On Monday, the Plante administration’s housing manager was “surprised” by the lack of interest on the part of the property developers in the first property offered on the former site of the racecourse.
Posted at 2:33pm
A tender for a 4,200 square meter property launched by the city of Montreal last fall did not produce any offers, La Presse announced at the end of January. The city asked for a $10 million floor price and required that 60% of the condos built should be affordable.
“It was also a surprise for us to see that the private sector wasn’t there when the country had a really extremely high discount. The property has been sold. We gave entrepreneurs every chance to go there,” said Benoit Dorais, housing manager at Valérie Plante. “It’s a shame the private sector didn’t say yes. »
The elected official pointed out that another piece of land that had been offered to the municipal sector had attracted a lot of interest on his part.
According to La Presse, the developers were repelled by the floor price set by the city and the lack of a master plan for the rest of the racetrack site.
Mr Dorais answered questions from Stéphanie Valenzuela, who was elected from the official opposition, to the municipal council.
The development of the old Montreal racetrack is behind schedule. Racing has been discontinued since 2009. Mayors Gérald Tremblay and Denis Coderre have both drawn up development plans for the area, which envisage the construction of between 5,000 and 8,000 housing units. But the Plante administration preferred to develop its own project.