Crumbling Montreal building slated for demolition forces 2nd evacuation this year
Borough says it will carry out demolition, bypass red tape if owners don't act
Having just moved into his new apartment in June, Charles Emond had barely finished unpacking his belongings when he was told by the Montreal fire department last Friday to pack up and get out.
He said he and the other tenants were told they had 15 minutes to leave the building at 5980-5982 Park Ave. in Montreal's Plateau–Mont-Royal borough.
"It was my first apartment with my girlfriend, so it was something special," he said on Monday. "The last three or four days have been the most stressful of my life."
Emond was part of the latest round of tenants forced to evacuate their homes over the past four months, all due to a crumbling structure sitting adjacent to them.
Part of the exterior wall of the derelict building at 5986-5992 Park Ave. collapsed in March, forcing the tenants living in the building next door to the left out of their homes.
Last Friday, Montreal firefighters responded to a call just after 2 p.m. after someone noticed bricks falling off the crumbling building's opposite wall, and ordered the evacuation of Emond's building — next door to the right — due to the "imminent risk of a collapse," according to Service de sécurité incendie de Montréal (SIM) spokesperson Guy Lapointe.
With the two buildings now sitting empty, Plateau–Mont-Royal borough mayor Luc Rabouin says it's a matter of weeks before the derelict building sandwiched between them finally comes down.
But with little faith in the borough's ability or willingness to accommodate tenants given the experience of those two doors down, Emond and his partner decided to break their lease and move into another apartment offered to them by their landlord.
Displaced tenants from the evacuation Friday were under the care of the Red Cross for three days. Those that are still unhoused are now being accompanied by the Office municipal d'habitation de Montréal. It can't, however, provide subsidized units to tenants whose revenue is too high, it said in a statement.
'A landlord who is playing cat and mouse'
During a borough council meeting Monday, Rabouin said the borough will carry out the demolition of the building at 5986-5992 Park Ave. if its owners don't, adding that an engineering firm is expected to provide a plan by the end of the week.
"We're dealing with a landlord who is playing cat and mouse with us, who is very difficult to reach, who gives us signs of good intentions that ultimately don't come true," he said.
The building administrators, Daniel Lalonde and Jonathan Pigeon, had committed to demolishing the property on June 2, according to Rabouin. That was after the borough says it had to hire a private investigator to serve them a demolition order.
Reached by CBC on Tuesday, Pigeon says he and his partner were not negligent and that there was no private investigator. He said his office had simply changed addresses and that he signed the borough's documents electronically. He blames the borough for the delay.
"Everyone is in communication, there was never a cat and mouse [game], the demolition process is going well, the contract has already been awarded," he wrote in French in a text message to CBC.
He said the demolition will take place after preparations for the site are complete, which is "supposed to happen shortly."
Building should have come down in 2023: engineer's report
In April 2023, an engineer assessed the building for Habitat 237 Grande-Île S.E.N.C., the company owned by Pigeon and Lalonde to which the building is registered. The building was already vacant at that point following a fire, according to the report, which CBC obtained through an access to information request.
The report detailed unstable and degraded foundation walls and detached brick cladding, among other concerns.
"We demand that this building be unoccupied and demolished as quickly as possible in accordance with city requirements," it concluded.
"Major intervention on a portion of the existing structure is not acceptable or feasible."
A month earlier, the borough had issued a notice to the owners flagging a couple building maintenance infractions. It cited its right to carry out the building's demolition at the owners' expense if they did not take the appropriate steps to secure the structure.
Asked in May 2025 why the borough hadn't taken action, a spokesperson said intervening to demolish a building is an "exceptional step" that the borough had never taken before.
Ian Cucurull, the owner of the building that was evacuated Friday, says he was lodging complaints to the city about the instability of the adjacent building as far back as 2021.
"I complained to everyone," he said. "Everyone was in agreement that the bowing of the wall was very pronounced, dangerous even….We're now in 2025 and still, the building is still standing. I don't understand."
Pigeon and Lalonde acquired the building in 2021 and began the process to obtain a demolition permit that same year, according to Pigeon.
"We never abandoned the procedures, the city asked for new things every time to bring the building down," he said.
The city has previously said the owners first applied for a demolition permit in 2023 and failed to follow up on the process when asked for additional documents.
Borough says it will bypass call for tender process
Cucurull says that up until recently, the borough had communicated with him that they were still considering issuing a call for tender for the demolition contract — a process that usually takes months.
Rabouin said Monday that if the borough does end up carrying out the demolition, it will bypass that process to speed things up.
"There was a wall that almost killed a tenant … it's not a joke," said Cucurull, referring to the partial collapse in March.
"It's absolutely crazy and you can't demolish that building. I can't demolish that building. Only the city can do it."
Emond says he struggles to understand why it's taken the landlords so long to act. In the end, he chalks it up to them ultimately not caring about the impact the ordeal has had on vulnerable renters.
Pigeon says it is due in part to the city recommending a contractor that was too expensive.
Still, Emond says the harm done is significant.
"In my perspective, I think it's just another building for them. It's just another investment for them. They don't really care. Like if they care, they would have done something in March," he said.
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