Crown corporation looks to turn Montreal's Wellington Basin into thriving neigbourhood
CBC
A federal Crown corporation hopes to give Montreal's Wellington Basin the ultimate facelift, building 2,800 housing units, a public beach and an artisan district.
"What's really exciting is creating a mixed-use space that can give real soul to this area that has been largely abandoned," said Christopher Sweetnam Holmes, senior director of real estate in Quebec for the Canada Lands Company.
He said the aim is to get the 10-year project underway by next year, with people moving in as early as 2027.
The Wellington Basin, roughly 13.6 hectares in size, is next to the Peel Basin, where Bridge and Mill streets meet in the Sud-Ouest borough. The basin, which has largely been filled in, was once part of the Lachine Canal. It began welcoming ships in 1883.
The Canada Lands Company acquired the land from Transport Canada in 2010. It has been holding public consultations over the last couple of years and that resulted in the master plan that was released Tuesday.
The plan includes a new beach where the Wellington Basin, deep enough for ocean ships, used to be. To build a swimmable, public beach, thousands of cubic metres of dirt needs to be removed.
Decontamination will cost about $77 million, but Holmes said, it's all doable and it will "allow opportunities for people to connect with the water in the centre of the city."
Holmes said the company has been working closely with Montreal to develop a plan that incorporates much of the surrounding history in a development.
It has a diverse array of building designs and sizes to avoid cookie-cutter uniformity. There will be, he noted, a 40-storey building included in the development as well as 1,000 affordable and social housing units.
Holmes said the hope is to connect the neighbourhood to the city's light-rail network with a Réseau express métropolitain (REM) station.
"We think that a REM station is a really great way to ensure sustainable mobility for this sector," said Holmes, but that's ultimately up to CDPQ Infra and the government of Quebec.
If the REM station doesn't happen, there are alternatives, he said.
Canada Lands Company is a self-financing federal Crown corporation, with a commercial mandate specializing in real estate, development and attractions management.
"Canada Lands Company is committed to making the Wellington Basin a resilient and inclusive living environment anchored in the Bridge-Bonaventure area," the company says on its website.
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