MOST OF OLD MERCK SITE SET TO BE TORN DOWN
New owners have requested a permit to demolish older or obsolete buildings on the campus site in Kirkland. Administrative offices will be retained and updated.
On the heels of a proposed highdensity residential project being blocked by Kirkland residents, the developer is requesting a demolition permit to knock down older or obsolete sections of the former Merck campus along the north side of the Highway 40 service road.
A demolition application was made by Broccolini, which acquired the 2.3-million-square-foot property in 2014. The developer had proposed the Quartier Évolution project, a 800-unit residential redevelopment that included condominiums and townhouses along with industrial buildings along the service road and a section near the Kirkland/Pointe-Claire border.
Although a public registry process blocked the residential project, the property remains zoned for industrial use. Broccolini is negotiating with potential tenants for the existing buildings being spared the wrecking ball and which, instead, will be modernized.
Roger Plamondon, senior vicepresident of real-estate development with Broccolini, described the buildings to be demolished as rundown or obsolete, such as Merck’s old production, packaging and storage areas and an outdated cafeteria.
“We’re keeping the administrative offices. Matter of fact, we will be announcing that we’ve rented that premises. We’re still going ahead under the existing (industrial) zoning bylaw,” he said. “What we are doing is knocking down the buildings that go around that administrative offices because they are completely obsolete. There are parts in there that date back to the 1980s, so they don’t meet any of the standards of today.”
Some facilities, on the eastern side of the property along the Pointe-Claire border, will also be kept and eventually leased out, Plamondon said.
“Those still have some merit, as a potential data centre since the power is there, or someone looking for a laboratory. That’s where Merck did its research and development,” he said. “We’re also keeping a newer building on the (highway service road). It’s like a hybrid building of offices and some kind of production pieces. We’re keeping that wing intact.
“The buildings that are coming down have the least value,” he added. “The buildings that we are proposing to keep have the highest value. So it’ll have very little impact on (the city’s) tax base.”
Demolition work will start shortly after a permit is issued by the city, Plamondon said.
Some vacant space on the property near the service road could eventually be redeveloped for industrial use, Plamondon said.
Mayor Michel Gibson said the demolition of several unwanted sections of the former pharmaceutical campus had been planned all along as part of the residential project that has been shelved. The city’s demolition committee toured the facility recently, taking note of the outdated sections. Most of the sections to be demolished are on the northwest side of the property, though three smaller office buildings facing the service road side will also be taken down.
“Some of these buildings are long past due and they’re no longer state of the art,” Gibson said.
“The demolition will be done in phases,” the mayor added, noting the request is the subject of an advisory committee hearing at city hall on Thursday, Feb. 4, at 7 p.m. A demolition permit will then have to be approved by council at a later date.
Last month, Kirkland opted to withdraw rezoning items related to the Quartier Évolution project, taking into consideration just more than 300 voters signed registers, more than double the 125 minimum signatures required to either force council to drop the proposed bylaw amendments or call a referendum.
If Broccolini were to ever propose a revised residential project, the concerns of nearby residents will be addressed before any rezoning process is launched, Plamondon said, adding all their options are still being considered.
Lacey Green area resident Cherine Cheftechi, who spearheaded grassroots opposition to the Quartier Évolution project, doesn’t plan to protest the demolition application.
“The land is zoned industrial and the owner, Broccolini, is certainly entitled to use the land as it is zoned. So long as the owner respects existing rules and regulations, there is little we can do.”