Granby prepares to purchase 94, Saint-Charles Sud

“It’s a site that we’ve been looking at for a long time,” admitted Julie Bourdon, mayor of Granby, last June.

The objective is to inject a good dose of social housing into this address among these housing units, in partnership with the Haute-Yamaska ​​Rouville Housing Office, via rent supplement programs (PSL).

These programs allow tenants who would benefit from them to pay only the equivalent of 25% of their income.

“Opportunity”

There is a real opportunity to be seized, according to the mayor of Granby.

“We know that it takes a long time to build housing. We want to see if we are able to seize this opportunity to quickly have affordable and social housing available.”

— Julie Bourdon, mayor of Granby

Ms. Bourdon points out, however, that the City will first have to inspect the building and “check what renovations have been made.”

Purchase of 10 million, paid by loan

This transaction would be equivalent to an amount of 10 million, the value of the purchase offer already accepted by the owner.

This amount corresponds to the municipal assessment of the value of this building, which is $10,055,000, according to the information consulted on the property assessment roll available on the City’s website.

The amount of the loan requested by the City is 9,345,000. The balance would be paid from City funds.

“If everything works, we wouldn’t want, due to lack of funding, to be unable to acquire it.”

— Julie Bourdon, mayor of Granby

“This is why we start the loan settlement process, because in such cases the regulatory and legal process is quite long,” she adds.

Councilor Alain Lacasse votes against

Councilor Alain Lacasse requested a vote on this regulation submission, during this extraordinary meeting of the municipal council, saying he “disagrees with this 10 million transaction”.

“I am not comfortable going to borrow for this building,” he said, thus motivating his vote against the project – he was the only one to have opposed it among the councilors present.

Councilor Geneviève Rheault, for her part, then wanted to justify her support for the project. In the preamble, she underlined that “our housing needs are glaring in terms of affordable housing”.

“Acquiring an existing building allows you to speed up taking possession, […] so, for me, the superpower of the right of pre-emption is an opportunity to be investigated to the end,” said the advisor.

Ultimatum of November 10

If the regulatory steps follow as planned, the request for borrowing authorization can be sent to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing on October 22.

In fact, the current owner informed the City that an offer to purchase had been made on the building. The existence of a right of pre-emption linked to this address obliged him to notify the City.

Therefore, it has 60 days after being made aware of the purchase offer to decide – i.e. by November 10 – whether or not it exercises its right as first buyer and to act as such. buyer of the building, recalls Mayor Bourdon.

However, the City does not intend to skip any steps, because preliminary checks must be carried out before deciding whether or not to purchase 94, Saint-Charles Sud.

Right of first buyer

Remember that the City took advantage, last June, of its right of first buyer (or right of pre-emption) at this address.

This right allows municipalities to acquire a building as a priority, provided that it has previously been put up for sale and is the subject of an accepted purchase offer.

A first purchase offer was signed on June 1, but the potential buyer finally withdrew his plans, having been unable to raise the necessary financing, the owner told us.

A second buyer submitted an offer at the beginning of September, which was accepted by the owner, and that is when the City was notified, which is required by the right of pre-emption.

Owner’s reaction

Contacted by The Voice of the Eastthe owner of the building, Alain Ross, said he was “very happy to know that the City is interested in acquiring the building.”

“It corresponds to their vision of offering affordable housing, and there is still time since there are around twenty units left for rent out of 49 in total.”

— Alain Ross, owner of the building

According to him, the purchase cost, which amounts to approximately $200,000 per unit, is lower than what it would cost in the case of new construction.

“On the new home market, currently, we are talking between $250,000 and $300,000 for an equivalent home,” says Mr. Ross.

At 94, rue Saint-Charles Sud, approximately 75% of the apartments will be 3 ½. The remaining 25%, 4 ½.

Keeping a register from October 15 to 19

The keeping of a register, in connection with a possible referendum approval, is provided for when the City wishes to borrow money.

Any citizen of Granby opposed to this draft loan by-law could sign the register, since all citizens are considered when it comes to a loan by-law.

It will be held from October 15 to 19, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., at city hall. A public notice will be issued in advance to announce this.