis T. Lemay, President of the design and architecture firm Lemay in a press release.
“We have a responsibility to take these very topical issues into account. The introduction of tall buildings is therefore necessary in order to allow maximum clearance on the ground for the benefit of the quality of the living environment,” adds Brian Fahey, of Fahey & Associés, an urban planning and architecture firm from landscape and urban design.
The project provides for more than 7,500 new housing units in the Pointe-du-Moulin sectors, the Peel and Wellington basins and the Pointe-Saint-Charles triangle, including 1,400 family housing units and 20% social housing.
According to the developers, their plan has an average floor space ratio of 4.2. It is therefore lower than that of downtown (12), Griffintown (10.5) and the development sector of Radio-Canada/Molson (6).
Their vision also includes the establishment of an innovation zone for the research and development of companies related to clean technologies, a new REM station, the redevelopment of Bridge Street, a variety of public and private services nearby. and the redevelopment of the areas around the quays for collective and recreational tourism purposes, in continuity with the Lachine Canal and the Old Port.
Consulting
Vision Bridge-Bonaventure is launching today a consultation process with community and economic groups, as well as citizens. An open house event to present their project will take place this evening and will be followed by individual meetings with stakeholders over the coming weeks.
According to the group, the consultative process will fuel the discussion in anticipation of the public consultation on the master plan for the sector that will be held by the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM) in early fall.
Last March, the City of Montreal presented its plan for the sector, which provides for 3,800 new units, including 1,270 social and affordable housing units as well as 320 family units. We propose 48 hectares of new public green spaces and five kilometers of shoreline, along the river and the Lachine Canal, in addition to a dozen kilometers of bike paths.
The City wants to triple the number of jobs in the neighborhood to 6,500.
The project does not include the baseball stadium that some promoters imagined in the Peel Basin area.
After the unveiling of the City’s project, developers denounced its low density; they then claimed to be able to build between 12,000 and 15,000 homes in the area.