As announced by the Journal Le Soir.ca, the City of Rimouski confirmed the purchase of the presbytery of the Fabrique Saint-Germain, Tuesday evening, during the municipal council meeting, for $1.165 million, while the initial price was $950,000.
The difference is that the City has also regularized the titles of the Place des Anciens-Combattants.
“There was no dispute, but there was no clear understanding of what was the property of the City or the Fabrique. This ensures that Place des Anciens-Combattants becomes entirely the property of the City so that we can proceed with the development of the city centre at a later date. We will also be able to protect the heritage building that is the presbytery,” explains Rimouski Mayor Guy Caron.
The Ministry of Culture and Communications has already been approached by the City of Rimouski to possibly obtain grants to carry out the rehabilitation of the presbytery.
“We also ensured that the money that the Factory will receive will only be used for the repair of the Cathedral, to redo the roof and the facade,” specifies Mr. Caron.
The city will also be able to move forward with its project to convert Place des Anciens-Combattants. Guy Caron has never hidden his desire to transform the site into a green space, without parking, by 2030.
Creation of a cultural center
The mayor emphasizes that the purchase of the presbytery is not just the acquisition of a building.
“We want to make it a cultural hub. We want to install the administrative offices of our cultural organizations there, some of which, like the Quatre Temps dance school, lack space. We want to free up space at the cultural center for the dance school whose needs are enormous. “It’s probably the fastest growing cultural organization.”
The mayor added that the Music School and the Conservatory are also cramped in the cultural centre on Rue Sainte-Marie.
“We are going to remove the administrative offices of these organizations and put them in the cultural center at the presbytery.”
Project of $10 to $15 million carried out in two phases
The acquisition of the presbytery is the first step in a project by the City of Rimouski estimated at between $10 and $15 million, to be completed in two phases by 2028.
It will include the grouping of numerous cultural organizations under one roof in a presbytery brought up to date, the redevelopment of part of the Cultural Center and the creation of a cultural leisure complex, in the current community center of Sainte- Agnes South.
