Developers set sights on 'forgotten' Bridge-Bonaventure sector!
04 Jul 2019
It has signature landmarks like the Five Roses Flour sign, the Old Port’s Silo No. 5 and Habitat 67, and to-die-for vistas of the St. Lawrence River and Lachine Canal.
Still, the 2.3-square-kilometre Bridge-Bonaventure area, stretching from the western edge of the Old Port to the entrance to the Champlain Bridge, is unknown territory to most Montrealers.
Pockmarked by abandoned warehouses and vacant lots, the post-industrial wasteland bordering the Bonaventure Expressway has been out of sight and out of mind for more than half a century.
But all that’s about to change.
These days, the long-neglected area is a hot property coveted by Montreal’s biggest developers. A consortium led by Stephen Bronfman, in partnership with real-estate giant Devimco, hopes to erect a major-league baseball stadium in the strategically located sector. Devimco has also set its sights on the area as the site of a $2.5-billion mixed-use development, including office towers, housing and hotels.
Meanwhile, the Canada Lands Corporation, a federal agency, has called for proposals to repurpose the iconic Silo No. 5 as the focal point of a new development.
And the Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Incorporated (JCCBI), the federal bridge authority that owns the Bonaventure Expressway built in 1967, is considering replacing the elevated highway with a ground-level boulevard located farther inland, and transforming the waterfront, with its magnificent views, into a linear park.
But beyond the glittering prospects and billion-dollar projects, there’s another side to the Bridge-Bonaventure area that must not be swept aside, says Bernard Vallée, founder of Montréal Explorations, an urban history organization that is conducting a guided tour of the sector for the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM).
The public-consultation body began holding hearings on the area’s future in May and will wrap them up in October.
