The ruins in my backyard
On pourrait tellement faire mieux si on prenait le temps de consulter sur le sens du monde.
I live in a very lovely part of Westboro which I enjoy very much except of course for the ruins in my backyard. Ashcroft bought the old convent — though I think it was more like a cloister — on Richmond between Hilson and Leighton years ago with a promise to make a wonderful urban village. Condo towers went up first but the rest of the project never really took off. Last week the news came out that Ashcroft homes was in receivership.
I guess the ruins will stay. The convent was briefly available for sale for one dollar last week but the listing disappeared. People on my street were joking about buying it. Hey, finally something affordable! But that’s not taking into consideration municipal taxes, at $152K and change a year.
On ne se mouche pas avec des pelures d’oignon, like we say where I’m from.
I’ll bet it’s full of raccoons. And ghosts, no doubt. At any rate, it’s not great. I’m no architect or structural engineer, but I’d be surprised if the old structure can be rescued at this point. Ah well. Another bit of built heritage to the dumpster.
There was a lot of controversy back when Ashcroft bought the property and tried to get public support for its plan. Westboro-dwellers (and I say this with all my love) are NIMBYISM world champions and it was an epic struggle to get the plans approved. Too bad all this effort went to waste.
It’s especially infuriating because we could do better than this. Approval was just recently given in Quebec City for a 17-storey “compromise” on a major multi-purpose project in a struggling part of town (Quartier Saint-Roch, for those who know). The plan for ilôt Dorchester was going to be higher but some residents in haute-ville complained it would jeopardize their view of Charlesbourg or wherever. There were other issues as well, virtually all of which were addressed by the developer.
I told you about Trudel a while back when I showed you plans for the total redesign of a struggling shopping mall into a complete community. Key to Trudel’s success is their willingness to invest considerable resources into comprehensive public consultations with anyone and everyone who has things to say.
Last December I stopped by the offices of Trudel in Quebec City where David Chabot (president William Trudel’s right hand man) walked me through the whole process that led to where we are now, which is a solution that satisfies most people. The company produced a full report on the consultation process that’s freely available online if you’re interested and if you read French. It’s 159 pages long.
Can you point me to any developer in Ottawa doing anything remotely like that?
Instead of ramming plans through neighbourhoods and then going bankrupt — or needing creditor protection like that other luxury project at Island Park and Wellington — the Trudel folks take the time to earn support from the majority of people impacted by their projects and for some reason this leads to success.
If local developers followed that example I would have a much nicer backyard.
C’est pas pour me vanter mais dans ma cour arrière il y a des fantômes de bonnes sœurs de la Visitation qui hantent les âmes qui sortent le soir promener leur toutou.
C’est parce que le promoteur immobilier qui a acheté l’ancien couvent pour le convertir en espèces de village urbain a fait faillite après plusieurs années de sur-place. Faque mes ruines abandonnées vont continuer de nous donner l’air d’une bande d’éclopés.
Une chose qui m’énarve pas à peu près dans cette ville autrement assez paisible et agréable, c’est les promoteurs immobiliers qui ont l’air de se crisser du monde et qui bâtissent des affaires moches et hors de prix puis qui se demandent après pourquoi tout le monde les haït.
À Québec, il existe un promoteur qui fait des bonnes affaires en reprenant des propriétés poquées (Place Fleur de Lys, Galeries Charlesbourg, Place Quatre-Bourgois) et les convertissant en milieux de vie modernes, bien pensés, durables, et abordables. Jolis, itou.
L’équipe de Trudel vient de scorer un autre bon coup avec l’annonce récente du maire de Québec Bruno Marchand qui donne son appui au projet de l’ilôt Dorchester dans Saint-Roch.
Ça a pris du temps, certes. Et des consultations qui ont dû paraître interminables. Chères, aussi. Mais Trudel choisit d’investir dans ces exercices de consultation de manière complète et transparente parce que ça en vaut le coup (le rapport est disponible en ligne si ça vous tente de vous taper 159 pages de lecture). Avoir le soutien des politiciens, des administrations publiques et de la communauté est la clé d’un succès commercial durable.
La dernière fois que je suis passée au bureau de Trudel à Québec, en décembre, le directeur du bureau du président, David Chabot, a pris le temps de s’asseoir avec moi et de répondre à toutes mes questions sur le processus. Ça fait partie de leur méthode, la transparence. Et franchement, à date, on peut dire que ça marche très bien.
Me semble que d’autres promoteurs pourraient imiter ce bel exemple.