Citizens of the Place Versailles sector in east Montreal were invited to a session of the Montreal Public Consultation Office on Tuesday evening to present their ambitious conversion project for the shopping center at the corner of Highway 25 and Sherbrooke Street.
The more than two billion dollar project plans to build a school, three parks and 5,000 homes.
Keep Versailles
“Currently, Place Versailles is an enormous island of heat. These are structures of one or two floors at most. It is a space that is very little used,” said Pierre Lessard-Blaise, mayor of the Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district.
The new Place Versailles will bring together 25-story buildings, and this is a concern for many citizens who believe that the future shopping center will drastically change the local landscape.
Keep Versailles
About 200 people came to attend the OCPM session, mainly to voice their concerns.
“I live across the street and I don't like having apartments and buildings in front of me, but parks in the back,” said a resident of the area.
“We want to have answers about when the project will actually start, because that's what we heard,” an employee of Place Versailles told us.
Keep Versailles
The promoter, however, tries to reassure.
“We saw the sunlight, we saw the corridors of life. Heights, often, allow for less encroachment on the ground,” suggests Kevin Robinson, project manager for the redevelopment of Place Versailles.
To see the full details, watch the video above.
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