Windsor Station-area hub in works
Cadillac fairview. Parking lot owner is last holdout
The GazetteApril 18, 2009 4:07 AM
Cadillac Fairview is planning to develop "an intermodal and multipurpose urban development hub" around the Bell Centre and Windsor Station, sources have confirmed to The Gazette.
La Presse reported yesterday that the commercial real-estate arm of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and a numbered company co-owned by one of its representatives, Salvatore Iacono, have purchased a series of lots around the concert and sports venue, some of the properties in a state of disrepair.
Iacono of Davin Capital Corp. and Cadillac Fairview spokespersons and executives did not return calls seeking comment on the plan.
Michel Spénard of Canadian Pacific, which put Windsor Station up for sale two years ago, also did not return calls.
Heritage Montreal spokesman Dinu Bumbaru said that "there had been rumours for quite a while about something like this." "But I don't know why we have to hear about it (piecemeal) like this," he added. "The city of Montreal should be more dynamic and involved." He speculated that the tramway project along Peel St. might have been an incentive for the Cadillac Fairview plan.
But the sticking point, he said, was "Windsor Station, the gateway of the whole project." As a protected heritage site, the underground vaults would have to be preserved, "which might present restrictions on renovations." Detailed plans for the elaborate, multi-level development project show that it would include shops, entertainment venues, residential areas, office space, a hotel, parking and a new train terminal, presumably at Windsor Station for the Dorion-Rigaud commuter line.
The only lot that has yet to be purchased to assemble all the land needed to complete the project is Parking Jack, a parking lot owned by Jack Ben-Sabat.
His daughter Rachel confirmed that her father was holding out for a better offer, but she did not expand.
Ben-Sabat later said that he "wasn't interested" in speaking about the matter.
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