Montreal's Molson brewery to make way for new residential neighbourhood
Sprawling site to integrate housing, commercial space and community infrastructure billed as 'historic'
The landmark Molson brewery, a looming presence on Montreal's waterfront for more than two centuries, could soon be transformed into a neighbourhood with as many as 4,000 homes.
Mayor Valérie Plante called the proposed deal with a consortium of developers "historic."
Plante said the developers won't get the green light without first ensuring space is set aside for a school, community centre, public park, waterfront promenade and 200 social housing units.
"When we think about the city of the future, we want it like that, exactly like that," Plante said at Wednesday's meeting of the city's executive committee.
The sprawling site, the equivalent of nearly 11 CFL football fields, runs north of the St. Lawrence River to Notre-Dame Street, between Panet Street and Papineau Avenue.
It is part of what will be dubbed the Quartier des faubourgs, which also includes the new Maison Radio-Canada building going up just north of the Molson site and the existing tower, which is to be transformed into new offices and housing.
Under the agreement, the consortium of Groupe Sélection and Groupe Montoni will acquire part of the land, while giving the rest to Montreal for development into public infrastructure.
The deal still needs to be approved by city council. Then, as with any construction project of such magnitude, it must go through a series of legal hurdles in the coming years before reaching fruition.
The estimated completion date is 2035.
Molson is in the process of moving from the site of Canada's oldest brewery to Longueuil over the next five years. Discussions between Molson-Coors and Groupe Sélection began several months before Montreal got involved.
Nothing in the presentation made to the city's executive committee indicates the section of the brewery that opened in 1786 will be preserved. City officials declined interview requests Wednesday.
Park with a waterfront view
Montreal will use a portion of the city's land for a new park with a view of the river, the city's director of institutional services, Benoit Dagenais, told the executive committee Wednesday.
Dagenais said the park will be larger than the minimum required by the bylaw governing new housing projects. It includes a half-kilometre-long linear promenade that is to connect Notre-Dame Street to the park.
By 2027, the city is also planning to purchase about half a hectare of the site for $6.7 million. Describing it as a "civic and habitation pole," this section will be divided into two parts.
A portion of that land will be set aside for a school and other social uses, the document says, while the rest of that section will be used for social housing, to be managed by the SHDM, Montreal's housing corporation.