Plateau’s Manoir Lafontaine to be transformed into affordable housing

Manoir Lafontaine, a 93-unit building across for Lafontaine park on Montreal’s Plateau-Mont-Royal will be turned into affordable housing.

Mayor of Montrel, Valérie Plante and the Quebec minister responsible for housing, France-Élaine Duranceau, confirmed the news at a press conference with partners on Monday morning.

“This is 93 Plateau-Mont-Royal homes that will be protected from speculation, in an iconic building in the heart of the metropolis. The building could have gone down in history as a symbol of renoviction in Montreal. In the end, it was a victory against the commodification of housing. This is what is possible when we work together,” declared Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante.

Interloge recently purchased the building. The organization specializes in social housing, by acquiring buildings and developing them into affordable units. They currently own 730 apartments with below market value rents.

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The $38 million project will be made possible due to funding by the Quebec government, Desjardins, and the City of Montreal.

The Quebec government is providing $16.8 million in funding. Desjardins is providing $13.5 million in financing and $1.9 million in patient capital. Interloge will be covering the $360 000 down payment, and the Plateau borough has also provided $35,000.

The City of Montreal’s executive committee gave the group a $5.6 million grant for the project.

“Manoir Lafontaine that will be affordable for a very long time for three reasons. First, there was a strong municipal desire to seize the acquisition opportunity. Secondly, I salute the diligence and expertise of Desjardins, which presented a financing package combining its mortgage, patient capital and subsidies from Quebec in a very short space of time, using a one-stop formula. Last but not least, we couldn’t have seen such a swift and happy ending without the agility of our entire team in the due diligence, negotiation and closing of the interim financing,” said Interloge General Manager Louis-Philippe Myre.

This will be one of the Chantier Montréal Abordable’s pilot projects – an initiative to increase affordable housing in Montreal through various partnerships.

The funds will go towards major renovation work on the building.

The Manoir Lafontaine was first built as a hotel for Expo 67, and then turned into a residential building, before making headlines after previous owners tried to evict tenants without success for renovations.