Collapsing building in Montreal’s Plateau finally scheduled for demolition

The tenants at 5998 Parc Ave. have been stranded for three weeks after a wall of the neighbouring building crumbled March 17. (CTV News)

Months after the wall of a building on Parc Avenue in Montreal’s Plateau-Mont-Royal crumbled, forcing the evacuation of neighbouring apartments, the borough says it has authorized its demolition.

A spokesperson for the borough confirmed in an email the demolition contract was awarded last week and a team is “currently working on the logistics (measures to be taken to minimize the impact on adjacent buildings, predictability of potential hazards, etc.).”

Demolition work is scheduled to begin during the week of Aug. 4, and the borough hopes tenants of neighbouring buildings will be able to return home the following week.

The abandoned building is located at the corner of Parc and Van Horne avenues, and has long been a source of frustration for its neighbours.

When a wall first crumbled on March 17, a dozen tenants of a neighbouring building were pushed out of their homes and have yet to be able to return to retrieve their belongings.

Mikaela Germani, one of the former tenants, had her apartment trashed when bricks from the collapsed wall broke through her living room window.

She has since broken her lease, but all her furniture is still in the apartment. She was able to get most of her books and clothes out of the dusty unit but said it was difficult as there is little access to the building.

“It has been a complete roller coaster, a lot of unknowns, and there’s been a lot of confusion. The city kept saying that they would take action. They didn’t,” she said. “I was able to find a new place, but it’s more expensive, so there’s a major downside there.”

The borough said demolition of 5990-5992 Parc Ave. was first approved in April 2024. However, the borough never issued the permit as the owners of the building owed it money and stopped cooperating.

The building at 5990-5992 Parc Ave. is registered to Jonathan Pigeon and Daniel Lalonde.

In early June, a concerned resident flagged that bricks were falling and two more neighbouring buildings were evacuated after the Montreal fire department determined there was “imminent risk.” Some 30 people were relocated.

The Plateau-Mont-Royal confirmed on Thursday it plans to go ahead with the demolition on its own and foot the bill to the owners. Because they have unpaid fees, “legal action will be taken” to ensure the funds are recovered, said the borough.

It is unclear how much it will cost the borough to demolish the building.

But Germani isn’t relieved yet.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” she said. “It’s way past time. It shouldn’t be even an issue at this point, and the fact it is, I think the city really needs to examine the way that they’re dealing with the how the buildings that are falling apart.”