Will the Palace of Versailles be demolished soon?

A major project for a new, mainly residential, urban area could replace Montreal's Place de Versailles.

A vote will be held in Montreal city council on Monday to allow or not to demolish the shopping center and give the green light to a major project that includes 5,000 new housing units, a school, a hotel as well as commercial space. .

The majority of the buildings will be 12 to 16 storeys high, and two 25-storey towers are also planned.

This project could thus radically change the face of the neighborhood and the 17-hectare site that currently includes 4,000 parking spaces and 200 commercial buildings.

For citizens who are accustomed to shopping in Versailles Square, this is surprising news, while for others the project may have positive aspects.

“I find that a large part of our neighborhood is leaving,” said one customer from Versailles Square interviewed by TVA Nouvelles. I've been coming to shop here for 30 years, so it seems a bit strange.

“It's the only center near us,” one man added. Not funny.”

“I think it's a great opportunity,” one passerby said. It's concrete with asphalt when we need housing and densification. If it's done well and we make sure it's accepted, I think it's a good idea.

Place Versailles opened in 1963 and was at the time the first covered shopping mall on the Island of Montreal.

If city council leans in favor of the project, it will go through Montreal's public consultation office to conduct a population survey.

It will therefore be necessary several months, even several years, before the first shovel of earth.

Watch the full explanation in the video above.