Liza Frulla has had enough. The patron of the Institut de Tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec (ITHQ) can no longer hide her disappointment at the paralysis of the revamp of her gorgeous neighbor on rue Saint-Denis, the Institut des Sourdes-Muettes.
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While Avenue des Pins is being redesigned and the Latin Quarter is struggling to recover from the pandemic, the project is more urgent than ever, she says. Montreal and Quebec need to step on the gas, even if it means watering down their wine, argues the former minister.
“It’s coming to get me,” she said in an interview with La Presse. With all the potential, I can’t believe we’re going to let it go to waste in Montreal. I can not believe that. And I don’t accept it either. »
“I can’t understand why this building – with all its square meters – isn’t SQI’s first project [Société québécoise des infrastructures] and also the city of Montreal, ”she continued, without worrying about sparing her interlocutors. Their respective requirements and procedures are endless: “With all these objections, it does not budge. And we see it getting worse month by month, year by year.”
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, PRESS ARCHIVE
The Director General of the Institut de Tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec and former Minister Liza Frulla
The Institut des Sourdes-Muettes, whose main building dates from the beginning of the 20th century, has been empty since 2015. It is owned by the provincial government through the Société immobilière du Québec.
Like other large institutional complexes, the Institut des Sourdes-Muettes promises a great framework for the promoter who wants to find a new vocation for it, but also a bottomless pit of costs. Added to this are the social goals of the city of Montreal and the profit motives of private project sponsors. Result: a Gordian real estate knot.
Hesitation at the City of Montreal
The SQI attributes some of the delays in the rehabilitation of the Institut des Sourdes-Muettes to hesitance by the City of Montreal.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESS ARCHIVE
In front of the Institute for the Deaf and Mute, whose main building dates from the beginning of the 20th century. The building has been empty since 2015.
The building was partially placed “in reserve” for the municipality in 2018, usually for a year. “Finally, in late 2020, the city confirmed to the SQI that it had no intention of acquiring the building,” reports Francis Martel, spokesman for the organization, via email. The SQI declined La Presse’s request for an interview.
In 2022, the city’s SQI confirmed that it was analyzing the building’s development potential. The SQI then commissioned an architect’s office to analyze the redesign of the area. The results of this ongoing study will guide us in the next phases of redevelopment of the site.
Francis Martel, spokesman for the Société Québécoise des Infrastructures
On the Montreal side, Valérie Plante’s office says it is “following with interest the work of the SQI to clean up the site”. “Its rehabilitation is a priority for our administration,” said the mayor’s spokesman. We are committed to continuing our close collaboration with all partners to ensure that this website serves the interests of families, workers, those in need and students. »
Because if you don’t want to renovate it yourself, the Plante administration has drawn up development concepts for the area and published them in 2021, including a large remaining area for social housing.
For three years now, Ms. Frulla has been defending the inclusion of student housing in the project to be selected with her ITHQ.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESS ARCHIVE
The Institut des Sourdes-Muettes is owned by the provincial government through the Société immobilière du Québec.
“If we’re going to get outside students – who are the best immigration – to come and settle in Montreal, we need to accommodate them. Because living space is becoming unaffordable,” she argued. When Liza Frulla hears about the housing shortage in public, she thinks of “this beautiful space that we are letting waste away”.
“A private organizer wouldn’t do that”
Regardless of the concept chosen, it must respect the historical character of this magnificent gray stone institutional complex, stressed Dinu Bumbaru of Héritage Montréal.
It’s a remarkable building. It was designed to fit into the urban fabric to create a landmark for everyone with its dome and very neat facade overlooking Saint-Denis.
Dinu Bumbaru, Architect and Political Director of Heritage Montreal
The institution took in deaf and mute children until 1975. In 1979 it was purchased by the Real Estate Department of the Ministry of Health. Until 2015, the Montreal Health Agency occupied premises there. An on-site park has been converted into a parking lot. The latter is still operational and creates an illusion of on-site activity.
Héritage Montréal fears leaving more than retraining. “We have to find a way to bring it up to standard. […] There are certainly ways,” Bumbaru said. “An abandoned building – especially in our climate and with vandalism – is a real threat. We have often believed that the threat is demolition. That was a bit true in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s. But now it is being shut down more and more. »
“It takes work to unlock this file because it is unlikely that such a building […] to be so neglected. A private developer wouldn’t do that,” he added.