What a shame.
Source:
The Gazette
Redpath mansion demolition to go ahead as planned
BY MICHELLE LALONDE, THE GAZETTE FEBRUARY 14, 2014
MONTREAL - Friday’s snowstorm forced a postponement of the demolition of the historic Redpath mansion, but the developer says what’s left of the building will soon come down to make way for an upscale student residence.
The building on 3455 Avenue du Musée was originally built for a member of the Redpath family, of sugar-refining fame, back in 1886. It passed through many owners, and was being used as a shelter for the homeless when Amos and Avi Sochaczevski purchased it in early 1986.
The property is now managed by Amos’s son Michael Sochaczevski, who told The Gazette on Friday that his family has been trying to develop the site responsibly for decades, and never intended to practise “demolition by neglect,” as heritage activists claim.
He blames “the city and the economic climate of Montreal” for the sorry state of the property, which is in the heart of Montreal’s fabled Golden Square Mile.
After purchasing the property in January of 1986, the Sochaczevski brothers began to demolish the house to make way for a four-storey, $4-million condominium. Heritage activists obtained an injunction to stop that project, arguing proper procedures had not been followed to obtain a demolition permit.
After the injunction was granted, the Sochaczevski brothers sat down with the newly elected administration of then-Mayor Jean Doré and heritage groups. They hammered out a deal that would have allowed the developers to build a slightly higher building — five storeys — if they integrated the façade of the old house into the new building.
But the project stagnated.
“At that point in the ’80s, nothing was being built in Montreal,” Sochaczevski said. “There was no market for it, so we didn’t do anything.”
Ten years later, as Montreal’s economy started to pick up, the developers tried to revive the project, but by then Montreal had updated its zoning bylaws and the project no longer conformed.
“Then about four years ago, Mayor (Gérald) Tremblay met me at a cocktail party and said: ‘Let’s do something with that site; it’s really an eyesore,’ ” Sochaczevski said.
So for two years, the developers worked with the planning department of the Ville-Marie borough, together designing a new project for the site. After lengthy negotiations, they agreed on a seven-storey luxury condominium project with 14 units and 28 underground parking spots.
The project passed two readings at the borough council, but then, another stall.
“Two weeks before it was going to third reading, Tremblay called me up to say, ‘Michael, I’m pulling my support.’”
The mayor apparently said the Museum of Fine Arts was complaining the project was too high and would block the view of the mountain from its annex. Without the mayor’s support, the project floundered once again.
A couple more years passed, and the borough began issuing what Sochaczevski called “nuisance fines, for this and that” and again pressuring him to do something with the site.
Fed up, he went to borough planners and asked what he could build that would not require a zoning change, or a public consultation or “any dealings with city counsellors.”
They told him he could build a four-storey rooming house, so Sochaczevski came back with a design for an upscale student residence, with 29 suites and 89 bedrooms, that will rent at about $1,000 a month per bedroom. He got a permit to demolish and build the residence in December.
Heritage activists still say the borough has cheated Montrealers out of public hearings on the demolition, which would be required if 50 per cent or more of the original house was still intact. Sochaczevski claims 85 per cent of the house was demolished back in 1986 before the injunction was issued. Heritage groups dispute this figure.
In any case, Sochaczevski says the demolition will go ahead as soon as the weather allows, and some students will have a brand new residence just a few blocks from McGill on the site of the old Redpath mansion, come September.
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Absolutely! I'm glad we're starting to finally learn and adapt to this reality in Canada. Also, I know it's not ideal in the sense of what you are saying, but I really love it when they refurbish low-rise heritage buildings and add a couple modern floors on top.
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