Groupe Boudreault has decided to abandon its $20 million real estate project in downtown Chicoutimi because contaminants are still present on the targeted land, despite the decontamination carried out by Saguenay in 2010. This was explained on Thursday by Jessica Prescott, spokesperson for the construction contractor.
The Boudreault Group had reached an agreement with the city to purchase the land located at the intersection of Jacques-Cartier, Sainte-Anne and Racine streets. It was prepared to pay more than $1 million to acquire it and build two buildings with 63 apartments and commercial spaces.
Analyzing the soil before undertaking the work finally pushed her to reverse course.
“Our experts determined that there was still a risk of contamination of the land that remained,” says Jessica Prescott, “despite the decontamination carried out by the city. We did not expect land on which there were still contaminants. We had no choice but to have an environmental assessment for the rest of the file. »
The company spokesperson adds that discussions took place with Saguenay in order to continue the project anyway, but that it was not conclusive.
“We asked the city to move on to phase 2 at its own expense, but it refused. We couldn’t get along and that’s why we withdrew from the project. We cannot move forward. »
Saguenay plans to launch a new call for tenders this fall to develop a residential and commercial project on the site of the former Paco. Groupe Boudreault does not rule out the possibility of bidding again, if the land issue is resolved.
“If the land becomes adequately decontaminated, we are still interested in submitting a project to build buildings on this land, but not in its current state. We still want to participate in the revitalization of the downtown and we are part of the vision of the downtown that was recently developed, but it requires clean land for construction. Currently, this is not the case.”
