Ground has broken on the 6-million-square-foot residential neighbourhood at the old Molson brewery site on the shores of the Saint Lawrence River. Quartier Molson is the decade-long real estate project that will completely transform the area south of Notre-Dame Street in the historic district. Developer MONTONI and the Fonds immobilier de solidarité FTQ held a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday afternoon. The company says the first $190 million, 22,000-square-foot, 383-unit rental apartment block is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2028. Crews are also beginning work on the Îlot des Voltigeurs, which will be the heritage part of the future neighbourhood. Sohmer Park, a Montreal amusement park created in 1889 by Ernest Lavigne, will be re-created in its original location as part of the project. It was recreated in miniature on Wednesday for the groundbreaking ceremony. “We are fully mindful of the magnitude of the responsibility entrusted to us as the developer of this new Montréal neighbourhood, on an iconic site imbued with history and heritage fronting over half a kilometre of the St. Lawrence River shore,” said MONTONI president Dario Montoni. “Our ambition is to make this neighbourhood a top destination in the city, worthy of its heritage value and of Montrealers’ aspirations for it, now and for generations to come.” The Quartier Molson project will feature around 5,000 housing units, shops, restaurants and hotels.
