“It’s ugly”, “aggressive gentrification”, “the community doesn’t want it”… Many Montrealers expressed their concern on social networks this week about the project of the real estate company Rester Management to build a hotel, offices and retail in the iconic Van Horne warehouse in Mile-End.
Since the said project derogates from several provisions of the Plateau-Mont-Royal Borough’s Urban Planning By-law and since the building is of heritage and emotional importance for the residents of the area, the City of Montreal exceptionally launched, on Monday, a questionnaire online to consult citizens on the proposed reassignment.
It is the borough council, following an opinion from its urban planning advisory committee, which will have to determine, between the summer and fall of 2023, whether the request for a “specific construction, modification or occupation of a building” issued by the promoter will be adopted or refused. The borough’s decision will therefore, in this case, be informed by the opinion of citizens.
Since Monday, social networks have been on fire and the online questionnaire has been very busy. “I’m quite blown away by the numbers,” explains Marie Plourde, municipal councilor who represents the Mile-End district. As of this writing, over 6,300 people have completed the survey. “Normally, when we get between 300 and 700 responses we are very happy,” adds the adviser.
“We must welcome this sensitivity,” says Paloma Castonguay-Rufino, doctoral student in architecture at the University of Montreal. “We have the opportunity to make an exemplary project”.
A controversial architecture
Under a Facebook post from the City of Montreal announcing the launch of the consultation, more than 300 people commented. “It’s ugly, it’s heavy,” protested a surfer, lamenting a lack of greenery around the project.
“The rear section bothers me a lot,” commented another. Why another monstrous structure, ugly and above all, which absolutely does not fit with the rest of the building which is made of brick. The project, designed by designer Zébulon Perron and architect Thomas Balaban, provides for a new annex to the original building, which is far from unanimous.
Justin Bur, an urban planner by training and a member of the board of directors of the organization Mémoire du Mile End, specifies that his colleagues remain torn as to how the project could enhance the heritage. If he salutes its “great architectural quality”, he explains that some people could consider, for example, that the enlargement of the windows which is planned could distort the building and make people forget its former vocation as a warehouse.
Ms. Plourde, who prefers to wait until the end of the public consultation before deciding herself on the project, however, wants to be reassuring. She is delighted that the original signs, as well as the water tower on the roof, “the only one left on the Plateau Mont-Royal”, would be restored and preserved.
An important symbol
Guillaume Éthier, professor of urban studies at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), underlines the great “landscape value” of this Mile End “icon” which has “marked the advertising imagination”. However, he regrets that the surroundings of the site remain inaccessible.
The professor therefore believes that whatever form the project takes, “there should be life around it”, with facilities such as public terraces. Ms. Castonguay-Rufino raises similar questions. “Quality spaces should be provided for the public, because there could be tensions between the private vocation of the project and the use that the public might want to make of it”.
“What is important for the citizens and for the applicant is first and foremost to ensure the longevity of this building, which is of exceptional value,” maintains Ms. Plourde. Will it be with this project or with another one? That remains to be seen. »
Gentrification fears
Many Internet users also indicated that they were worried that the project would contribute to further gentrifying this district, which has already changed a lot over the years. “Two opposing visions,” says Ms. Plourde. Some people believe that a hotel would alleviate the proliferation of illegal Airbnbs, and others believe that a luxury hotel clientele could cause small businesses to have to transform or be evacuated. »
Maxime Brown, a Montreal artist, suggested, on Facebook, that the reallocation of the project should allow “social uses” adapted to the needs of the neighborhood. “It is absolutely necessary to keep a light industrial use that serves the many SMEs, artists and musicians who are experiencing a shortage of premises,” he says, drawing inspiration from Building 7 in Pointe Saint-Charles.
Note, moreover, that the zoning regulations in force in the area would not allow the construction of housing on the site, and that since the Lac-Mégantic disaster, it is impossible to build permanent residences so close to railway tracks.
“If there was a miracle recipe against gentrification, we would know it,” retorts Ms. Plourde. The counselor does not close the door to solutions such as those proposed by Mr. Brown. However, it is “very delicate”, she says, since “it requires discussions” with the promoter and that he “could say no” to the conditions of the City and abandon the project.
“This raises a question: how far do we draw the line to maintain heritage?, asks Ms. Plourde. Great heritage buildings, if you don’t have anyone to maintain them, you risk losing them. »
It is therefore “the citizens who will have the last word”, concludes the adviser. Montrealers are called upon to complete the online questionnaire until February 12.