Will the Center Valleyfield commercial site be able to experience a second life in 2025? The answer could be provided by the government of Quebec, whose authorities are analyzing the relevance of lifting the penalty of some $3 million which weighs on a development project by the Pomerleau Group, owner of the premises.
According to the MP for Beauharnois, Claude Reid, the file “is still under analysis and discussion at the Ministry of the Environment as well as that of the Economy. The case is continuing. It is therefore to be continued.”
The Pomerleau Group and municipal authorities are working on a multi-million development project on the site, integrating commercial, residential and institutional facilities, said Mayor Miguel Lemieux.
The details of this project still remain confidential. Nevertheless, the mayor believes that the government has before it “a unique opportunity to take concrete action for the revitalization of downtown Salaberry-de-Valleyfield without any investment on its part.” A measure which would have a “major impact” on the economic development of the city, according to him.
Penalty
-Remember that this penalty results from a clause included in the transaction concluded in 1988 between the City and the government concerning the sale of properties where the shopping center, the filtration plant, and even Avenue du Centenaire are located, up to at Saint-François Bay. This prevails until the agreement expires in 2037.
“Until this deadline, it is agreed that no vertical or horizontal modification of the constructions taking place on the said building with the exception of the expansion of the filtration plant on part of it must be made directly or indirectly by the City, by any subsequent purchaser or by any person or corporation having at the time of these modifications a relationship of dependence with any of the purchasers having succeeded one another since the present…”, we can read in the document .
It continues by mentioning “that in the event of non-compliance with this clause… HER MAJESTY will have the right to demand from the City… payment as damages of $1,361,100 in 1987 dollars…”
Note that since this transaction, the City sold to Dominion Textile in 1988 and that it resold to the Pomerleau Group in 1991.
This sector cannot therefore be reclassified, despite the company’s desire to better exploit the site.
