Increasingly struggling to accommodate its students, the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) is eyeing the Voyageur islet site, where it would like student residents to emerge as part of the real estate development that will be retained by the the administration of Valérie Plante at the end of the sale of this land, noted The duty.
Last March, the City launched a call for tenders for the sale of the land in the southern portion of Voyageur Island, which it had acquired for the sum of $18 million in 2018. The document specifies that the developer who will be selected at the end of this process will have to commit to carrying out a vast residential rental project including, at the very least, 20% social housing and just as much affordable housing, as well as apartments of three bedrooms or more. The City hopes that work can begin in the summer of 2025 on this land located at the intersection of the Village and the Latin Quarter, east of the city center.
Few developers have until now proposed to give a second wind to this old coach station, which will have to be demolished to make way for this future real estate complex. UQAM, a neighbor of this site, however launched a call for interest notice on May 13 on the Electronic Tendering System in order to find “interested companies [par] public call for tenders” from the City and who would be ready “to consider [le fait d’]integrate university student residences into the building” which will see the light of day on the Voyageur block site.
The university is therefore asking interested companies to evaluate the costs that would be linked to an “occupation” of part of the Voyageur block by student residences, and to propose the “anticipated financing structure” to make this project a reality.
“UQAM currently has just over 900 housing units. In the current context of housing scarcity, the University is keen to offer even more affordable housing options to members of its community. We are enthusiastic that the project carried out on this site meets [nos] concerns in this regard,” explains for his part in an email to Duty the director of communications at UQAM, Jenny Desrochers.
The University is not the only organization to want student housing to see the light of day on this site. This is also the case for the Work Unit for the Implementation of Student Housing (UTILE), which builds non-profit student housing in several Quebec cities.
“The Latin Quarter would benefit from a stronger student presence,” argues the president and CEO of UTILE, Laurent Levesque, who confirms having discussions “with several potential partners at the moment, including UQAM and promoters” who would like to build affordable student accommodation on part of this site.
The office of Mayor Valérie Plante did not want to comment on UQAM’s interest in this site so as not to harm the current call for tenders.
A sector to develop
UQAM’s interest in the Voyageur island is, however, reminiscent of the long and costly saga into which the University was immersed in 2005 when it began a real estate project which was initially supposed to be self-financing. on this site. The quadrangle was to include a university pavilion, student residences, an office building and a new bus station, among other things. The project, however, ended up stalled, in addition to resulting in expenditures of approximately $200 million from the Quebec government, in order to prevent the University from going bankrupt.
However, since then, the need for student housing has continued to grow in the metropolis, where rents are skyrocketing. “It would be wise for there to be a student residence section on this site; it would be strategic for UQAM,” underlines Francis T. Durocher, general director of the Entremise organization, which is currently supervising a transitional occupation of the travel island, where half a dozen organizations have taken up temporary residence.
“If the City truly wants the well-being of its citizens, it is up to it to ensure that these needs are met. And there, we are really in the backyard of UQAM and we know that it needs student housing,” says the head of Ensemble Montréal, Aref Salem. The latter deplores the fact that the City did not involve UQAM and UTILE from the start in the project aimed at breathing new life into this site.
“I find that the City missed an opportunity to bring all the partners around the table and propose a structuring project for everyone” on this site, believes the elected official.