High-Rise Montreal (HRM), developer of the social housing tower that was never built on the site of the former Montreal Children’s Hospital, will be entitled to a reimbursement of municipal taxes from the City for the years 2019 and following.
Posted yesterday at 4:41 p.m.
The Administrative Tribunal of Quebec, Real Estate Division, rendered its decision on May 24. Following the City’s decision to lower the zoning from 20 to 4 storeys, the land value must be lowered, the Court ruled, which the City had refused to do until then.
The City persisted in asserting that the land was worth 6.6 million despite the lowering of the height. However, it is worth 1.612 million, determined the specialized court.
According to High-Rise, the City owes him $150,000 plus accrued interest. The Mayor’s office has indicated that it is too early at this stage to confirm the amount involved.
In this saga of Tower 6, the developer is jointly suing the City and Mayor Valérie Plante for 20 million because of their actions in the case.
At the heart of the lawsuit is the June 7, 2017 contract between the developer and the City. It supervises the construction of a tower of 174 social housing units on the site of Tower 6 on the site of the former Montreal Children’s Hospital, boulevard René-Lévesque Ouest. The promoter undertook to build the accommodation and the City to buy the building once the work was completed. In the absence of social housing, the contract provides that the promoter pays a penalty of 6235 million to the City.
After the signing, the parties negotiated for two years, from 2017 to 2019, in order to realize the tower. These discussions ended in an impasse. The developer then proposed to build a private project without social housing and to pay the penalty provided for in the contract. In response, the City re-zoned Tower 6, lowering the allowable height from 20 to 4 stories in fall 2019.
The June 2017 agreement was at the heart of the questions heard recently at the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM), reported The duty on June 2. The organization was mandated to examine the City’s intentions regarding this land following the abandonment of social housing.
The daily mentions that the Habiter Ville-Marie group is asking for a “public inquiry” to be held on this whole affair.