JOHN JANTAK
The 1019 Report

The countdown is on until the opening of Vaudreuil-Dorion’s $67.2-million town hall and square is completed.

The project, the first part of a multiple-phase Municipal Hub project that will centralize municipal administration and recreational facilities around a public square, is expected to open in April 2025.

“We hope the construction will be done this year so that we can begin moving by next winter,” said Vaudreuil-Dorion director-general Olivier Van Neste. “April is the latest I would be comfortable with.”

The opening will mark the first time the region’s largest and fastest-growing municipality will house its administrative staff in a building it owns. The city has been renting its current offices on the second floor of a mall at 2555 Durtisac Street since 1977. In 2021, the annual rental cost for the space was about $400,000.

“The project is at 70-per-cent general advancement,” Van Neste said.

The new building, located on Émile Bouchard Rd., behind the Centre Multisports on De la Gare Blvd., will include both offices and a library complex, and a public square. Plans include eventually adding an acquatic centre at the site.

The city awarded the $67.2-million construction contract for the first phase of the project to Groupe Geyser of Laval in late 2022.

The city had planned to begin construction in 2021, but opted to delay the launch after rejecting the only bid it received for the project, citing post-pandemic inflationary pressures that had pushed costs above original estimates. In 2020, the city had estimated the first phase of the project would cost about $33 million.

The city received a combined total of $6 million in subsidies from the federal and provincial governments for the first phase of the project.

Plans to move forward to build the anticipated aquatic centre at the site will depend on the city obtaining additional grants from Ottawa and Quebec, city officials say.

Cutline:

This is an image of what the new building will look like once completed, including the vast area for a town square, which will host a number of activities throughout the year.

Credit:

Image courtesy of the City of Vaudreuil-Dorion