City buys decrepit cinema for social housing
The city has bought a decrepit cinema, the Cinéma Paradis in Tétreaultville, to tear down and build “affordable and social” housing.
The city has acquired various pieces of land and property over the last while with intentions like this. What they should do is create a web page on the city site, with a table, listing the properties and the progress at each site.
dhomas 19:54 on 2025-11-26 Permalink
About time! I swear the Guzzos kept it undeveloped out of spite. Now that their group is pretty much bankrupt, they likely had no choice but to sell the land.
Ian 21:54 on 2025-11-26 Permalink
I’d like to see a list of the undeveloped properties the city owns that they claim are slated for development too. There are several still-derelict buildings in my general area that were purchased to great fanfare over the last few years, and I expect mos of them will collapse before a single habitable unit is developed.
Either fix them up or soften squatter laws… if that notary could claim a parking lot because he used it, there’s no reason squatters shouldn’t be able to claim uninhabited buildings based on use… and are in the unique position to determine if a building is actually uninhabited or not, which is an easy solution to the complexity of that other law, too.
This is not a crazy anarcho-socialist idea. Squatter’s rights have existed around the world for centuries, and it is only because land ownership & property rights have an undue influence on our government that it is not recognized here – mostly because our governing class are either landowners or are in cahoots with them. This is a legacy of colonialism, too – people were lured here with land and property opprtunities, and centuries later, unsurprisingly, this powerful clas does not want to give up their “rights” even if it mean letting viable buildings rot until they literally fall apart so they can be legally “redeveloped”.
We know from the saga of Shiller-Lavy that the city is scared to death of lawsuits against property companies. Combine that with the city’s feigned helplessnesss without provincial funding despite controlling zoning laws, and we find ourselves in an utterly soveable predicament.
SMD 23:19 on 2025-11-26 Permalink
@Ian, this interactive map has all the buildings and lots that the city is willing to sell at cost for non-profit housing: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/43a4a9e5cc7c4d538aa2c8c82fafdbd6. Many of these were the acquired as a result of the city using its right of first refusal.
Also, I strongly agree about adverse possession.
Kate 03:15 on 2025-11-27 Permalink
Thank you, SMD.
Ian 09:50 on 2025-11-27 Permalink
Yes, thank you very much. I was wondering what was going on with a couple of these palces – very informative.