Risk and reward in the Quartier des lumières revamp of Centre-Sud!

One of Montreal’s poorest neighbourhoods is on the cusp of an extreme makeover, and area residents and city officials are intent on making sure the developers avoid the mistakes of the past.

Local property firm Groupe Mach Inc. is one of three sets of investors planning to redevelop vast plots of land in Centre-Sud, the district at the eastern edge of downtown that sits a stone’s throw from the Jacques-Cartier Bridge. Together, the projects represent billions of dollars of proposed investments and possibly thousands of new jobs that will change the face of the neighbourhood over the next two decades. They also come with risks — among others, the proliferation of multi-storey buildings that would heighten congestion issues in the area while further isolating Centre-Sud residents from the St. Lawrence River.

Mach, the owner of the Sun Life Building and the former Tour de la Bourse, is planning to spend up to $1 billion in three phases to develop what it calls Quartier des lumières — a 4.5-million square-foot (418,000 square-metre) “live-work-play” project anchored by a refurbished Maison de Radio-Canada, the iconic hexagonal tower on René-Lévesque Blvd. Condos, rental units and offices would all be built nearby, as would myriad shops, a supermarket, a public park and even a primary school.

“We have the chance now to transform the heart of the city — and to do it with today’s vision,” Christopher Sweetnam Holmes, vice-president of real estate development at Groupe Mach, said in a recent interview. “We have this big site, which comes with a big responsibility. We as a company want to be there for the long run, so what can we do to really transform the city for the better?”

Centre-Sud and the area immediately around Radio-Canada, once known as Faubourg à m’lasse, have a long history of painful transformations.

Starting in the 1920s, the Faubourg was scarred by no fewer than three major urban projects — the construction of the Jacques-Cartier Bridge, the creation of the urban boulevard now called René-Lévesque, and the erection of Maison de Radio-Canada in the early 1970s. Along the way, the working-class neighbourhood lost many of the two- and three-story houses that defined its architectural signature.

Centre-Sud’s average after-tax household income of $44,343 falls well short of the $61,682 average for the island of Montreal, according to Statistics Canada data compiled by Centraide. Thirty per cent of Centre-Sud residents are deemed to be “low income,” compared with 21 per cent for all of Montreal. Single-parent families make up 46 per cent of all households in the neighbourhood, well above the 33 per cent average for the island, the data also show.

Quartier des lumières is the biggest of the three projects destined to reshape downtown Montreal’s southeastern end. In June, local firms Montoni, Groupe Sélection and Fonds immobilier de solidarité FTQ acquired another nearby landmark, the Molson brewery on Notre-Dame St., pledging an “innovative and inclusive” redevelopment that would include more than 4,000 housing units and a supermarket. As part of the deal, the new owners agreed to transfer a portion of the land to the city to enable the construction of a park and a school.

A third player, Montreal-based Prével, is working to redevelop a 400,000-square-foot site just east of the Jacques-Cartier Bridge via a mixed-use project that the firm says will feature public and green spaces and “promote a true sense of community.”

With Radio-Canada and the CBC set to move to brand new facilities right next door in July 2020, construction on the first phase of Quartier des lumières, which is estimated to cost about $400 million, could begin as soon as next year. Delivery would occur as early as 2023.

Mach’s plan calls for Maison de Radio-Canada to be transformed into an office tower that could also feature a hotel. At least two other office towers would be built nearby if all three phases of the project are completed.

All told, Mach estimates the project could add as many as 6,000 residents to the neighbourhood. About 10,000 people could flock to the area on a daily basis to work in the new office space.

Things didn’t go so well the last time one of Montreal’s central districts was given a revamp.

Griffintown’s dense forest of condo towers may have worked wonders for city coffers, bringing in property tax dollars, but the neighbourhood’s transformation over the last 15 years has also highlighted the flagrant lack of parks, public schools and affordable housing options in the area. It took until June for Quebec’s education ministry to finally allocate funding to the Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSDM) — the city’s largest school board — that will allow a new elementary school to be built in Griffintown.

Mayor Valérie Plante, who often talks up social diversity as a strength that contributes to quality of life, has acknowledged that the lessons of Griffintown must be learned before other areas of the city are redeveloped.

Griffintown “is the perfect example of what not to do,” Robert Beaudry, the member of the city’s executive committee responsible for economic development, said in an interview. “Today, Montreal is densifying and we can no longer build by accident. We want services and green spaces. We have to think about schools. We don’t want Montreal to be a city for one type of resident. And there is no better time than now, when these developments are being planned, to speak up.”

That’s a view shared by François Bergeron, head of Corporation de Développement Communautaire Centre-Sud, a coalition of community groups that cater to residents of the neighbourhood.

Griffintown “was done too fast, without any vision,” he said. “This must be avoided here.”

Mach insists it has taken note of Griffintown’s shortcomings. For starters, Quartier des lumières’ residential component will not only include condos and rental apartments, but also 600 social housing units that will be transferred to local non-profit housing corporations upon completion. Of the 3,000 rental apartments and condos, 400 will be priced “affordably,” Sweetnam Holmes says.

Bergeron lauds Mach’s initiative, saying he’s never seen a developer plan for social housing in the first phase of a development project.

“Usually developers tack on social housing right at the end, in the least desirable part of the project,” he said. “That’s not the case here.”

In a neighbourhood that features few green spaces, Mach plans to build a 56,000-square-foot public park directly in front of the Radio-Canada tower, while creating pedestrian links across the whole area. De la Gauchetière, de la Visitation and Panet Sts. would all be extended to improve pedestrian access.

Mach also has set aside about 40,000 square feet for community spaces. Those could be used to build a public library or meeting rooms for various social groups, Sweetnam Holmes said.

For all these reasons, Montreal is broadly on board with Mach’s project. “Mach is a good partner, and we see the redevelopment of Radio-Canada as a good thing,” Beaudry said. “The same is true for the Molson site. We established a good dialogue on what we were looking for in terms of urban planning, social housing and services such as shops.”

Quartier des lumières was recently awarded the Fitwel Community standard by the New York-based Center for Active Design. The standard recognizes “people-oriented” communities that promote mental and physical well-being though features such as bike paths and access to open spaces.

Commercial space features prominently in Mach’s plans. Radio-Canada’s underground studios will be demolished and replaced by a supermarket and big-box stores devoted to home renovation and possibly furniture. Most of the retail space in the tower will be below street level, in what Sweetnam Holmes calls the “iceberg strategy.”

“People in the community want big-box stores here,” said Bergeron. “For the longest time, Centre-Sud had very few food stores. Things have started to change recently, but there is still a need for more.”

Last but not least, Mach has also reserved space for a school in one of the residential towers it plans to build, subject to sign-off from the provincial education ministry and the CSDM.

The school would occupy several floors, with its yard located atop commercial space — an unusual setup for Montreal, but already tried in cities such as Barcelona, Hamburg and Los Angeles.

“We’re willing to wait for them, because we know it’s a bit different than what they are accustomed to,” Sweetnam Holmes said in reference to the education ministry and the CDSM. “I know there is an openness from them to make this work. We are hoping they will be ready to join us on that.”

Quebec has yet to receive any funding request from the school board regarding a school on the Radio-Canada site, Catherine Major, a spokeswoman for the education ministry, said in an emailed response to questions. CSDM would need to demonstrate it needs the space and designate the project as a priority, she said.

CSDM president Catherine Harel Bourdon wouldn’t specifically comment on the merits of the Mach project, saying the school board doesn’t want to be seen to favour one promoter over another. Still, she said, it’s “great news” to see that several developers are offering to build schools in Centre-Sud and the downtown area as a whole.

“It’s clear that we are going to need a new primary school, and possibly even two, given all the new housing units that are being planned in the area,” Harel Bourdon said in a telephone interview. “Will the school be on the Molson site, next to Radio-Canada or on another piece of land that we might acquire? It’s impossible to say at this stage.”

As it turns out, Centre-Sud won’t be alone in getting a facelift — so will Maison de Radio-Canada.

“We had originally hoped we could keep the cladding of the tower, but we did a number of studies and we found that it’s in a terrible state,” Sweetnam Homes said. Mach is currently working with architects to find a suitable material, he said.

While he’s heartened by many elements of Mach’s “total neighbourhood” project, Bergeron at CDC Centre-Sud said it’s still unclear whether Quartier des lumières will help solve a shortage of family housing in the area. He’s also wary of how the project will affect the demand for public transit, and on how the new buildings will affect sightlines for neighbourhood residents — more specifically, views of the river.

“Developers are developers, and you can’t forget they are doing this to earn a return,” he said. “So we are going to be vigilant and we will keep tracking this development. Mach is going to remain the owner of the project, which means they are here for the long-term — but so are we.”