The mayor of Montreal said she was enthusiastic about the “extremely positive” project to replace Place Versailles with a neighborhood of 5,000 housing units on Tuesday.
Reacting to the idea for the first time, Valérie Plante stressed that the location was particularly well suited to residential development.
“I like it,” Plante said on the sidelines of a news briefing. “We need housing. We need all kinds.”
“It’s extremely positive, especially when we know that this area, for the moment, is a large parking lot, and therefore a heat island. We will be able to build housing there. There’s a metro station,” she continued. “I understand that there is an attachment to Place Versailles, I too have been there a few times. I want to reassure everyone: this is a project that will meet so many needs and there will be an interesting commercial offer. »
La Presse revealed Saturday that the owners of the shopping centre were preparing a complete redevelopment plan for the 17-hectare site, located near the Radisson metro station. The current buildings will be gradually demolished to make way for a neighbourhood that includes 5,200 housing units, a school, a hotel and parks, according to the vision proposed to the Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough.
Monday evening, local elected officials voted to send the file to the Montreal city council and the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM) for further steps.