Montreal

NDG cultural centre opens its doors after 4 years of delays

After years of delay, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce’s cultural centre opens its doors to the public.

Sleek new building has a library, stage, outdoor space, even a 3D printer

The Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Cultural Centre was initially scheduled to open in 2011. (Natalie Nanowski/CBC)

Notre-Dame-de-Grâce's long-delayed cultural centre has finally opened its doors to the public.  

The new building houses a library, stage and an outdoor space. It even has a 3D printer.

Located at the corner of Monkland and Benny avenues, the cultural centre was initially slated to open in 2012. That was pushed back to 2013, and then finally to 2016.

"There were a few problems," said Peter McQueen, the city councillor for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.

"We aimed high...but a beautiful building means perhaps it was a little bit harder to build. There were a few difficulties with the contractor."

Resident John Zhong said the centre was a long time coming.

"We moved to NDG in 2011, and people told us there was going to be a community centre here and we were expecting, expecting," he said.

McQueen said the new library will be particularly welcome in a borough that has a shortage of library books.

The library houses 130,000 documents, including ones from the old Benny Library.

The whole complex cost $23.6 million.

The library of the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Cultural Centre will officially open on Tuesday, Feb. 9. (Natalie Nanowski/CBC)