Place Versailles to be transformed
Place Versailles, the city’s oldest indoor mall, will be transformed into a densified neighbourhood with 6,000 housing units. The plan will take 25 years and, of course, not everyone likes it.
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Kate
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dhomas 10:09 on 2025-05-14 Permalink
I live in proximity of Place Versailles. In the summer, I bike to the mall to get groceries at Maxi, and supplies at Dollarama, Canadian Tire, and other shops.
My hopes for this project:
1) Keep ground-level commercial, preferably as an indoor walkable mall (5000-6000 units will need to shop!)
2) Put a direct connection to Radisson metro (not sure why this wasn’t done when the metro was built, since the mall pre-existed the metro). Today, you have to exit the metro and cross the street to get to the mall. It creates a bit of a mess with the car traffic, buses, pedestrians, etc.
3) Keep some services and add some. Place Versailles is home to a Montreal municipal courthouse, the SAAQ, Hema-Québec. Might want a school in proximity, maybe? A library?
4) Make it accessible. i.e. not a completely gentrified complex.
Kate 10:12 on 2025-05-14 Permalink
Items say that space is being set aside for a school, but whether one gets built in a timely way will depend on the Quebec government’s whims. Some social housing is also intended, but how that will pan out with the developer’s ideas remains to be seen.
I don’t think I’ve ever been to Place Versailles. Am I missing anything?
dhomas 11:17 on 2025-05-14 Permalink
You’re not missing much. I mean, it has nice skylights, I suppose. A pretty fountain. It’s nice to walk through. The Safari pet store is actually really nice with a fish pond, and some exotic bird cages, plus lots of other animals (there was a similar one in Rockland, that was really a shame when it closed). It’s old, but some bits have been renovated. But really, it’s a proximity mall that is more pleasant than the strip malls that are its alternatives in the area. I actually prefer it to the Galeries d’Anjou, which is not far. Galeries d’Anjou feel like it’s trying to be Carrefour Laval (which itself is super American-style), but it can’t quite pull it off. PV is more casual.
dhomas 11:45 on 2025-05-14 Permalink
Oh, one more thing to add to the wishlist!
Put all the parking underneath the building! Right now, I think there is as much surface area used for parking as there is for buildings. Though I did use the farther reaches of the parking lot to teach my kids how to ride their bikes. 😀
Kate 11:58 on 2025-05-14 Permalink
I haven’t been in a pet store with animals for sale in a long time. Around here, it’s pet supplies only.
jeather 15:48 on 2025-05-14 Permalink
Sometimes they work with a rescue to have pets available.
EmilyG 11:52 on 2025-05-15 Permalink
I’ve been to Place Versailles a couple times. I liked it.
I’d say it’s worth going to, to check it out. It’s convenient that it’s near a metro station.
Kate 18:16 on 2025-05-15 Permalink
jeather, I remember TooZoo on the Main near Duluth used to have rescue kittens sometimes because I occasionally went in to look at them. According to Google TooZoo’s still open, which is good. They were nice people.