real estate

‘Galleon’ tower to be anchored at the peak of Grande Allée

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

After nearly 15 years of battles with City Hall and in the courts, developer Louis Lessard appears to be on the verge of realizing his ambition to build a luxury tower on Grande Allée Est.

Lessard was in attendance at a public consultation meeting on June 16 where he announced his plan for Le Galléon, a 20-storey building on the site where Saint- Coeur-de-Marie church stood until it fell into ruin and was demolished in 2019.

Lessard, who acquired the property in 2010, 13 years after it had been abandoned by the Catholic diocese, said in brief remarks that the building would be “absolutely magnificent.”

If the city grants a build- ing permit by August, Le Galléon, containing 200 residential rental units and a number of commercial spaces, would take 18 months to build. No dollar amount for the project has been made available.

The project website describes the building in grand terms: “Between sky, city and river, Le Galléon – a timeless design inspired by the site’s heritage. Anchored at the highest point of the iconic Grande Allée, Le Galléon is reinventing the art of living in Quebec City.”

Some 58 people attended the information session in person and another 60 online; both the Galléon project and a 10-storey addition to the 153-155 Grande Allée Est building were presented.

The city councillor for Cap-aux-Diamants and executive committee member responsible for urban planning, Coun. Mélissa Coulombe-Leduc, attended and explained how the two large projects on Grande Allée were being fast-tracked under a new law to accelerate housing construction in areas of high demand.

Coulombe-Leduc noted that buildings of 20 storeys and more are not uncommon on Grande Allée. “We’ll hear what people have to say. We’ll see if it directly affects the project or if there are indirect consequences that might allow us to work in a different way. We’ll weigh the pros and cons. We’ll see if there’s a need to make changes or not.”

The Galléon developers have already made several changes to the project design in response to comments from the city’s urban planning commission, said Jonathan Brisson, head of Circum Architecture, the firm heading up the project.

For Lessard, the city’s sudden enthusiasm for his proposal for a 20-storey tower marks a stunning reversal from what has transpired since 2010. In 2017, his company had proposed an 18-storey building, which was rejected by the city.

It had been, according to Lessard, the 12th design proposal submitted to the city since he bought the site, which included the abandoned church. Several of the early proposals included concepts that retained parts of the church structure.

Frustrated by the city’s refusal to accept a tower high enough to be profitable, in 2022 Lessard submitted a design for a nine-storey parking garage that he believed conformed to existing zoning. The city rejected the proposal and changed the zoning to block such a project. Lessard then took the city to court, but lost in a decision rendered in June 2024.

What happened between Lessard and the city after that court decision that led to the submission of a comprehensive architectural plan for a 20-storey tower a few months later was not discussed at the consultation session.

There were few questions about Le Galléon posed at the three-hour meeting. One did concern the process that would be used to excavate the four-storey underground garage. Brisson was not able to be specific but conceded blasting would likely be required, given the rock upon which the structure would be built.

Developer vows to limit inconvenience in adding 10 floors to Grande Allée building

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

Work could get underway soon on a project to add 10 storeys to an apartment building on Grande Allée that already has 11 floors.

The city is expected to grant approval in the coming weeks for Bildodeau Immobilier to raise the roof on 153-155 Grande Allée Est, a building that was completed in 2020. Bilodeau also owns the apartment building behind the new one, Le Montmorency, on Avenue Wilfrid-Laurier.

As for the seeming negative impacts of a construction site on top of a building housing several hundred tenants, the developers say, “During construction, several elements are being put in place to mitigate inconveniences.”

In an email exchange with the QCT, Éric Bilodeau, general manager of the family-owned company, said the building had been designed with an addition of up to 12 stories in mind.

“The structure, configuration and anchors are already installed and planned for this purpose. The structure has the capacity to accommodate the additional 10 floors without any worries,” Bilodeau said. “The same is true for the interior installations, as a third elevator shaft already exists and is ready to accommodate the third elevator, among other things.”

As for the actual construction, Bilodeau said the impact will be contained largely by the building work going on “at height.” This will limit “the footprint on public roads and sidewalks.”

He said, “A protection will be installed over a width of about 10 feet, all around the building from the 13th floor, during exterior construction. This protection will make all balconies accessible and walk- ing on the sidewalk possible. A demarcated sidewalk will be installed, with open containers and a construction flagger will be present on site as much as necessary to assist with crossing and traffic.”

Bilodeau said steps will be taken to keep Rue Galipeau, which borders the site on the west, open to traffic and pedestrians. Construction workers’ vehicles will be parked further away at designated lots.

As for the usual convoy of de- livery trucks for a construction site, Bilodeau said a system will be in place so that “trucks will have to wait to be called in turn, from a parking lot that will be established on our Boul. René-Lévesque property.”

Because there is no excavation work to be done, issues of noise and dust will be limited, he said.

Another mitigating feature, Bilodeau said, would be that the usual trailers for construction workers will be cantilevered over the build- ing. “Movement between the ground floor and the building will therefore be limited. They will use the fire escape leading to Rue Galipeau, but will have no access to the interior of the upper floors.”

Bilodeau said, “We intend to make this construction a success both in its method of execution and in the final product.”

Among the company’s other properties are the Woodfield- Sillery condo-apartments and the recently acquired Catholic diocese building and land on Boul. René-Lévesque.

Citizen groups, developer spar over height of Îlot Dorchester project

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

The city administration will decide “in the coming days” the fate and shape of a major development project in Saint-Roch.

A battle over the Îlot Dorchester plan between citizens’ groups and the developer, Groupe Trudel, flared up last week over the impact the mixed housing and commercial project would have on the neighbourhood skyline.

The groups claim the developer is trying to “divide and conquer” local residents, while the developer has struck back, denouncing “lies and falsehoods” coming from opponents of the project.

After a series of consultations organized by the city, Groupe Trudel submitted a plan in October to transform what is currently a huge park- ing lot along Rue Saint-Vallier Est into a complex with 410 housing units, including 20 social housing and 40 afford- able housing units, a 150-room, 20-storey hotel and a large grocery store.

The main focus of opposition to the project is the height of the hotel, which does not conform with the urban development plan for that zone of Saint-Roch, which currently has a 10-storey maximum.

Company president William Trudel seems to have stoked opposition to the project with comments he made in media interviews two weeks ago. Speaking on BLVD radio Jan. 20, he suggested citizens are against the project because they don’t want to lose “their partial view of the mountains in a housing crisis […] People have difficulty finding housing, and then they show up and say, ‘I don’t want to lose my sunset.’”

The Collectif citoyen Saint- Roch/Saint-Jean-Baptiste responded Jan. 30 with a long and harshly worded open letter which argues that the city itself has vaunted the “panorama” that would be obstructed by the hotel tower.

The letter said, “The developer’s rhetoric of minimizing the value of this remarkable panorama is all the more laughable, since it is precisely its value that he covets with all his heart! Why build on the Dorchester block a world-class hotel [that] will bring tens of thousands of tourists to Saint- Roch, according to his own words? What is so attractive about this location for a hotel chain, if not, precisely … the remarkable panorama?”

Trudel, in turn, struck back with an open letter published in the Journal de Québec Feb. 5. While saying, “We welcome the expression of opinions contrary to ours since this moves the debate forward,” Trudel wrote, “I take up my pen … to correct the facts on the five biggest lies being spread.”

The letter addresses and rejects claims about the amount of green space allotted to the project, the inclusion of Airbnb units, the amount of social housing, the question of densification of housing and the description of the hotel as “luxury.”

Regarding “densification,” Trudel notes that Quebec City has 5,550 people per square kilometre in its downtown, making it less densely populated than Ottawa (6,800), Montreal (8,370), Toronto (16,600) and Vancouver (18,800.)

He concludes the letter, “[S]preading lies and defaming my company is a line that I will never allow to be crossed. I built Trudel with $1,500 and an immense amount of personal effort and sacrifice. The 150 employees earn their living within the company with pride, honour and honesty. We are the example that anything is possible in Quebec.”

A spokesperson for Mayor Bruno Marchand said the city is expected to make a decision on the Îlot Dorchester project “in the coming days.”

In previous comments, Marchand said the city is looking for compromises to ensure the block is developed.