Due to new online shopping habits, many small shopping centers are struggling to keep up with this trend. Some entrepreneurs are trying to give them a second life by converting them into real estate projects, thus densifying the neighborhoods in which they are located.
On the site of Mail Cap-Rouge, the shopping center was partially destroyed to build a retirement home. New businesses are being founded and dozens of apartments will soon be available for rent.
François Pelchat, partner and vice president of marketing and development at Immostar Cap-Rouge, noted a few years ago that it was time to renovate neighborhood shopping centers that had been efficient in the past but had lost their luster over the years.
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François Pelchat, partner and vice president of marketing and development at Immostar Cap-Rouge
Photo: Radio-Canada / Louis
Mr. Pelchat reports that it is difficult to compete with large shopping centers in Quebec, such as Galeries de la Capitale. But in his opinion, good local services meet the needs of the local population.
Offer diversified companies
At Mail Cap-Rouge there is a pharmacy, a bank and a post office on the street.
François Pelchat hopes that one day the offer will be expanded to include a small food market. Mr. Pelchat can only observe that advertising banners that we find in large shopping centers are more possible in the districts.
On the apartment side, the building is not yet open, but half is already reserved. François Pelchat is convinced that the second life of these small shopping centers in the city districts comes from housing construction.
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70% of the building was demolished, leaving only about ten local businesses remaining.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Louis-Philippe Arsenault
With a project like Mail Cap-Rouge, you’ll see a lot less parking because everything is close by. People leave their cars because public transport is nearby. It’s important to stop the sprawl in Quebec City, but rather to become more dense, like places like this that have good housing potential.
Bring new life to the Galeries de la Canardière
The landscape around the Galeries de la Canardière has changed significantly; in D’Estimauville the area has increased in height over the last ten years.
Philippe Charbonneau, president of Groupe A7, and his business partner Robert Wiseman, president and CEO of Econo Malls, want to breathe new life into the industry.
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The first building of the NUVO Quartier project is being built directly on the parking lot of the Galeries de la Canardière.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Philippe L’Heureux
“Small premises, closed, without visibility, it is more profitable, it is very difficult,” recognizes Philippe Charbonneau, who believes that this model no longer meets consumer demand.
The two owners have already begun the phase of redesigning and modernizing the place.
A tower with more than a hundred residential units is being built, and commercial space can be accommodated on the ground floor.
The aim is to create a living environment and a neighborhood that has an interesting, diverse commercial offering, is sustainable in the long term and is directly related to a residential and living environment.
In the same vision as in Cap-Rouge, Philippe Charbonneau believes that the challenge is to find the right diversification of companies to satisfy the local population.
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The Galeries de la Canardière site is the oldest shopping center in Quebec City.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Philippe L’Heureux
Marie-Hélène Deshaies, the president of the Maizerets Neighborhood Council, continues to raise concerns about the housing prices proposed in Philippe Charbonneau’s project.
“We know that luxury housing is being built in the area, a little social housing, but still little to meet the needs of the population that remains here,” notes Ms. Deshaies.
A necessary step, says a city planner
Stéphane Langevin, urban planner and architect, believes that the owners of these places have no choice but to renew themselves if they want to respond to new consumption habits and survive over time.
It is important to develop these buildings based on their strategic location. They have already made it possible to create habits, mentions Mr. Langevin. These are ideal places to restore local downtowns.
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According to the Galeries de la Canardière website, the town now has around fifty shops.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Philippe L’Heureux
Mr. Langevin still believes that the structures of these buildings should not necessarily be destroyed or bypassed. Langevin said developers’ first instinct is to build new buildings around or near the mall. In certain cases it can be things to do with existing infrastructure, all with a view to sustainable development.
With interviews with Louis-Simon Lapointe and Louis-Philippe Arsenault