A ruined real estate complex belonging to the City of Montreal should soon be demolished and replaced by social housing in the city center, after five major fires in five years.
The repeated fires at 1300-1330 rue Saint-Antoine Ouest worried the neighbors, who called on city hall to take its responsibilities.
“The Office municipal d’habitation de Montréal (OMHM) was selected […] to finance a social housing project on the site in the short term,” specify the information documents from the City of Montreal. “A delay in awarding the contract” could jeopardize that project, officials warned.
Around 150 family housing units would be built on site, according to a press release from the Quebec government dated last April.
1300-1330 rue Saint-Antoine Ouest, a series of century-old or soon-to-be century-old buildings, was acquired by the City of Montreal in 2017 for social housing. Since then, his condition has deteriorated rapidly.
This situation presented a real danger: the buildings in poor condition are neighbors of the Bell Center and the 600 condos of the Tour des Canadiens 3. “It’s still worrying. We are directly opposite,” Renaud Bourassa, manager of this building, indicated last year.
The fires “had a considerable impact on the stability of buildings,” indicates the City of Montreal. “A study was carried out in 2023 in order to assess the overall condition of the buildings. In July 2023, this recommended the demolition of the buildings as quickly as possible, given their advanced deterioration. »