Gestion Georges Coulombe announces the construction of a seven-story hotel with approximately 200 rooms in collaboration with France Film, owner of the StarCité Cinema, on the southeast corner of the Olympic quadrilateral. The brand is unknown at the moment. “The 16,000 square meter hotel complex will be equipped with a multifunctional room that can accommodate 1,000 guests,” explained Sonia Gagné, senior associate at Provencher Roy, the architect behind the project. We keep certain cinemas. The parking lot becomes a large public square. Construction is expected to begin in 2025.” According to the project’s promoters, there are only 5,000 hotel rooms east of Papineau out of the 19,000 rooms on the island of Montreal. Gestion George Coulombe has 30 buildings and 115,000 square meters of rental space. The company owns the former American Co factory which houses a Super C in the Stade area and operates the Le Manoir Stonehaven hotel in Sainte-Agathe.
We don’t always choose our places to announce bad news. Questioned by the President of the Eastern Chamber in a panel, the provincial Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, confirmed that “he was drawing the line” on the health innovation zone which was to emerge around Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital. “There will be no innovation zone in the short term,” explained the minister. What happened was that we wanted to have a much too broad area both thematically and geographically. This has caused challenges in terms of private financing. We will therefore temporarily forget the global innovation zone, but we will focus on something extraordinary which is the center of excellence in cell therapy [associated with the Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital]. » According to our information, life sciences companies favor the city center, for the real proximity to universities and the availability of labor. “We were obviously disappointed to learn that the innovation zone project will not see the light of day. This project was of importance for the sector, which is why a lot of effort and work have already been done by the partners to put it in place,” the Montreal administration said in a written statement. “This is very bad news for the east of Montreal which needed a structuring project at the level of an innovation zone,” reacted Julien Hénault-Ratelle, spokesperson for the official opposition in matters of economic development. He blames the Projet Montréal administration for its lack of leadership on the issue.
The City of Montreal-East used its right of pre-emption to acquire land along the river. She pays 19 million to the seller Esso. The mayor of Montreal East, Anne St-Laurent, is delighted with the envelope of 20 million allocated to the decontamination of this strategic land. Work is expected to begin next year. The more than 100,000 square meter lot will be transformed into a commercial, recreational and cultural hub. A park will occupy 21% of the space. But the site will not be used for residential use despite its advantageous location. Having used its right of pre-emption, the City acquires the land under the same conditions as the initial buyer who had his offer accepted by the seller. “Our first idea was to add residential to maximize the value associated with proximity to the river,” explained Mayor St-Laurent, present at the Summit.
The federal government has not stood idly by. Eight organizations share $11 million from Canada Economic Development (CED), including Laboratoires MZL, the Institute of Packaging Technology and Food Engineering at Cégep de Maisonneuve, Aliments Merjex, Aliments Ouimet-Cordon Bleu, Catelli and the Center en C3i cancer immunotherapy. “It will help these organizations in the green transformation, towards the carbon neutrality of their activities,” says Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Member of Parliament for Hochelaga, Minister of Tourism and Minister responsible for DEC. In addition, a fund of 10 million per year for three years will be reserved for businesses and organizations in eastern Montreal.
The City of Montreal took advantage of the event to announce its desire to expand the Pointe-aux-Prairies nature park to make it the large 700-hectare Eastern Park. “The idea is to protect the last lands with wetlands in eastern Montreal,” explained Caroline Bourgeois, vice-president of the executive committee, responsible for large parks, sports and recreation. Mayor Valérie Plante confirmed the repair of the Montreal East sewer collector at a cost of 80 million. This is an essential project to enable the possible connection of future infrastructure serving industrial wastelands. At the same time as Quebec and Ottawa, Montreal is investing $300,000 in the Carrefour d’innovation bioalimentaire, supported by the Collège de Maisonneuve, La Cuisine collective Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and PME MTL Centre-Est, and located at 5600, rue Hochelaga.
Polytechnique has submitted a project to the provincial government to open an innovation center for clean technologies of approximately 4,000 square meters at 5600, rue Hochelaga, in the borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. Around a hundred researchers and employees will work there if the project becomes a reality.
Outdoor retailer Decathlon plans to move its Canadian headquarters to its Dickson Street distribution center.
Loracon recently began construction of a first carbon-neutral industrial building of more than 35,000 square meters north of Highway 40 in Montreal East. One of the biggest players on the planet in the pharmaceutical field would set up there.
The buyer of industrial cleaning activities in Canada, the French company Ortec plans to double the workforce of its Montreal office, located in the Pointe-aux-Trembles district, within two years. At 1977, rue des Futailles, the Société des alcools du Québec will begin construction of the 10,000 square meter automated Montreal center by the end of the year, intended for online orders, in particular.
