Historic Silo No. 5 put up for sale
It’s hard to imagine, but in a few years the area around the Old Port’s iconic grain silo will be a hub of activity, with shops, office space, homes parks, green space and a public gathering spot.
Representatives from the federal, provincial and municipal governments were at the Old Port on Friday to announce the call for proposals to turn Silo No. 5 — abandoned more than 25 years ago — into a new neighbourhood.
Canada Lands Corp., which manages federally owned sites, will receive proposals for the seven-hectare spot (750,000 square feet), which includes some nearby industrial buildings, over the next few months.
They will be studied by a committee of experts, and a decision is expected to be made by September on which group will be permitted to purchase and develop the site. The project would then be studied by Montreal’s public consultation office and could be the subject of a zoning change. Construction could begin as early as 2021.
Among ideas suggested in the past are an observation tower with an elevator that would provide Montrealers with a unique view of their city.
Key to any development would be to preserve the heritage of the grain elevator, which was built in 1903 by Grand Trunk Railway, and hearkens to an era in the 1920s when Montreal was the world’s largest grain port, according to Heritage Montreal’s website.
“Just having a safe public elevator would provide access to one of the most stunning panoramas in Montreal,” said Dinu Bumbaru, the policy director for Heritage Montreal.
Bumbaru, who is on the committee that will award the final selection, said there is a tremendous potential for the building, as well as the adjacent windmill point.
“Instead of looking at it as a masterpiece of Victorian architecture, we can look at it as a robust piece of engineering heritage,” Bumbaru said. “The character of that place is a machine site. The pier itself is an engineering work of significance and we have the Five Roses sign, and the tower of the grain elevator.”
The most obvious challenge for a potential developer of the silo would be the lack of windows in the massive concrete structure. Bumbaru said he doesn’t want to speculate on how the site would be developed, and he’s hoping there will be some interesting and creative suggestions.
“To keep the silo as a sacred artifact may be a bit too tight, but at the same time, we can’t say that anything goes,” Bumbaru said.
Another challenge for potential developers will be providing appropriate access to the site, which has a rail track still used by trains accessing the Port of Montreal. Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said she hopes the site will be easily accessible by all forms of transportation and will insist the public be given access to the waterfront located around the old industrial complex.
While there have been many failed proposals over the years, Michel Leblanc, the CEO of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, said now seems to be an ideal time to develop the site because of a plan in place to redevelop the Old Port, the planned construction of a station for the future Réseau express métropolitain at a site to be determined somewhere nearby and the booming development of nearby Griffintown.
“Look at silos around the world; I’ve been personally to the one in Marseille, France,” Leblanc said. “Half of it is a (concert hall for) the symphony orchestra and the other half is a hub for startups. I’ve been in it and it’s a great, fun place. All around the world, silos exist. We’re not the first ones who are thinking: ‘What can we do with it?’ It can be reused. It can be cool, and lots of different uses are possible.”