Will the sustainability of Montreal’s Chinatown finally be assured, at a time when many of its buildings and land have been bought up by real estate developers? A little over a year ago, faced with the flow of real estate transactions, the City of Montreal and the Ministry of Culture and Communications (MCC) had noted the risks that the neighborhood was running. They had jointly announced their desire to preserve it. Since then, nothing has changed, note with regret several of its defenders.
A “notice of intent to classify” has been duly registered for the former Davis and Sons cigar factory, located in the heart of the “heritage site of the institutional core of Chinatown”, also awaiting classification. Everything has been pending for more than a year.
Under Quebec law, the notice of intent to classify is for a maximum of one year. It can be renewed, but this must be announced publicly. The land register must include a statement of extension. The checks made by The duty indicate that such a notice of extension was not duly registered in the land register at the time when these words were written, more than a month after the expiry of the legal deadline.
On hold
“We have made requests to the ministry to find out what is going on,” explains Dinu Bumbaru, of Héritage Montréal. “No indication has been given to us on what the final scope of this protective measure will be, nor how exactly the artefacts and old equipment that Jean-Philippe Riopel has patiently identified will be protected. »
Tourist guide and resident of Chinatown for years, Jean-Philippe Riopel has documented the history of the district. “My father was already working in Chinatown when I was little. I know everyone here. They are my friends,” he explains.
In an old building occupied by the Wing family, targeted by the protection project, he found a number of objects that trace the history of the Chinese community. “The Wings kept a bit of everything. As they had space, they also stored the trunks of newcomers. Some have never been opened! The oldest, sealed since 1939, is a treasure in itself. Others have been piled up there, intact, since the 1950s. They tell, in their own way, a story of immigration.
The founder of the Wing company, Hee Chong Lee, was an immigrant who landed in Montreal in 1897, at a time when the City was implementing harsh vexatious measures against this community.
From 1946, the Wing company now manufactures fresh Chinese noodles, imperial rolls, wonton wrappers. The witnesses of this industrial and cultural activity have been largely preserved. “The Wings have kept a lot of objects. We spent hundreds of hours organizing this. We have created a collection. It tells more, much more than the history of the Chinese community”, explains Jean-Philippe Riopel, insofar as this district will be crossed by all kinds of cultural influences.
What will happen to these items? No measures to protect the interiors of these buildings have been planned. The former British and Canadian School (1826) and the former Free Presbyterian Church (1848), converted into a cigar factory (1884), present a preservation challenge. Especially since many buildings in the neighborhood have been bought by the same real estate developers: Investissements 1000 St-Urbain Ltée. This company, led by Brandon Shiller and Jeremy Kornbluth, is a branch of Hillpark Capital. The group now has more than 1,000 different civic addresses to its credit. He is regularly talked about.
A complex neighborhood
According to Jean-Philippe Riopel, his fellow Montrealers do not understand how important Chinatown is. “It’s an extremely wealthy neighborhood where everything intersects. It was one of the first settlements of the Jewish community. There were synagogues here. The buildings were built by French Canadians. A patriot of the revolutions of 1837-1838 even had his residence there.
“The age of the buildings should already attract attention. In the cigar factory, it was French speakers who worked there. It’s a complex district, particularly interesting”, explains Jean-Philippe Riopel.
During work in the ground, residents of the neighborhood unearthed more than 600 shards, medals, an old handgun, curious objects of all kinds that beg to be analyzed. “We realized that there were probably archaeological digs to be done here. You have to be blind not to measure the wealth of this district,” he insists.
A lack of transparency?
The MCC’s Heritage Directorate says in a letter that The duty was able to consult, that “categories” were added to the initial classification opinion “in order to clarify the requirements relating to the maintenance and protection of buildings”, without further details.
The MCC adds that “an additional period of six months is granted by the legislator so that the Ministry can transmit the categorization to the owners and allow them to submit their observations”. The process of protection is thereby lengthened. The public will not know, at best, until July 26, 2023, what exactly will happen to the neighborhood protection project.
The history and heritage facilitator, Bernard Vallée, notes with regret that only the owners are invited to submit their observations on the protected property and the requirements associated with it. “This is in addition to the opacity of the consultation process following the notice of intention to classify on January 21, 2022: the owner or any interested person had 60 days to make their point of view known to the Council. Cultural Heritage of Quebec (CPCQ). But it has issued no press release and has not put any information on its site to announce that it would receive comments or memoirs on the rankings in Chinatown! »
Bernard Vallée also regrets that the opinions of the CPCQ remain confidential, as well as the memoirs which in principle feed its reflection.
Fears
Dinu Bumbaru and Bernard Vallée fear the consequences of additional delays. According to Bernard Vallée, accidental or criminal disasters could affect “premises that are empty and abandoned or in the process of being abandoned”. It recalls the loss of a building, the Robillard Building, which was the first site for showing a film in North America in 1896. Located on Saint-Laurent Boulevard, it was completely destroyed by a fire when that he was abandoned. It is replaced these days by a construction with current lines.
What do the real estate developers who have bought these historic spaces want to do? The former cigar factory, where the Wing family lived until July 2022, has been sold for just over $6 million. However, the buyers have tied themselves to a $15 million mortgage with a financial institution. The difference between the purchase cost and this financing is usually used to cover major work. No details have been made public so far, but many are wondering, at the rate things are going, what Chinatown will look like soon.