Mountainside in Westmount is sold to developer
Mountainside United Church, an imposing neo- Gothic heritage structure on the south side of The Boulevard in Westmount, has been sold to a Montreal real estate developer who says he is considering condos or individual homes for the site — or both.
Daniel Revah of Corev Immobilier paid $4.025 million for the property, which has a municipal valuation of more than $10 million. The church and land occupy 50,000 square feet and stretch between Roslyn and Lansdowne avenues. The sale was announced to the congregation on Sept. 23, Don McLeod, chair of the church trustees, said last week.
The decision to sell their longtime home was a difficult one — but, like many houses of worship, Mountainside was facing declining membership and diminished financial and human resources to maintain the property “and to do all the activities we want to do to manage our congregation,” he said.
Two studies, commissioned before the property was listed in 2016, concluded that redevelopment options were severely limited by zoning restrictions and the building ’s heritage status.
“Our understanding is that the exterior can’t be touched,” McLeod said.
Preserving the heritage value of structures and sites has long been a preoccupation for Westmount, said Nathalie Jodoin, assistant director of urban planning for the city: Westmount established Quebec’s first architectural commission in 1916.
Initially, Mountainside was marketed to religious institutions.
“There were a couple of small nibbles,” McLeod said, but nothing came of them.
A campaign aimed at developers followed. An offer by Revah was initially rejected in favour of another; when that fell through, he was approached.
Said McLeod: “He knows Westmount and he lives in Westmount — and he is in the business.”
Revah has two Westmount condo projects under his belt, on Redfern Ave., and is currently involved with le 1420 Boulevard Mont-Royal, a condo project in a former convent.
He visited Mountainside Tuesday morning with the project’s architect, Karl Fischer — and said Fischer “was blown away” by the structure.
A house of worship has stood on the site since 1914, when a modest brick hall on Roslyn Ave. south of The Boulevard was built for the Dominion Methodist Church. In 1927, following a merger with Douglas Methodist, the stately stone structure known then as the Dominion Douglas United Church was built adjacent to that hall. Two more churches joined the congregation — St. Andrew’s United Church in 1985 and Erskine and American Church in 2004 — and it was renamed Mountainside United in 2005.
Revah said one possibility being considered is for the church building to be divided into two large homes, or even a single large dwelling: It has a footprint of more than 15,000 square feet on each of two levels. Another is for it to become three to five residences, perhaps with a second building on the property comprising 10 to 15 units. Yet another option is leaving the envelope of the church intact and building “up from the roof, if Westmount is open to it.” That could mean four or five residences in the church structure, and perhaps two to three homes elsewhere on the property, he said.
Viewed from the front, the stone building and surrounding landscape “shouldn’t feel much different” after development, Revah said: The north, east and west facades would remain untouched — but it is his understanding that development to the south would be possible. The brick community hall behind the stone structure could be demolished — “that building has no architectural importance,” he said — and construction could then take place on the property’s southern flank.
Observed McLeod: “The developer will have to work with Westmount to determine what he can and cannot do.”
The lot on which Mountainside sits currently is zoned for one single-family residence, said Jodoin of Urban Planning. A project such as any of those Revah is considering would require a zoning change, which is subject to approval by city council — as would any request to modify either building. Both are designated Category One buildings, which means they are considered “notable” and “demolition or modification of major defining characteristics are generally unacceptable,” according to Westmount’s website. “Modifying minor defining characteristics is also generally unacceptable.”
Any permit application would need approval from the Planning Advisory Committee before going to council. And when a request is made for a divergence for what is authorized, various steps and mechanisms can kick in, including a public hearing at which a proposed project is presented and citizens can voice concerns.
News of the building ’s sale comes amid efforts by Westmount to “determine an appropriate future” for its 13 houses of worship, all considered to be of heritage value and the majority, as Mountainside was, in an untenable financial situation. A project underway since 2015 to find new community and revenuegenerating uses for underused portions of the structures features consultation with the institutions and the broader community.
“Subdivision projects, changes in use, the conversion or re-conversion of buildings on such sites must ensure the preservation of special architectural and landscape features and not compromise the historical or symbolic value of the site,” says the section of Westmount’s website describing the project.
Revah will have some time to consider plans and submit them, since the Mountainside congregation will stay put for three years.
“Part of our challenge over the next three years is to figure out what we want to do,” McLeod said. Merging with another congregation is one possibility, he said, but there are others. “We are looking at some type of mission or outreach within the community.”
Congregants will be helped in their deliberations by a new minister: Early in 2018, Rev. Dr. Douglas Throop arrives to replace Rev. John Forster, who retired at the end of May. Throop returns to the congregation where he was a student minister years ago.