Point-St-Charles residents want their say!
03 Apr 2019
A Pointe-St-Charles community group is expressing concerns about the real-estate boom in neighbouring Griffintown, where condo towers are under construction and a baseball stadium may be built.
Action-Gardien says it deplores the fact that the Griffintown development is being carried out with no consideration of the effects it will have on Pointe-St-Charles, one of Montreal’s oldest neighbourhoods and home to about 15,000 people.
The group notes that the Peel Basin, touted as a possible site for a baseball stadium, is being depicted as having no connection with Pointe-St-Charles. They argue, however, that the area — which they refer to as Bridge-Bonaventure — is part of their neighbourhood and it’s time to involve residents in any plan that will affect it.
A partnership between promoters Claridge and Devimco to develop the Peel Basin is under study. It has been praised by Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante. Claridge head Stephen Bronfman has said he would like to see a stadium built at the site to lure Major League Baseball back to Montreal, while Serge Goulet’s Devimco is looking at developing real estate in the area.
The vacant land in the area being eyed for development is owned by the federal government.
A study produced last year by Action-Gardien found that the population of Pointe-St-Charles is slightly younger than that of the rest of Montreal, that its employment rate was slightly lower and that the proportion of low income residents was higher.
The proportion of Pointe-St-Charles residents who rent their homes dropped from 77 per cent in 2006 to 68 per cent last year.
