New Griffintown housing project to prioritize residents displaced by Turcot

Residents of a Saint-Rémi Street warehouse expropriated to make way for the new Turcot Interchange will be given priority in a new $24.5-million affordable housing development in Montreal's Griffintown neighbourhood.

Plans for the 103-unit, 13-storey development were unveiled Tuesday at a news conference that brought together three Quebec government ministers and Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre.

• Turcot Interchange tear-down plan presented by Transport Ministry

The Quebec government was represented by Transport Minister Jacques Daoust, Municipal Affairs Minister Martin Coiteux as well as Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne MNA and Minister of Economy Dominique Anglade.  

The units will be built in a development called Les Bassins Du Nouveau Havre, located at 1400 Ottawa Street.

Former residents of 780 Saint-Rémi Street, a 107-unit warehouse expropriated to make way for the new Turcot Interchange, will be given priority for the new apartments.

"It's certainly a response to the needs of the people who have been displaced in the construction of Turcot," Coiteux said.

"The message being sent is that there will be more affordable housing in Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne," Anglade said.

'I'm not happy'

For Andrew Kolakowski, an artist who lived at 780 Saint-Rémi Street for 14 years, the eviction is still fresh in his mind.

"I'm living here in a new place but I'm not happy," he said.

Kolakowski said tenants got $5,000 to $15,000 in compensation, but he now pays twice as much in rent for a comparable apartment in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood.

Benoit Ferland, the project coordinator for Griffintown development, said much effort is going into making the new units feel like home for evicted tenants like Kolakowski. 

This included adding details like loft ceilings, large windows, and finding the right spot for the development.

Despite this, the new apartments are still a hard sell for Kolakowski.

"Tenants, neighbours in this building was like a team, like a family," he said.

"780 Saint-Remi was the best building in Montreal."

Much needed affordable housing

Work on the new development is slated to begin in 2017 and will take an estimated two years to complete. 

The project will be overseen by the non-profit organization L'Habitation 21.

Quebec's Transport Ministry is putting in $13.5 million of the estimated costs.

Benoit Dorais, mayor of the Southwest borough, said the new project brings an end to years of uncertainty for the residents displaced by the Turcot project. 

"By the time they move into their new homes, 12 years will have passed since the expropriations were announced, and five years since they took place," he said.

"It was time for the government to stop procrastinating and move forward with this," he said.

Dorais welcomed the promised units, but said much more affordable housing is needed in the Southwest borough.

Here are the project plans (available in French only):