In early July, about 80 tenants from apartment buildings in Montreal’s Plateau-Mont-Royal were evacuated as a precaution after concerns arose regarding the structural integrity of a neighbouring building. The crumbling structure is slated for demolition as early as next week, the residents who live near it will soon be able to return home.
Some residents say they hope the demolition process is done swiftly. One Montrealer living near the building said it’s become a hazard for those in the area.
“It’s a total catastrophe, it’s ridiculous,” he said. “They’ve blocked out half of the street here on Parc, which is a main artery of Montreal,”
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The Plateau-Mont-Royal borough told CityNews that they awarded a contract for demolition last week and that the team is currently working on the logistics. They confirmed that demolition work is scheduled to begin the week of Aug. 4.
In a statement to CityNews, a spokesperson for the Plateau-Mont-Royal said: “The borough will assume the costs incurred, but legal action will be taken to recover the amounts from the owner of 5990 Avenue du Parc. At this stage, we are unable to provide exact costs, as too many factors could still influence future expenses related to this demolition.”
CityNews has reached out to the building’s owners – but did not hear back yet.
Ian Cucurull, the owner of a neighbouring building that was evacuated, stated that tenants have become exhausted and that they can’t wait to return to their homes, as most are frustrated with how the city has handled this matter.
“Out of 18 rented properties, I have four tenants who have asked me to terminate their lease and have rented another property,” said Cucurull. “I will unfortunately suffer a lot of financial losses, and the insurance companies are not paying anything since there was no damage to my building. Note that the tenants’ insurers are also not paying anything for the same reason.”
He previously explained that in 2023 the City of Montreal hired a firm stating that the 5990 Parc Avenue building was dangerous and that it had to be demolished. He adds that he is not satisfied that it took so long to demolish, referring to an incident in March of this year where a tenant at 6000 Parc Avenue allegedly could have died.
Cucurull adds that more inspections are needed.
“The city needs to focus on important inspections like this dangerous building, not notices of non-compliance for less important things like a fire certificate that’s been overdue for a day,” said Cucurull. “It has no excuses and all the resources it needs for inspections and in-house lawyers.”
The borough says evacuated tenants are expected to move back into their homes by the week of Aug. 11.
Meanwhile, residents neighbouring the building say they were unaware of the planned demolition.
“It’s really affecting also the businesses around here, the antique dealer,” said one resident. “No one can park here. There’s going to be an accident within the next few weeks here.”
“I live right in front, and I didn’t know about it so yeah it would be nice in this day in age especially because its so easy to share information, someone could’ve told us.”
