Montreal readies to turn east-end mall into densified neighbourhood with green space

Isaac Olson · CBC News

· Posted: May 13, 2025 8:01 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

Montreal's metropolis assembly has approved a large redevelopment task for Place Versailles, a 62-year-old indoor buying promenade successful the eastbound end.

The $2.2 cardinal task is expected to instrumentality up to 25 years to complete, yet replacing the promenade and parking batch with a school, a hotel, 2 25-storey towers and thousands of lodging units.

In total, determination volition beryllium astir 6,000 apartments connected site, including 1,000 societal lodging units.

While the metropolis assembly has fixed the task the greenish light, immoderate neighbours are disquieted astir its impact connected the area. For example, immoderate accidental the Radisson Metro station, located steps distant from Place Versailles, is already packed.

"It's 1 of the busiest stations," said nonmigratory Daniel Deschamps. "Adding 6,000 people, of which 20 per cent volition instrumentality the Metro, it's going to beryllium hard."

There person besides been concerns astir the tallness of the buildings — overmuch higher than the existent 2 storeys.

In response, the metropolis has indicated that the gathering heights on the residential streets of Pierre Corneille and du Trianon will be adjusted to 8 and six floors, respectively. Additionally, 1 of the planned 25-storey buildings volition beryllium acceptable backmost further from existing homes. 

WATCH | What the task volition look like: 

Neighbours, absorption concerned

However, a interest among some residents is the imaginable nonaccomplishment of entree to the tiny businesses presently operating wrong the mall.

"I conjecture it volition beryllium beneficial for immoderate people, but I similar the Place Versailles the mode it is," said Yanis Mameri, who lives adjacent the indoor promenade — the archetypal of its benignant successful the city.

Guy Barbier, besides a resident, said neighbours tin easy locomotion to the mall, accessing the supermarket and each the stores.

But the politician of the Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough remains confident. Pierre Lessard-Blais precocious told Radio-Canada that helium thinks "in 25 years, we volition walk by present and accidental that it was a bully move."

The program is to gradually redevelop the buying promenade and parking batch implicit a bid of phases. The owners of Place Versailles declined to remark Tuesday. The task is slated to commencement adjacent year, but the metropolis and developer person said determination volition beryllium a dilatory transition, allowing buying to continue.

Ensemble Montréal's Julien Hénault-Ratelle, a metropolis councillor successful Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, offered qualified enactment for the Place Versailles redevelopment task during Monday night's metropolis assembly meeting, conscionable earlier the task was approved.

"While determination are affirmative elements successful this redevelopment, galore recommendations stemming from national consultations person been disregarded, notably concerning gathering heights and the preservation of section commerce," Hénault-Ratelle said.

"Furthermore, the lack of the important improvement statement earlier this ballot forces america to trust solely connected assurances, undermining transparency for some elected officials and the acrophobic citizens."

He said determination are affirmative aspects, specified arsenic accrued greenish abstraction and societal lodging targets. However, respective recommendations from the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM), based connected national input, person been ignored. 

For example, there's a petition for much collaboration with nationalist health, helium said, and that's been ignored.

"And though it was not among the OCPM's recommendations, I would similar to notation erstwhile again that the contented of cosmopolitan accessibility is perfectly not taken into relationship successful the project," Hénault-Ratelle said. "There is nary lodging that volition beryllium adapted oregon adaptable, which successful our opinion, is simply a miss."

Borough politician says task has 'strong vision'

Blais, who is with Projet Montréal, spoke powerfully successful enactment of the task during the meeting. He described it arsenic a indispensable displacement distant from decades of car-dependent municipality sprawl that has harmed cultivation land, accrued postulation and hindered businesslike nationalist transit. 

He highlighted the project's beardown greenish vision, including important park space and histrion planting, that volition regenerate the monolithic one-to-two-storey buying promenade and its 4,000-space parking batch that is presently a vigor island. He said parking volition mostly beryllium underground successful the caller development.

Residents volition beryllium encouraged to trim reliance connected cars done cycling infrastructure and the adjacent proximity to nationalist transit, helium said. It volition beryllium a mixed-use improvement with 20 per cent societal lodging successful each phase.

He said determination was an extended consultation process, including the OCPM, and helium said a important information of existing commercialized abstraction volition beryllium preserved successful the archetypal phase. He said determination are adjacent efforts to clasp practice artwork connected site. Over the people of the phases, businesses volition beryllium capable to determination into the crushed floors of the residential buildings,  preserving the commercialized vocation of the location.

"What we are proposing contiguous with the ballot connected nonfiction 89 is, successful fact, the maestro program that volition usher the large developments of Place Versailles for the adjacent 25 years," helium said.

"It is simply a task that has a precise beardown imaginativeness for the aboriginal and fits precisely wrong Montreal's municipality improvement plan."

Jean-Philippe Meloche, an municipality readying and scenery architecture prof astatine the Université de Montréal, said the task reflects what the metropolis is contiguous and it maximizes usage of the Radisson Metro station.

"It is the bungalow that is outdated, not the projected development," helium said.