5 June 2007
Viger Station Redevelopment Planned
Developers have presented a plan to redevelop the historic
Viger Station (on St. Antoine between Berri and St. Christophe Sts.). It was built in 1898 for the Canadian Pacific
Railway.
Montreal Quebec - The consortium behind an ambitious plan
to redevelop historic Viger Station is going public next week with an information blitz aimed at winning support from neighbourhood
residents and other stakeholders.
"We want to proceed in close co-operation with area residents and so that's why we're showing our intentions,"
said Cameron Charlebois, general manager of Viger DMC International's proposed $350-million mixed-use project.
The developer deposited its preliminary plan for the site to Ville Marie borough on Friday. The venture involves a
five-acre site on the south side of St. Antoine St. between Berri St. and St. Christophe St.
It will include the conversion of the former Viger Station into a hotel, plus the construction of condo-hotel units,
underground parking, and as many as 200 residential properties.
The project will also have a retail component and will be presented during next week's annual International Council of Shopping Centres
conference in Montreal.
Viger Limited Partnership purchased the former train station and hotel in May, 2006 for $9 million. That marked a steep discount from
the municipal evaluation of $15.6 million. The partners are Homberg Invest Inc. of Halifax, Telemedia Enterprises Inc. of Montreal and
SNS Property Finance, based in Hoevelaken, the Netherlands.
The developers laid their hands on the site after the Commission scolaire de Montreal abandoned a plan to create a hotel and
tourist-industry trade school there. The Centre hospitalier de l'universite de Montreal also considered incorporating the
site as part of the French-language superhospital.
"In the end, nobody else wanted it," said Phil O'Brien, the partnership's president and chief executive officer.
The hotel and station were built for the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1898 by architect Bruce Price, who also designed Quebec City's
Chateau Frontenac. The station operated until 1912 and the hotel remained open until 1935. The federal government took the building
over in the 1950s before selling to the city of Montreal. The property served as municipal offices until 2005.
The interior was gutted years ago and any vestiges of the grande dame it once was are long gone, Phil O'Brien, also Viger DMC
International's president and chief executive officer.
"It's a shell, but what a magnificent shell."
The developers anticipate turning the original building into no more than 55 hotel rooms with retail shops and services on the main
floor. Subect to city approval, two adjoining buildings will be demolished and new structures built for an additional 200 hotel and
condo-hotel rooms, as well as the conventional residential units.
The developers hope to deliver the project by the end of 2010.
Zoning for the area limits building heights to 44 metres or 13 storeys. The developers plan to work largely within the existing zoning
requirements, though it might be necessary to seek some variances, Charlebois said.
"If you can't put a shoulder out here and an elbow out there, the project might not work," he said.
Charlebois knows the ins and outs of zoning variances well. He sat on the Ville Marie Comite consultatif d'urbanisme from December
2005 to early 2006. The CCU reviews requests for zoning variances and oversees other planning and land use questions in the downtown
borough.
The consortium will host information sessions on 16, 18 and 19 Jun 2007 at the Union Francaise on Viger Ave. to explain
the broad outlines of its project to those living in the Faubourg Quebec, a residential area carved out of unused industrial land to
the south and east of the proposed project. Those residents have already voiced concerns about traffic and parking problems and
over-densification, based on preliminary sketches leaked to the press.
"We've heard their concerns and that's why we want to get their feedback now," Charlebois said.
O'Brien sees the project as an opportunity to repair the area's torn urban fabric. Site plans of the area dating back to the late
1800s show a developed neighbourhood. With the disappearance of rail operations, the expansion of the port, construction of the
expressway, and Maison Radio-Canada, homes and businesses disappeared. This is a chance to bring people back to a
no-man's land, he said.
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