What other life for industrial heritage?

After countless rejected proposals and dead ideas, what fate awaits Silo n^o 5 and Canada Malting, two sites that are part of Montreal’s heritage?

Their future is a subject that comes up regularly in the news. The concepts follow one another, then fade away, letting us believe, each time a little more, that time will eventually get the better of these industrial cathedrals.

I regularly pass these places and I am divided each time. Are we demonstrating therapeutic relentlessness towards these buildings which are dying before our eyes, or should we do everything to save them?

Before attending the disconnection of their artificial respirator, I wanted to take stock of these projects which continue to drive promoters, benevolent citizens and, hopefully, municipal authorities.

Since 2016, Noam Schnitzer, President of Renwick Development, has championed a daring transformation project for Canada Malting, this former factory located in Saint-Henri that supplied malt for decades to companies like Dow, Seagram, Labatt and Molson.

Abandoned since 1985, the site is owned by Steven Quon. The buildings and silos, which are a haunt for lovers of urban exploration, have become famous in recent years thanks to the presence of the mysterious little pink house erected at the top of a tower.

Over the course of meetings with the Sud-Ouest borough, the City and ardent defenders of heritage, the project, called La Malterie, has been transformed. Today it takes the form of 165 energy-efficient family housing, around sixty social housing units, 65 artist studios, collaborative spaces, offices, a commercial zone, an urban agriculture zone, a public park, as well as ‘an education center for autistic children.

The proponent also wishes to enter into an agreement with Parks Canada in order to obtain direct access to the bike paths along the Lachine Canal.

The plans for this project, now valued at 120 million, were drawn up by the firm Fischer, Rasmussen, Whitefield Architects. “Canada Malting has long played an important role in this neighborhood,” says Noam Schnitzer, founder of Renwick Development. It is high time she took on a new role for the community. And I want to show that the private sector can do that. ”

Noam Schnitzer, who is not his first real estate project based on a heritage site (Gillette Lofts, Southam Lofts), faces gigantic challenges: that of decontaminating the site and restoring buildings that have become very fragile , including some terracotta silos.

The project “is progressing well”, according to the promoter. An offer to purchase has been accepted, and despite “some complications with the seller”, Noam Schnitzer is convinced that he will be able to get his hands on this site which still has an industrial and commercial vocation. Dezoning will therefore be necessary.

The concept of Renwick Development is opposed to that of the collective À nous la Malting! This community project, valued at 42 million, would bring together social housing, as well as a food hub that would revolve around urban agriculture.

This concept would be funded by grants and loans from the public and private sectors. Added to this are the income generated by the rental of housing and commercial spaces.

The members of the collective are very critical of the Renwick Development project, which, according to them, does not meet the criteria set by the borough. On the contrary, Noam Schnitzer claims that the La Malterie project meets all expectations. The collective would like the City to obtain a set-aside for the site, which would ensure them an acquired right to the land and buildings.

“The mayor of the Sud-Ouest borough, Benoit Dorais, refuses to do so,” says Shannon Franssen, coordinator of the collective. And Mayor Valérie Plante remains soft. It disappoints us. For us, all of this is mysterious. ”

The Pointe-du-Moulin and Silo n land revitalization project^o 5 also stretches over time. Like many people, I thought he died his beautiful death. So I tried to find out more from the Canada Lands Company (CLC), responsible for the site, and Devimco, one of the three developers who submitted a proposal. Because, wrote my colleague André Dubuc, in July 2019, it is this firm that was chosen by a selection committee.

At the CLC, I was told that the complexity of the site (proximity to the railway, heritage aspect, municipal requirements) means that the work is still continuing with the City of Montreal. At Devimco, we simply added that a confidentiality agreement prevented them from commenting.

In short, 28 months after the choice of the project, no one is able to say what will happen to Silo n^o 5 which, since its decommissioning in 1994, has seen many concepts. Urban camping, relocation of the Museum of Contemporary Art, observatory, contemporary hotel, data storage center and aquarium are just a few unbridled ideas that never saw the light of day.

These two projects tell us a lot about the work of preserving and exploiting a heritage place whose appearance and initial vocation no longer have anything to do with our time.

The extreme slowness at which things are going testifies to our great caution, the many bureaucratic steps that must be taken and the limited means at our disposal to bring these places back to life.

Hopefully when it is time to take action, we will not discover that there is nothing more to do, as has so often happened in Montreal. Think of fire station 26 on Mont-Royal Avenue East. And also on the facades of the buildings which were at the Place du Carré Saint-Laurent.

For my part, I sincerely wish not to tell you about a new project concerning the Silo n^o 5 or Canada Malting in a few years.